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.

If this isn't just a one-off to calm them down on the plane, this is incredibly damaging to the child's teeth.

This is highly discouraged by medical and dental professionals. It bathes their developing teeth in sugar for extended periods, leading to severe, rapid tooth decay often referred to as "baby bottle tooth decay".

Children are in tune with their survival instincts. I am willing to bet all the money in my bank account (:/) that if no crisps and biscuits your ND child will eat what is there and may even discover a taste for new foods. They will not starve themselves to death. What did other ND children do for food before crisps and biscuits, other countries where these things are a luxury they are ND children but they eat the food they are given.

I remember seeing a toddler if about 18 months have a tantrum about mums coke. Mum went into a shop opposite and bought a baby bottle to put it in.

The issue for actually drinking any fizzy drink in a bottle is surely it would be VERY gassy as it came through the teat? 5 year olds can drink sweet drinks. In many parts of the world canned drinks are the go to when travelling because they are sterile inside so “safer” than something from the tap etc. As far as epilepsy goes, my son can definitely be helped by calories when he’s looking a bit seizure-ish. Our go to is cold milk, but we have used ice lollies before which I would guess is the equivalent of a can of coke. Sucking through a straw or licking a lolly slows upset, cools, hydrates and raises sugar levels ALL of which support regulation.

Hopefully it was zero sugar, but apart from that, I don't think you should be judging someone's parenting from a brief glimpse into their lives, in a stressful environment.

You’d do absolutely anything to calm a child on a flight. You’d be judged if they kept making a noise. If the child is autistic it must be a million times harder.

Tell me you have zero experience of neurodiversity without saying it directly. They used to just get locked up in asylums so let’s not hark on about what happened in the past. The Nazis experimented on them if you want to go there. Now we accept and embrace their differences where possible, thank the Lord. And yes they would starve themselves, I wouldn’t like to prove this but my DS would gladly starve himself if I refused to give him his “safe foods” and offered him what we ate.

Without being preachy, you don't understand about neurodiversity at all.

I'm pretty sure I was allowed coca cola in moderation around that age. Yeah it was the 80s. But I remember being allowed a 1.5 litre bottle per weekend! Idk if that was at five, probably more like 10, but I had definitely tasted it and liked it by then.

And on holidays/flights kids are often given treats they might not usually have.

I mean I wouldn't give any sugared drinks now to kids and I'd try or keep them on plain water or juice as a treat. I'd imagine they'd get into coca cola etc when they start going out alone to buy stuff. So yeah I think with modern sensibilities in mind it's not a great idea.

Well its obviously not ideal but if the child is autistic and the parents have found
this works to minimise / prevent meltdowns then i ccan empathise
What isnt helpful is the judgement of others

There's absolutely no reason for this that's a good one.

https://www.itv.com/news/granada/2024-02-13/mother-of-son-who-died-of-undiagnosed-eating-disorder-urges-nhs-to-act

I agree. Parents need to be comfortable being the bad guy once in a while rather than be manipulated by tantrums.

They probably fixate on other types of foods, will only eat feta/pancakes/jacket potatoes. The problem is how they brains are wired it´s nothing to do with the food available.

See the news story I linked above. ND children will and have starved without safe foods. So uneducated 🤦‍♀️

I've lost count of the number of children I’ve taught who have had to have all of their teeth removed because of decay.
It’s easy to judge but what 35 years of teaching has taught me is that a ‘bad’ parent takes many forms even the sort that understand oral hygiene.

It's out of order and we all fucking know it.

Tantrums!! Wow, education on neurodiversity needs greatly improving.

A tantrum isnt the same as a meltdown.

Dangerous cobblers where epilepsy is concerned.
Cold milk will not stop a seizure. Ever.

That story is tragic but presumably a rare condition that shouldn't be used as cover for bad parenting, which is many, many times more common.

My son has adhd and caffine really helped him. He’s on proper meds now but there was a time where I gave him cola before school as it really helped him calm and focus.

That’s really bad.
That poor child’s teeth.

they actully give caffene to premature babies in NICU to keep them alive

Restricted diet used to be part of the criteria for autism. It’s not rare in that community and it’s not what many are imagining on this thread. Yes you can work to overcome it but no the approach is nothing like the way you would push a typical child to eat a range of foods and you definitely would end up starving a child rather than see them break their boundaries. Autism is not a character trait or an attitude it’s a genuine disability as profound and incurable as any other.