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.

Is he following the weight curve for his height? So if he's 25% for weight and always has been and isn't more than 1SD higher for height/head then that's probably just his natural build.
It's more of a worry if they're, say 95% for height and 25% for weight or if their weight curve has tracked down.

You sound like you feed him healthily. I think perhaps she just meant that treats are ok in moderation. Our paediatrician actually told us to give him anything he'd eat that was safe, regardless of how junk like it was. Just to get him to eat and enjoy eating. I was surprised at that but she said his diet was good, he just wasn't eating enough of anything.

Just feed him your food. It is what he's going to eat. Just have good food and some not so good and he'll be fine

I've not read other posters so apologies in advance but when the HV suggests you give cake and custard I don't think that they mean this as a daily occurance more likely if your having it as a treat then let baby have some too.
My ds (21m) and my dn (16m) both enjoyed some homemade apple crumble and custard at the weekend they loved it after their Sunday dinner. It's not something they'll have on a daily basis but they had what we had which I think what the HV was getting at

It's fine for a one year old to have cake and custard occasionally, just as it is fine for an adult to have these foods occasionally. They contain protein, calcium, carbohydrates and dairy fats, and are therefore not really junk food, despite the sugar.

For a child (or adult) who needs to put on weight, it might well make sense to have foods such as these a bit more often. The HV isn't advising a diet of Coca-Cola and Haribo...

If he's following the 25th centile line, he's doing just fine. It's if he starts dropping through the centiles you need to worry 😊

I'm with you that I'm surprised if she actively encouraged sugar and salt. Otoh, my hv and I discussed my ds's diet and she was totally happy to hear he has custard/crumble/baked beans etc as it's very much in moderation within a great diet.

It looks like a lot of people think that sugar is ok based on outdated information. (It's true with HW and dietitians too, esp on the NHS as they have to follow government guidelines and said guidelines take ages to change after research as shown xx to be beneficial or detrimental).

Fwiw for an ADULT, the WHO recommends 30g of sugar per day. Much less for 1yo of cOurse. Give the child a pudding, custard or some sugary cereals (which they all are bar porridge) and you will have reached the advised level of sugar in one sitting. Add a glass of fruit juice (which was advised by the government as a way to get one of your 5 a day) and you will be way over the limit.

It's extremely hard to avoid sugar. It's everywhere. But that sort of advice doesn't help IMO.

Btw there is no nutritious form of sugar and it's not because yuin get sugar from a cake rather than jam that it's better. It's a very weird way of looking at things really.

Anew you seem to be assuming a low level of knowledge amongst posters here. Custard is not a high sugar food at all. You also seem to be assuming adult portions. My DT nursery follow a strict diet comprised to give the children as many of their nutrients as possible (5 fruit and veg, oily fish twice a week and so on) without going anywhere near their sugar and salt limits. They have cereal for breakfast and custard and fruit once or twice a week. It can absolutely be part of a balanced young child diet.

I was under the impression pretty much everyone knew that fruit juice was very bad for young children do not sure why that's come up (te HV certainly didn't mention it)

I'm not.

When my dcs were little, I was told that it was very good to give them a glass of fruit juice (not form concentrate please) for breakfast. I did.
About 6 month, a year ago (?? Can't remember exactely when), the advice changed to avoiding that as they found drinks to be the biggest source of sugar in children's diet.
Plenty of people have been (still are?) putting a carton of fruit guide in packed lunches because it's healthy and part of one your five a day.

It's not coming from me though.

And I agree, it's about portion and proportion. But if an adult portion of custard plus fruit juice plus salad dressing plus tomato sauce is putting you way over the limit in sugar in the day. Then a child portion of the same will put them way over the children's limit in sugar.

I'm not sure why you think that im saying posters have a little knowledge on this thread though . I was talking about why advice from HW can be outdated. And of course, it includes most of us too because we will have looked at that when our dcs were little but 2, 3 or 5 years on, things have changed. And who on earth is going to follow that closely unless it's your line of work or you have a special interest in it?
What I have heard pin this thread is what I have heard when my dcs were little and what the 'official' advice usually is. It's not what research is telling us.

That's weird. I was told to dilute fruit juice at least 1 part to 10 of water and am well aware that neat fruit juice isn't a good option. I thought it was common knowledge, but maybe advice is different in different areas?

