AIBU to be surprised by a five-year-old given cola in a bottle?

[Freshtona]

On a flight the other day and a child of about 5 was having total meltdown and was given a baby bottle with Coca-Cola to calm them! The parents had bottles of coke with them to top it up!

I think child was ND, but regardless of that, why would anyone give that to a 5-year old child??? I try not to judge other parents and my own DC aren't strangers to sugar but cola is not allowed. The caffeine and sugar would surely make meltdowns even worse, not to mention the effect on teeth.

How did they get addicted to it? That’s the whole point, once you start them on it to the point they are addicted of course you now have to placate them to prevent a meltdown on the plane, as it’s now an addiction.

however it’s not one that should have taken hold in the first place.

I hear some parents say the only thing their child will eat is McDonald’s - like really. If there was no McDonald’s the child would starve? How did the child become to depend on McDonald’s.

Either way it falls down to bad parenting, not the child’s fault.

My midwife told me that she had seen babies be given cola in bottles before, it’s more common than you would like to think! The parents were completely unaware of why they shouldn’t be doing this.

Mine tend to just have a full fat redbull with a straw, I’ll sometimes give them the zero sugar one if they’ve had more than 3 regular ones

I actually can’t imagine a world of noticing this enough to start a Mumsnet thread.

I love how all the parents of NT children come out in force to judge parents struggling to keep a ND child calm in difficult circumstances. Maybe walk a mile in others shoes and see how you like the blisters first?

Also as some others have said there are circumstances in which Coke can have very beneficial impacts. Shock, horror, some medical specialists even recommend it in specific circumstances. Managing ADHD, a quick way of getting pain relief absorbed, and managing post ictal symptoms all spring immediately to mind.

But basically, if you don’t want to judge, it’s really easy. You just harness the accepting side of your brain and mind your own business! Coming into Mumsnet to publicly shame strangers is the epitome of judging them! Well done you for having NT children and being a perfect parent.

Whatever works to keep him calm and distracted. Of course it isn’t great for him.

Clearly white lightening would be more appropriate!

My kid has ADHD and another health issue that causes nausea. Caffeine and other stimulants can help regulate ADHD kids and the phosphoric acid is an anti emetic too. He also is autistic and will genuinely starve himself for days at a time when stressed.

You bet full fat coke is deployed occasionally albeit not in a baby bottle!

I find it odd and I wouldn’t do it but tbh if they are doing whatever it takes to stop their kid having a meltdown on a flight then my main feeling would be gratitude.

Exactly. It’s not a good look op. You aren’t walking in their shoes.

I can’t think of any good reason to give a small child coke.

Presumably he's not allowed anything with chocolate in it then either...

When we were children, our parents used to get us a bottle of Coke with a straw and leave us in the car, while they went in the pub. (For DH and me, it was a rare occurrence, our parents went to the pub.) We still only have soft drinks as an occasional treat, when we go out. At home, we have water.

I wouldn’t judge parents doing what they have to do, with a screaming child on a plane.

DD has epilepsy. She is prescribed emergency medication of a benzodiazepine, which then cost £70 - £80 a time, iirc. We found full sugar Coke worked just as well - basically she needed a big dose of sugar to stop the seizures, which Coke delivered quickly, cheaply and efficiently. I can’t see how benzodiazepines are any better than Coke; and they can suppress breathing, which Coke doesn’t.

Maybe it was a mixer for the brandy

Being (unusually) charitable, and from too much experience of young children with drinks on planes, I would guess that giving it in a baby bottle was to avoid the child spilling it all down himself.

I’d assume they were shit parents. There are a lot of them around.

Well yes, those suggesting that they don’t regularly give coke but just decided to start on a flight as it for some reason might calm them down aren’t making much sense.

Before I had a ND child I’d have likely judged too. You have no idea how fussy they can be with food. Some ND children will literally only eat one variety of crisps or biscuits and that is it - they won’t touch anything else. We are lucky in that my DS does eat a select few things, some have vitamins/minerals and he’ll take a multivitamin he believes to be a sweet so we try to cover as many bases. It’s hard, sometimes they will happily eat something then randomly reject it too.

You don’t know anything about the family, maybe cola is the only way to get substantial calories in him. I know that sounds nuts but my DS eats so little we get him to drink about 2 pints of whole milk a day for calories.

I try not to judge other parents

Uhmmm....

Good point here too. My friend has type 1 diabetes and had to have cola at school when having a hypo.

Coke can certainly be addictive. I have seen someone who was. They had to plough through multiple cans a day to function.
No idea what they put in it. But addictive it most certainly can be.
Mexicans apparently get hooked on it a lot and consume vast quantities of the stuff.
It is addictive.

Coke for a hypo I can understand.
Coke as some sort of cure for epilepsy I do not believe. At all. And it is dangerous to suggest it could be so.

for a while a relatives child came to me and this lovely child had been drinking coke in a bottle from about 3 months old. The mum has all kinds of issues including learning difficulties, so it wasnt done with intent to be harmful. She just doesn’t realise the consequences of her actions. It’s so sad if this is a similar situation.

Yes! I’ve seen a documentary on the cola addiction in Mexico, it’s really sad. High rates of diabetes, so many illnesses all linked to the cola addiction. What I found cute though (maybe not so cute) is that they leave bottle of cola’s at their loved one’s gravesites.