Amazed by health visitor's advices.

[Mamaprima]

We went yesterday for my DS's 10 months assessment ( he will be 1 year old soon actually, that's how well they do their job). We were talking about food and my DS's diet. So, she said that we should give him everything we eat, even if it has added salt or sugar in it. We do BLW and he does eat most of the times the same as us, but it's baby friendly, no salt, no sugar. I was gobsmacked when the HV said that I can give to an almost 1 year old cake and custard, stuff that are full of sugar. I thought NHS is trying to reduce the sugar intake.

YABVVVVU for denying you child a bit of cake and custard. Shame on you!

Dd2 favourite foods are - broccoli and Stilton soup (home made obv) and chips and gravy (chip shop)

Everything in moderation!

If you're worried about your DC's weight but already feel you feed them enough fat, what type of advice were you looking for from the HV? Generally medical advice for weight gain is to increase dairy, increase good fats, etc.

You make your own cheese??

HV was probably just meaning to suggest that you can relax a bit.

Sugar is sugar, there is no difference between fruit sugar and the sugar from cane or beet. Both are natural. Both should be eaten in moderation.

You do sound very highly strung. Maybe you just need to relax a bit.

Look I'm not the biggest fan of HVs but did she really demand you give your baby cake or did she merely suggest that cake once in a while is ok?
I think you're being a bit OTT.

She didn't say that if I don't give cake he won't grow healthy. She just said that I can give cake, but she saw that I was a bit confused about it and she reassured me that it was ok. She didn't say how often.
Sweets101 why don't you give your child some wine, it's just wine "fucks sake".
APlaceOnTheCouch, it was a development assessment, among which you discuss what baby eats and how he eats. And I said that he eats most of the foods but I'm worried about his weight. I was looking for reassurance, an opinion.

And I am relaxed, I actually do enjoy cooking for my DS. I only wanted to say my opinion.

I know what you mean, as in there are a lot of mixed messages out there regarding diet. People having too much sugar and the diabetes 'epidemic' is particularly high profile news at the moment.

However it sounds like you are sensible (food wise) and the health visitor is not concerned about your child's weight.

I think it is easy to get issues out of proportion when there is so much scrutiny and interest regarding health and what a good dietary intake consists of. Yes, cake and custard is not necessary as part of people's daily food intake but they are common foods, should not be totally shocking and some recipes are healthier than others. The HV, may have just been trying to reassure you - as in you don't have to be perfect. If she thought there was a problem I think the advice would be a lot more thorough.

If you're worried about your DS and you feel she gave you incorrect advice then I can see why that would upset you. From the HV's pov, she gave standard advice on how to gain weight (ie increase dairy; full fats, etc). It's not a permanent diet. It's to serve a purpose.
You seem worried about the percentile and worried about increasing your DS' intake. You've created a double bind for yourself where the only outcome is that you end up worrying.

She said you can give cake and your annoyed ?
She didn't she let him exist on cake and custard .
This is way ott from you

Well I agree with you that sugar is not necessary and nor is cake for that matter. Not for a 1yo and not for adults either!
Same with salt.

If the advice was to increase the amount of fats in the diet, she should have said so and give other examples than custard.to start with, who is saying you do have cake and custard at home? We don't and never have....

I can also understand where you are coming from. If you start with saying cake is ok for a one year old, surely it also means even more sugar is ok for a 10yo or a 30yo. And it isn't.

In my pfb state when DD had recently turned 1 I went to a talk about nutrition. The HV said sugar is ok in moderation, kids need it for energy, it's not a banned substance!

She did also say try to give it in nutritionally beneficial form, eg fruitcake or scone and jam rather than haribo or biscuits. And as a pudding rather than snack from a teeth perspective.

I don't think HV can win sometimes. It's a service for every later and it can be hard to pitch their service

It's advice you can take it or leave it...sounds like you are way stressed about this and she probably sensed this and was trying to get you to not worry so much she most likely meant well but obviously you have some very strong views on food. Fair play to you its def good to avoid loads of processed crap but a bit of custard isn't so bad. As you enter the toddler years your child will develop preferred tastes and flavours and may not always eat as healthily as they are doing now- or may start to refuse food they currently like so hv was probably preparing you for this. 1 yr olds are much easier to feed super healthily than 2 year olds .

We BLWed and the kids had everything we had. Although when DD took a particular liking to my tea and whisky fruit cake I did start making it just for her.

Everything in moderation. Nothing wrong with cake and custard (a life without custard ain't worth living in my book).

When DS1 was tiny I received a few 'interesting' pieces of advice from my HV. But I just nodded and thought 'that's not going to work for me' and carried on. It wouldn't stop me going to see the HV as for the most part, they were very helpful.
Sounds like you're a bit precious about what your child eats and clearly know best and better than the HV. Each to their own, but I wouldn't get so worked up about it. Maybe she was more focused on your baby's weight and less on their sugar intake.

Similar advice given to me also suggested pancakes, croissants and rice pudding. Seems standard. Hospital Dietitian also gave this kind of advice to my sister.

I'm really craving custard now.

Well she's not going to say 'you are worried about his weight, so feed him more carrot sticks' is she!!

I don't know why people are so hard core about baby diets but don't give a shit when they are older or their own diets.

She probably just meant give him a normal diet. He wont turn obese if he has a pot of custard.

I want pancakes, sulk.

Jeez, unclench love.

Sweets101 why don't you give your child some wine, it's just wine "fucks sake".

Only on his birthday.

I never had any good advice from HVs.

The evidence that salt intake has any effect whatsoever on infants 6 months or older (unless they're actually experiencing salt toxicity!) is very scant. Possibly, possibly a slight rise in their chances of having hypertensive disorders later, but very difficult to tease the result apart from the fact that most infants who eat high-salt diets do so because they're being raised with a lot of salt generally, not just in infancy.

The idea that shielding your precious baby from salt for a few more months will do anything but ruin their palate is not evidence based.