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Weaning

Find weaning advice from other Mumsnetters on our Weaning forum. Use our child development calendar for more information.

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Original poster

At what age did you let your lo's eat sugar?

38 replies

Tinkjon · 09/06/2008 07:49

I gave DD no sugar at all until she was 2, in the hopes that it would prevent her developing a sweet tooth. I turned out to be utterly wrong So I'm not bothering to try that with DS (nearly 9mo) as I've decided they just like what they like, regardless of what you give them. So I'm not sure when to let him have a bit of sugar and wondered at what age other people let their lo's have any. I don't believe it's unhealthy when given in moderation but obviously little babies don't need it at all, so I'm not planning to use it in cooking etc. But there are some things I'd like to give him, like Weetabix, that has some in. I was thinking I might wait until a year but it's so arbitrary....!

OP posts:

Pablop · 09/06/2008 08:02

I'll watch with interest, I've just started weaning DS (6mo) and I can't believe how many things have sugar/salt in them
I

MrsBadger · 09/06/2008 08:52

TBH I think this is a bit of a fallacy - fruit is full of sugar and dried fruit even more so, and even veg like carrots and especially sweet potatoes taste very sweet, so I think it's a bit much to sweepingly exclude anything with added sugar from their diet.

The key is knowing where it is - too many people spoon in Petits Filous thinking it's healthy yoghurt, or think organic biscuits are somehow less sugary than homemade etc.

Golly, what a lot of waffle... basically dd (10m) enjoys the odd biscuit and if she liked weetabix I'd give it to her. She also eats off our plates in restaurants even if they might have seasoned the food differently to me. I'd rather I was relaxed about feeding her and she was relaxed about eating than I gave way to my neuroses...

(ReadyBrek has no crap in if you want breakfast ideas)

sleepycat · 09/06/2008 09:00

This reply has been deleted

Message withdrawn at poster's request.

MrsBadger · 09/06/2008 09:07

ah now there's a thing - I don't routinely offer dd pudding (other then fruit) at all.
The rest of us don't normally eat pudding so if I started making them for dd then when she got on to 'family food' either we'd all have to start eating them or she'd have to give them up... easier not to start.

TeaDr1nker · 09/06/2008 09:12

sainsburys do a kids range that has fromage frais which is sweetened with grape juice, some others do too.

MrsBadger · 09/06/2008 09:14

and that makes them 'better', does it?

I wasn't saying Petits Filous are bad, just that you have to be aware that they are sugary.

AitchTwoCiao · 09/06/2008 09:18

we don't do pudding very often either, but by god dd would have expected to try some from 6 months when we had it. home-made, natch...(which explains why we don't have it often). dd's favourite thing in the whole world is chocolate. so is her father's and most of the globe, i don't think you can do much except moderate their intake. dd thinks a chocolate button is an enormous treat, for example.

AitchTwoCiao · 09/06/2008 09:19

yep, fructose is still sugar. albeit slightly better for your insulin levels i think.

SmugColditz · 09/06/2008 09:21

Grape juice is practically pure sugar anyway. It's still sugar, it's just as bad for your teeth as the white granulated stuff in cheap biscuits and Petit Filous. It's not more worthy because it comes from a different plant to cane sugar.

ThingOne · 09/06/2008 09:21

I find the things sweetened with apple juice rather than sugar tend to be slightly less sweet. I obviously haven't tasted every product on the market.

There's lots of sugar in breastmilk .

I avoided refined sugars for ages with my PFB who ended up knowing how to find the one sweetened thing (digestive) on a plate of rice and oat cakes at toddler group. Digestives were just about his only source of sugar until four.

SquiffyHock · 09/06/2008 09:25

I wouldn't worry too much tbh. You are obviously very aware of your childs diet so are going to make healthy choices. Introduce excellent dental care and they will be fine.

As others have said, fruit has tons of sugar in it as do smoothies (which mine love) - you have to choose the lesser of two evils. I have never given mine squash to drink until last week. They have only ever had one smoothie with breakfast, milk or water. TBH neither of them drank much water so wanted to fill up on milk.
At a friends last week she gave them squash and they drank SO much of it - I figured that it's better for them to get that hydration so I bought Rocks (Organic, tons of sugar but no 'nasties') which they can have at mealtimes.

Also, never underestimate the power of a bit of choccy on two tired and flagging children on a day out!

Thomcat · 09/06/2008 09:29

I don't go round avoiding sugar. DD1 and DD2, who are 6 & 2, get the odd cake or biscuit, oh and the odd ice-cream. They eat yoghurts (albeit activia prune ones!), fruit, dried fruit, cereal bars etc. I just don't ever give them actual sweets and chocolate. In fact although they have had chocolate they have never had a sweet, to my knowledge. I just try and take the slightly healthier, less sugary option. Like making home made lollies out of crushed berries or apricots covered in yoghurt rather than sweets etc. Not suger free but got to be better than Harribo mix.

