Introducing desserts & weaning

[CJ98]

My daughter is about to turn 7 months and we’ve been weaning her for a couple months, we’ve mainly been focusing on savoury items & meals. I was just wondering when can I add in desserts and sweet treats. Do I give her one after her evening meal ?
We normally give her a meal at around 5pm and that’s her main meal for the day.
We really struggle with getting a morning meal (as in breakfast) & so we are currently just sticking with a bottle for the moment.
over the last few weeks I’ve been giving her a meal around dinner time rather than a bottle which has been something like a pasta meal & if she shows signs of being hungry after that meal I’ll give her something like an Ella’s kitchen melty stick that she can snack on.
I was just wondering if I can give her a dessert after her main evening meal or am I best to leave it if she’s having a dinner meal and an evening meal. Or when did everyone introduce desserts ? How am I best to introduce these to her meals so that she’s experiencing sweet and savoury meals ?
when I say desserts im talking custards, rice puddings, baby fruit crumble etc…

I followed the advice to offer everything all at the same time. So would give her the meal plus: yoghurt/some cut up fruit/a fruit pouch. After she was one I start offering a small amount of more sugary 'desserts' but still at the same time as the food. So like a biscuit, a few chocolate buttons, cake if it was a birthday....but not at every meal so she didn't come to expect it. I wanted to avoid a situation where she would refuse her main meal and expect dessert. I know it sounds crazy but they just get used to the different foods and sometimes they'll eat the sweet food first and sometimes they won't.

Why does your baby need desserts or sugary food???

We’ve been giving her “snacks” every so often which have been like chocolate buttons, crisp like sticks throughout the day but not every day… but we just want to have the experience of having something sweet rather than constantly having savoury things.
She is a baby that seems to enjoy everything & we’ve found that the easiest way we’ve been able to introduce things to her is by allowing her to try things other people have - for example cake or biscuits if someone is having some we will try her with some but im not sure if this is the right thing to do 🤦🏼‍♀️

My question exactly

Why?

I'm a pretty relaxed parent but there is no way that I'd let a 7 month old eat chocolate buttons.

There’s no need for them to have any. The guidance from the NHS is no added sugar or salt until one. We have waited until three with our first and our one year old hasn’t had any yet, honestly at this point giving them sugar is for other people not for them

I'm sorry but a 7 month old should not be eating snack bought food - especially not chocolate buttons. Just give her real food and tastes of fruit. I was very relaxed with my second but no way was I giving her chocolate treats.
This is judgmental but it needs saying imo as your dc is more important than your feelings.

Fruit is sweet if you’re worried about too much savoury? Are you also doing sour and bitter things if you’re concerned with ensuring dc has sweet and savoury tastes?
I really wouldn’t give a 6m old chocolate buttons personally

I agree with this, I was much more relaxed with my second DC but apart from fruit and yogurts we didn't introduce 'puddings' until he was closer to 1 and definitely no chocolate. DS is bonkers enough without the added sugar and caffeine from chocolate 😅

Kids will be trying to mainline sweets and chocolate pretty much their entire lives once they discover their existence. I would try and hold them off for as long as physically possible. Why purposely introduce unhealthy food if they don't need to? She will be asking for it soon enough, so no need to start early!

I’ve literally been using the Ella’s kitchen food items. They literally make snack items for babies of all ages. We hardly buy them as we have been focusing more on the main meals but like I said she very rarely has any snacks

Are the cake, chocolate and biscuits all without sugar?

Check the NHS guidance on sugar for infants.

Just because someone makes snack items for babies doesn't mean they should form part of a babies diet. Sweet foods at this age are fruit. Things like crisps and chocolate, she'll love those later on without needing to be fed them now.

They are more like yoghurt buttons but they smell and look like chocolate buttons. In every meal that she has I’ve tried her with something bitter or sour whether this has been lemon, broccoli, oranges, rhubarb, I’ve even gone as far as adding in things like cinnamon and paprika to give her more flavours to try.

I agree with others - there’s definitely no need to introduce dessert or sweet food, other than fruit or natural yoghurt, especially at 7 months. I’d also personally avoid all those ready-made snacks targeted at babies.

At 7 months I was either giving mashed potato / mashed something - and then some Ella pouch. I was working 5 days a week so any meal at home was usually shop bought/ takeaway. Even for me.

I do feel upset about that period. Now over time eating habits are consciously better. I make food from scratch because I became a SAHM and DC is now 4 YO is also eating all meals in well balanced diet.

Once or twice Ella is fine in my opinion to give you a break. But 7 month old doesn't need a sweet treat.

That’s the issue I have, both me and my partner are back to working 5 days a week neither having the same days off so we have found Ella’s kitchen products have been easier for us.
im Constantly told to prepare the food we are eating for our daughter but that’s impossible when we are throwing a pizza into the oven or ordering a takeaway as its food that we shouldn’t be giving her.
neither of us have the time to spend cooking up food for her, freezing it and then preparing it for her after a full days shift.
I feel like an awful first time parent for giving her Ella’s pouches but it’s making our lives so much easier.
She has a mixture of savoury and sweet pouches so I might just continue with those and maybe mix the sweet fruit pouches with maybe a yoghurt.

Cut out the chocolate buttons or sweet treats. She doesn’t need them. At most, offer a bit of fresh fruit. Definitely no pouches dressed up as a pudding.

More importantly though, you need to sort out cooking proper food for your child. She’s 7 months now, but in the next month or 2 she needs to come off pouches. If you have time to order a takeaway or wait 10 minutes for a pizza to cook, you have time to make her food. It takes very little time to make pasta or an omelette or cheesy toast or a ham sandwich or crackers with hummus.

If you can’t do it during the week, you batch cook at the weekend. Every working parent has to cook after work. She can eat the same things as you as long as not pumped full of salt and chilli. My eldest had a full Sunday roast as her first meal at 6 months. It’s just a skill you need to make time for now.

Even the prepared savoury foods are sweet as they use parsnips etc to sweeten them up making baby want more. Baby's never have an issue with sweet but then they don't like real savoury as much.

Better not to get in a habit of dessert, it's not something that should be every day anyway. And the longer you keep away from sweet things (except fruit, but not too much of that either), the better. Instead focus on introducing more flavours via herbs and spices. I weaned my youngest on vegetable curry (was his lunch every day for months) and he loves spicy food now and is generally more adventurous with food than his big sister who had sweet things early on and lots of snacky foods.

I think 7 months is a bit young for it, I'd have thought this stage they're still trying out different foods/textures - more veg than anything? A sweet taste might be a strawberry or a fruit? Have a look at some baby toddler cooking books, they have good suggestions on foods to try.

Ps it's so quick to make a cheesy mash or an omlette? Quick to cook pasta? You can batch cook & freeze meals/sauces, honestly it doesn't take long. Get some cookery books from the library there are some great ideas for quick meals.

7 months old means she's been tasting food for literally one month. Stop giving her chocolate.

I'm very relaxed about these things but this is so unnecessary.

Cook what you and your husband usually eat but don't cook with salt. Then just give her what you're having. Stop giving snack sticks and chocolate.

im Constantly told to prepare the food we are eating for our daughter but that’s impossible when we are throwing a pizza into the oven or ordering a takeaway as its food that we shouldn’t be giving her.

Eat better.

Seriously. Ella's pouches aren't going to kill her, but the bigger picture here is not good. Snack sticks, buttons and puddings at 7 months. And you're not modelling good eating habits to her. It really is irrelevant that you are both working.