DD obsessed by olives

[LuLuBai]

She's 23 months. Is there any harm in her eating loads of olives? Although I know that they are reasonably healthy I worry that they are too salty.

i would limit them for the reason you state - they are salty

a few now and then is not an issue

my DS also loves them

I was speaking to a friend yesterday who said that her dd has been eating olives since the age of 8 or 9 months.

rinse them ?

btw ds has eaten them for years and years and loves them-- another friends ds demolished a whole plate and the whole garlic clove recently

do the olives themselves contain salt, or the seasoning that covers them?

My ds was like this - he called them Oblobs, which I love, and which they are still called chez Seeker.

My friend is bringing her children up to be strict vegetarians, and she encourages them to eat olives because there is some important nutrient or other in them (can't remember which) that vegetarian children can be short of.

You can buy them in olive oil rather than brine which reduces the saltiness.

Yes my DD loves them too. I find it really strange that so many little ones do. I hated things like that as a kid!

Find olives that are stored in oil rather than brine.

M&S do a great selection of jarred olives, the stuffed ones are v good. mmmmmmmm

dd was obsessed wit olives from 18 months to about 2 and a half years. there were days where olives and yoghurt was all she ate. personally i think it is a rather healthy food to get obsesses with, so didn't worry. she's finally gone off them now.

and yes, get the ones in olive oil rather than brine.

Oh the ones I have had in the fridge were in oil.

Beforesunrise once she finished the olives this morning she moved on to yoghurt! What a combo - bleeeurgh!

ILikeToMoveItMoveIt - the last pot I had of olives were stuffed with pimento, I found the pot in the middle of the kitchen floor empty safe for the pimentos which she had clearly picked out of each and every olive .

Seeker that is very interesting, and actually in line with what I was wondering. I'm vegetarian myself and although I give DD some meat and fish every now and again I don't routinely cook it for her so perhaps she is in search of some missing nutrient .

(love 'oblobs' - they are called 'noonas' Chez LuLuBai which is baby language for 'aceitunas' - Spanish for olives. Love toddler language!)

I gave in to DD's olive obsession as they were one of the very few things she would eat. We rinsed them to get rid of as much salt as poss. I seem to remember reading that they are actually quite rich in various nutrients.

I recently overheard an amusing conversation between DD and her granny:

DD: Please may I have an obalid?

Granny: a what?

DD: an obalid.

G: Um...I'm not sure what you mean. An obalid?

DD: O. Ba. Lid.

G: Can you say it again?

DD: An O. BA. LID!!!

G: Sorry, I just don't know what you want!

DD: Never mind.

I thought it was just my DD!!! She will eat them until she feels sick if we let her and has done since she was 2. The other week we were in Nandos and she ate a whole portion, complete with garlic cloves!

if you are worried about the saltiness you can soak them overnight in water and that should draw a lot of it out.

Yay - so glad there are so many bizarre olive-scoffing kids out there. DH keeps on at me that she is wierd (he couldn't eat a whole olive until he was 26)

Ds is also a big olive fan. I was v careful about limiting to just olives in oil until I visited my uncle in Spain who has olive trees in his garden.

Inevitably ds tried to eat the olives straight from the tree and they were horrible. How do you get them to be edible asks I? "Oh, you have to soak them in brine for at least 3 months" says my aunt...

Since which I've been less scrupulous about the oil/brine distinction.

Loving Obalid. But I think Oblob is pretty cool too!