Thomcat · 09/06/2008 09:31

That Rocks stuff is actually really nice, have you tried it yourself? I did the same. Mine arn't very good at drinking water these days so that Rocks juice is handy stuff.

terramum · 09/06/2008 09:37

I didn't offer anything containing refined sugar to DS until he was over 2 & avoided juices etc as well. Seems to have worked out ok so far (he is now 3.11). He loves chocolate will eat pancakes with sugar & lemon until he bursts if they are put in front of him but would rather have an apple or banana if given the choice. A few people have remarked on how he rejects a lot of processed 'sweet' foods likes cakes etc in favour of more natural things like fruit & veg.

MrsBadger · 09/06/2008 09:39

exactly - IMO the problem isn't sugar but the crap that comes with it in cheap squash, Haribo etc.
It's that old chestnut - don't eat it if your great-grandma wouldn't recognise it as food...

AitchTwoCiao · 09/06/2008 09:42

also, chocolate better for their teeth than haribo or more solid sweets, the melting point is lower so it sticks to their teeth less.

SquiffyHock · 09/06/2008 09:42

And never buy anything sugar-free!! Really full of crap. I think children are really good at self-regulating their intake - yesterday DS ate a ton of very rare roast beef when normally he would eat mainly veg and potatoes. I honestly think he needed the iron. Another day he would OD of fruit or only eat pasta. (am I talking nonsense??)

AitchTwoCiao · 09/06/2008 09:46

i don't think you are, squiff...

S1ur · 09/06/2008 09:48

absolutely agree squiff.

Mine also go through really hungry phases and air plant modes.

It is very easy to overworry but I am definatly less hung about food wiht ds than I was with pfb

Guadalupe · 09/06/2008 09:51

I was quite good with ds1 and deflected my mother from givng him chocolate buttons/cake till he was 18 months or so, dd was a bit younger and ds2 had some as soon as he swiped it from the grasp of the others which was well before a year.

Niecie · 09/06/2008 10:02

I think sugar is sugar as far as your teeth are concerned. Somebody said they wouldn't let their children have teeth rotting sweets but were happy to let them have cakes and biscuits. Neither will do your teeth any favours (although everything in moderation of course - my children get them sometimes)

Aren't raisins, a supposedly healthy food, as likely to rot your teeth as a jelly baby? They are both very high in sugar and stick to your teeth just as well. In some ways a lolly would be better for your teeth as they don't stick and get the chance to work away at your tooth enamel.

MrsBadger · 09/06/2008 10:08

the bad point about lollies is that you suck them for ages, so the ugar is hanging round your mouth even if the actual sweet is still on the stick.

Toothwise the advantage of cake over sweets is you chew it, swallow it and it's gone. You don;t have a packet of tiny cakes each of which you suck for three minues, thus bathing your teeth in sugar for a whole hour.
And cake, being as it contains complex as well as simple carbs and also fat, protein etc is actually food. Sweets aren't food.

OverMyDeadBody · 09/06/2008 10:11

yes neicie, as far as teeth are concerned sugar is sugar is sugar.

40 minutes sucking on a lollipop will do more damage than 1 minute eating a biscuit though won't it

I don't get the whole sugar is evil school of thought tbh. Sugar is energy as far as the body is concerned, and it doesn't care whether it's refined glucose, fructose, lactose, organic fairtrade demarera, honey, unsulphured apricots or a jammy dodger. Kids need energy. They don't need all the crap that goes with some of these things, but the key here is moderation and a balanced diet.

It is not the poison that kills us, but the dose.

Original poster

Tinkjon · 09/06/2008 10:19

as soon as I re-read what I'd written I thought "now someone's going to point out that there is sugar in fruit" No, really?! Sorry, obviously I meant added sugar but I forgot to specify. And yes, the sugar in fruit is far better for your blood sugar levels (I had gestational diabetes, I know all about this!) We hardly ever have pudding at home, other than fruit or yoghurt but very occasionally at the weekend I'll make a crumble-type pudding and I haven't decided when to let DS try some. I'm trying to get DS to eat same meals as 5yo DD (making 3 meals a day is killing me!) and there is going to come a point where something has a bit of sugar in and I just wondered when I'd feel comfortable letting him have some. With DD we avoid it but it's far from banned. I'm not worried about it at all, btw - just curious about when other people allowed it.

Re. squash - I started another thread about this a few weeks ago and I'm so not going there again

OP posts:

Thomcat · 09/06/2008 10:21

But is it all about sugar? Isn't it also about general nutrition? I'd rather my child eat raisins, a more natural product, than man-made jelly babies. The actual sugar may well be equal in both but, and this is just me, I'd rather see a child tuck into a bag of juicy raisins then a a bag of jelly baby sweets any day.

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