My health visitor suggested that around 1, we should try to eat a 'full family diet' which I think is similar advice to what you've been given, I had a friend who suffered a big heart attack and as a result I don't add salt to cooking and try to limit sugar too. As a family we rarely have cooked dessert, so little processed sugar within the diet other that through fruit etc.
I think what your HV meant was make things a little easier for yourself, and make eating enjoyable and sociable. Oddly enough if my dc are a bit underweight after a cold or growth spurt what they seem to like is oatcakes with cheese? I realise this has a bit of salt in it, but I feel happy it's not a mars bar! :)

Children's energy needs in relation to their weight are far higher than adults though, so not right to consider it from an adult diet perspective.

news.bbc.co.uk/newsbeat/hi/health/newsid_7360000/7360549.stm

Although the above article is old I think it touches on some good points I.e don't apply adult guidelines to children who have different needs.

What is the evidence on whether avoiding things with added sugar in a baby's early years helps prevent a 'sweet tooth' or not?

I suspect there isn't much, as taste and a desire for fat and sugar is inborn. Sure, you can create behaviours in children where they expect cake/ biscuits too regularly, but I don't for one second believe we can control the development of what tastes good to them too much. It's innate.

I'm not advocating cake for breakfast, lunch and tea, but not allowing the odd sweet food or something that's very fatty doesn't seem an evidence-based strategy to me.

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

What on earth is wrong with that? She obviously wasn't saying to raise your child on cake, just that it's fine in moderation.

But Anew you know about it so why wouldn't others?

The problem is that a health professional ( I don't know if HVs are classified as such) mention that it's ok to give cake to a toddler. Given the fact that there is a real issue with the amount of sugar is being consumed, such advices shouldn't be given. It's well known that a lot of families have the tradition of having pudding after their dinner (I am not saying that everyone does this). So, hypothetically, me as a parent who has pudding after my dinner, will believe that my toddler is allowed to have as well, the HV said so.
I understand that may be she just wanted to make me relax a bit about the diet and that, may be, she meant once in a while. But as a HV she should avoid these kind of advices. If she wanted to give me a message that the baby should increase his calories intake then she should have mentioned dairies, meat, cereals, fish and the "posh" avocado.
I think that HV should be trained more often and be informed on the recent studies and reports. Or at least they could read the reports themselves if they want to be up to date with the recent studies.
Who wants to give cake and custard to their toddlers they can do so, but I won't do it, excluding the odd occasions when it can't be avoided.

An HV is a fully trained nurse with an additional qualification so they are most definitely a health professional.

OP, there is nothing wrong with advising cake and custard for a toddler. The experts in health nutrition, dietitians, will say exactly the same thing. Look at the 'food pyramid' - it's not devoid of sugar, cake, ice-cream, chocolate etc. It just says to eat them in small quantities. It's no different for toddlers.

I think you have some hang-ups about food. Please don't pass them on to your child.

HV are usually trained nurses or midwives who've had additional training for health visiting. I don't know how much ongoing training they get, and they are unlikely to be fully trained dieticians. I'm fairly sure they would be capable of adjusting their advice given the circumstances of who they're taking to though. So a parent with an overweight toddler would be given different advice to one that was perhaps underweight.

I would suggest that you withdraw from their service if the advice given is not suitable for you.

Mama prima it is OK to give cake to a toddler that is the point. Daily not great, but the occasional piece of cake is absolutely fine.

Which recent studies/guidelines are you referring to in your post?

ElphabaTheGreen, I have no hang-ups, believe me. I am a healthy adult who eats most of the foods. Probably I would eat foods that you would never want to try.

This is painful.

www.nhs.uk/Livewell/Goodfood/Pages/sugars.aspx this is the NHS guidance. There's no mention of under 4s.

Every parent feeds their child with what they consider is best and we should respect each other for that. I said my opinion, you said yours. No more comments from me, cheers.

This has information for under 4 yrs:

www.nhs.uk/start4life/first-foods#recomms

So, 13 grams a day of added sugar is the limit for up to 2 year olds. The occasional pudding with custard would fit into that I would have thought.

Ah but speak the OP wanted to post a useless link to prove her point then run off feeling like she won the Internet!