You gave the baby a McFlurry?!

[SlateCoaster]

Parent was eating a McFlurry ice cream and gave 5 month old baby a couple of spoonfuls...

YABU - WTF?! He's only 5 months old. His digestive system isn't ready for sugar-rich ice cream! Cue upset tummy and exploding nappy.

YANBU - Get a grip, it's a million degrees at the moment and it was just a couple of spoonfuls. No harm done.

Food companies are doing well to pull the wool over people's eyes that they think that your average modern ice cream chemical mix is as innocuous as old fashioned frozen cream/sugar/egg?

it's ultra processed muck, here's your mcflurry contents without the topping either - Milk, Sugar, Cream, Corn Syrup, Natural Flavor, Mono and Diglycerides, Cellulose Gum, Guar Gum, Carrageenan, Vitamin A Palmitate.

the baby's gut deserves better

When I had small children I could have cared about what other people feed their babies... Just about.

Now I've got a teenager who had MacDonalds for tea and then MacDonalds for breakfast the following day, I can't really have an opinion on what someone gives a baby that's close enough to weaning age anyway.

@time4anothername

Food companies are doing well to pull the wool over people's eyes that they think that your average modern ice cream chemical mix is as innocuous as old fashioned frozen cream/sugar/egg?

it's ultra processed muck, here's your mcflurry contents without the topping either - Milk, Sugar, Cream, Corn Syrup, Natural Flavor, Mono and Diglycerides, Cellulose Gum, Guar Gum, Carrageenan, Vitamin A Palmitate.

the baby's gut deserves better

Well yes, but they are going to probably try unhealthy food one day, so what difference does it actually make. It was a couple of spoonfuls and the fact that OP has asked for others opinions on this leads me to believe that she doesn't make a habit of feeding her child crap.

5 month old baby portions of 2 spoonfuls of McFlurry couldn't get me upset. I'm sure they ingest worse putting toys in their mouth. Ime such a small amount wouldn't affect nappies either. I mean I'd probably not give it as a very first food but I'd assume this baby has had other food stuffs for whatever reason first

@bakingdemon

YABU. Absolutely no way a kid that tiny should have anything with that much sugar in it. We don't let our 2.5yo have ice cream.

If you want to give your baby something cooling try ice cubes or a lolly made from breast milk.

Wow. Now there's an idea for a hot summers day. Could hand them out all round and pretend they were some sort of healthy, probiotic mini milk alternative....

OP you’re on AIBU and you LITERALLY ASKED TO BE JUDGED. And now you’re shirty at someone judging you. Eh?

Also, the most unreasonable thing you’ve done is referred to yourself in the 3rd person as mummy. I judge you even more for that.

With the benefit of hindsight I can’t get worked up about this. When mine were babies it was four months for weaning and now they are teenagers I’ve realised that they all come out fairly universal, regardless of parental strictness. There will be no life changing damage done.

However, if someone had done this with my PFB I would have been raging. At that point I felt like their entire life outcomes depended on me doing ‘the right thing’.

Meh waited 6 months to wean first all baby led weaning fruit and veggies. Second who was born two years later I gave a biscuit too suck on at 5 and a bit months which was his first taste or food. He loved it. no harm done.

I just read out your OP to DH and he laughed and said 'what, she put it ON THERE?'.
Make of that what you will.

Not ideal nut not the ned of the world. My feral 2nd and 3rd were often fed random things by their big brother/s

@HavelockVetinari

The reason they say 6 months is because there are ALWAYS folk who interpret that flexibly. It's most likely fine to start weaning a 5-month-old but weaning earlier than that is associated with a variety of poor health outcomes including obesity, infections and anaemia.

Weaning before 17 weeks is associated strongly with weight issues.

No it isn't.

HavelockVetinari. Sorry, retract that. I misread, and thought you inferred before 6 months. My apologies.

Pure bollocks.

Not entirely. Our dietitian was very clear that the nutritional value of pre-packaged baby food was piss poor. Especially those with the organic labels as they aren’t allowed to fortify to replace nutrients lost in processing.

@Buzzinwithbez

When I had small children I could have cared about what other people feed their babies... Just about.

Now I've got a teenager who had MacDonalds for tea and then MacDonalds for breakfast the following day, I can't really have an opinion on what someone gives a baby that's close enough to weaning age anyway.

I’ve got a teenager like that too! She was weaned on home cooked from scratch, organic meals lovingly created using my Annabel Karmel cookbook! Where did I go wrong? 😂

@Buzzinwithbez - sorry, I meant to tag you in my post above.

This thread is very, very, funny. The divide between the first time parents of PFBs and those with the benefit of a bit more hindsight is really stark.

And I get it, I really do. With my PFB I would have gone batshit mental if someone fed him even a mouthful of McFlurry.

But by the time DD came along, by that point DS was a feral toddler and feeding her kitkats and all sorts when my back was turned. I also -shock HORROR - gave her formula, which I know might as well have been a McDonalds milkshake in the eyes of some on here.

Now they're older it all seems so irrelevant. And fwiw, breastfed DS has eczema and has had numerous illnesses, whereas poor neglected DD is as fit as they come.

Stop worrying OP. You've done nothing wrong whatsoever. But thanks for starting this thread, as I'd genuinely forgotten how nuts people get about this stuff

The problem is your child’s taste buds are just starting to develop. Their taste buds are super sensitive. Pumpkin taste sweet to a baby. An ice cream is sugar overload. If you feed a baby ice cream it will adjust to having a preference for high sugar/fat foods because that’s a survival instinct (eat the highest calories). So in feeding a baby this kid of food so young, you are setting them up to be a fussy eater. There is plenty of time for ice cream treats. Children are just learning and experiencing food at the beginning. A banana is just as much of a treat.

So in feeding a baby this kid of food so young, you are setting them up to be a fussy eater.

With all due respect, this is utter bollocks.

Assuming if course, the OP is not feeding her 5 month old a diet solely consisting of ice cream.

@Whocutdownthecherrytree

The problem is your child’s taste buds are just starting to develop. Their taste buds are super sensitive. Pumpkin taste sweet to a baby. An ice cream is sugar overload. If you feed a baby ice cream it will adjust to having a preference for high sugar/fat foods because that’s a survival instinct (eat the highest calories). So in feeding a baby this kid of food so young, you are setting them up to be a fussy eater. There is plenty of time for ice cream treats. Children are just learning and experiencing food at the beginning. A banana is just as much of a treat.

Babies already have a natural preference for sweet and high fat foods. What do you think breast milk tastes like?

My eldest was born at the end of October. On New Year's Eve he was given one drop of Champagne.

My son is 2.5 and regularly eats a mouthful of soil and God knows what. I couldn't get stressed over a teaspoon of ice cream

This thread is very, very, funny. The divide between the first time parents of PFBs and those with the benefit of a bit more hindsight is really stark.

Nice little goady try, but I have 4 kids, 2 of them young teens.

I still think the OP is ridiculously BU and it's all kind of wrong.

@eddiemairswife

My eldest was born at the end of October. On New Year's Eve he was given one drop of Champagne.

why?!?

To celebrate of course.

because tiny babies are really hot on New Year's Eve celebrations