To not want my triplets eating chocolate???

[Timesofhope]

My triplets are now 3 months old and with christmas coming up my mother-in-law keeps saying that she has bought them white chocolate and they will be eating it at christmas. She also gave one of them a little chocolate icing from a cake yesterday which really annoyed me as me and the OH don't want them eating chocolate just yet.

We did speak out and ask her to please not give any of them chocolate but she won't listen and just started an argument about the whole thing. I have also read that solid food should not be given at all until 4 months so this has annoyed me as well. She really can't respect our wishes and keeps doing things that we are not happy with and having a go at us for asking her not to.

Is it so difficult to just do as we ask?!

I really think you need to stand together as a couple and make the MIL realise that YOU will make the decisions about YOUR babies, otherwise it will get a lot worse.

Thank you for all the comments, I think most of you have a good point about why she is acting the way she does. I really do think its because she never had any girls and ours are the first girls for a while - she wants to pretend shes mum for a bit - but I really feel undermined when she does it because she has always made me feel like a small naive child and even said while I was pregnant that me and DP were too naive to raise 3 kids.

I really hate the situation because at some point we will need her help to look after the girls for a few hours so we can have a break, or if we need to go somewhere without them coming with us, and right now I wouldn't leave them in her care for a minute. Not that that stops her going off into another room of the house with them so I can't hear them crying and take over.

Timesofhope, sorry to but in late on this thread, but I felt this was worth adding. Paediatricians recommend no chocolate before the age of 12 months. Some actually prefer 2 years!

This is not because of the sugar rotting their teeth or any similar arguments. It is because the composition of chocolate is highly allergy inducing to little ones, whose digestive systems do not have the ability to cope with as diverse a range of foods as adults or even pre-schoolers. If there is any history of allergies in your family, giving chocolate before 12 months could actually be dangerous. Also, the younger a child is when they first eat chocolate, the greater their likelihood of developing an allergy to chocolate. Tell your MIL that if she insists on giving your triplets chocolate now, she might actually be condemning them to a lifetime of never being able to eat it (slight exaggeration there, but worth a try?).

I intended to keep my twins off chocolate until they were 2, but when we flew to Australia and they got fed loads of chocolate by the stewardesses every time I went to the toilet, I gave up. They were 13 months then though.

NO YANBU, I once knew a girl who had a baby and loads of its rellies bought it white chocolate easter eggs when it was 3 months old "because it's almost all milk anyway". This tiny baby had a line of them on the shelf! And was being force fed, and regurgitating "because that's what babies do".

NO NO NO NO NO !!!!!

Tell your MIL to butt out, you must do all you can to avoid allergies etc and encourage healthy eating from the word go. tell her you will eat it though, to keep your strength up/make milk if bfing

Here are the current government recommendations re the age to start weaning.

Guidelines have changed over the last few years, it used to be that 4m was considered the time to start. Now it is 6 months.

A lot of people, esp those of our parents age, don't know about the change in recommendations. You could maybe print MIL off some info?

I wonder if your health visitor or GP has a leaflet on what should and shouldn't be fed to babies?

Maybe you'd better work out now what you will allow for their birthdays and next xmas
(or the ones thereafter) so that granny knows she will be able to give them a 'treat' sometime.

Chocolate at 3months? omg. Apart from the fact i think that is really wrong, it is up to you to decide. My mil the same. i caught her putting a choc button in my 7 month olds mouth. She will do the opposite of what i ask all the time. She has been better since i asked her if she wanted to sit with ds when she was in the dentist having her teeth pulled out though. Stand your ground, at the end of the day they are your children.

At three month, no, YANBU.

Why is it only MIL, and not ever M, who want to do such "wrong" things (or is it part of the appeal that it's always MIL?)

no yanbu. it must be so frustrating for you

Hi, i have twins at 15 months and my MIL did exactly the same at about 3 months, they are from a differnt era, and thimk they know best, but they dont.

I used to come home and be seething with what she was feeding them, in the end i had to have words, and since then she has been fine, stick to your guns, and just what you feel !!

I have a strong suspicion my mum gave dd1 some runny boiled egg yolk at 6 weeks to 2 months to try. It's how it was done in our family!