Tea for toddlers?

[SpanielFace]

15 month old DS loves tea. He's had a sip of mine a few times, and will polish off dregs of any mugs left sitting around, if you don't watch him closely.

My DM made him a beaker of very weak, milky (about 50% milk) tea, no sugar, at her house the other day, and he loved it. It's not something I've ever done, but just wondered at what age most people think this is ok. I didn't drink tea until my teens.

No definitely not. What a stupid question

No definitely not. They can't process the caffeine.

Is there something about tea not allowing the body to absorb iron properly? I remember hearing a mum tell her daughter that when she (about 7 at the time) was asking for tea. She may just have been fobbing her off though.

Either way, I wouldn't have thought the caffeine is a great plan for a toddler...

My baby always wants what I have. It's probably because I drink a lot of tea in front of her. Same thing as keys and phones I think.

That said I've started drinking herbal tea so she can have a sip. If you don't like herbal try decaf

tannin in tea inhibits iron absorption. but a tiny bit once in a blue moon wouldn't worry me in the least.

Ds sometimes finishes off my cup of decaf. He's nearly 3. I wouldn't give him caffeinated though, purely because i don't want to deal with the effects!

He loves peppermint tea and chamomile tea, maybe try your ds with a herbal one?

In the past this was very normal, bottles of tea even! Quite a few children at my (very posh convent) primary used to bring tea in their lunch boxes

I'd get him decaf bags and let him have one every now and again. I make my toddler peppermint and lemon tea quite a bit, he loves it and feels very grown up.

Clairikins, no need to be so rude. My question was, at what age is it ok? 4? 7? 10? 16? How is that a stupid question?

Thanks to everyone who have helpful replies, I wasn't aware of the caffeine/iron absorption issue, but Dr Google has confirmed. Will ask DM not to do it again.

Bigkids, my brother apparently used to drink tea from a bottle as a toddler! He's now a strapping 6 foot rugby player, so it didn't harm him. However, he was also weaned at 16 weeks, smacked when naughty and put to bed on his front, so I'm well aware that "never did me any harm" isn't necessarily valid!

My 2 yr old dd has occasional milky cup of redbush tea with me.

TravellingToad What do you mean by they can't process caffeine?

Children actually metabolize caffeine quicker than adults (smaller size and generally faster metabolism means this applies to most things) they'll be getting caffeine in their chocolate, and a bit of very weak tea would probably contain similar amounts. (You can actually get dark chocolate that contains more caffeine than tea per serving, although typical milk chocolate of course contains much less)

My DM and DGM always gave me tea as a toddler and I loved it (may explain why I'm such a teabag now!) as a treat. I would say use the "everything in moderation" moto, and perhaps switch to decaf.