Sweets & treats for lo

[biglebowski]

Lo is almost 9 mo and due to me being on maternity leave (and enjoying cooking) I make most of his food from scratch. He has fruit or a natural / Greek yoghurt for pudding. Me and OH were out for lunch today and we started chatting about when we would start to give Lo sweets, a little white chocolate, a taste of ice cream etc. Neither of us really had a clue when to start allowing this. We aren't super strict and know that not allowing these things can make them more attractive to Lo when he's bigger. When did you ladies start to introduce treats and how often do you allow them?

 

[NerdyMama]

When dd was that little, i gave her something small and just a taste like once a week. After one, she got a small piece of candy for dessert. Still stick with that andshes two. But its only if she finishes or eats a good amount of dinner. I think youre going to get some varying replies on this tho.

 

[MommyJogger]

Here it's recommended to avoid as much salt and sugar as possible until they're 12mo, and then after 12mo to try and keep 'extra' salt and sugar consumption very low (mostly because most people aren't aware how much added salt and sugar is in their everyday diet, so it's really easy to go overboard without knowing it).
Our personal philosophy is that it makes it attractive when they're older if you turn it into a reward ("you can have x if you finish your dinner/do that chore/etc"). We believe that keeping it rare and modeling moderation will instead help them develop what we consider to be a good sense of moderation. When he's two-ish, we'll probably start making a dessert for Sunday dinner or every couple of weeks, because that's how often we tend to have sweets anyway.
But who knows how that's going to work out? lol.

 

[MrsButterfly]

I agree that turning them into a reward or a big deal can create a bigger issue in the long run. Since my lo turned one we occasionally give a little taste of what we're having if he's with us like we do all food. Not sure if this will work out but my DH never used to get any treats at all and then gorged on stuff at his friends house eating 6 packs of crisps at a time!

 

[Magsy]

I wouldn't offer any while he's this age. When he starts to try to steal things off of your plate, I would offer a bite here and there of something sweet if you're eating it. I also agree with the other ladies who say don't make a reward. My approach is not to make a fuss over them. We'll see how it works out!

 

[jd83]

I didn't offer desserts until afer 12 months, except for a few bites of vanilla ice cream here or there. I don't see any point in them to a baby, who doesn't get the concept of desserts so its just easy to avoid them at that age.

Once DS1 was around 1 1/2 he started really getting the concept of cookies, ice cream, etc being things he liked, so if we eat them, we offer small amounts also. I don't find it fair to eat those things in front of my kids and not allow them to have some. We don't eat desserts often, so every so often doesn't bother me for them to have a cookie or a small ice cream cone.

 

[MiniKiwi]

I've recently started giving her small tastes of treat foods, she's 16 months. Where I live, it's common for kids to have treats or candy on Saturdays so we'll be doing the same.

So far though, she refuses the treats! Won't even taste cake, I tried to give her a white choc button and she didn't want it. There's no point at this age, I just wanted to see if it made her happy so won't be trying again for a while. She considers a little bowl of grapes, melon and blueberries a treat

 

[beautifulpack]

She's tasted stuff since around 8 months..but nothing definitive...her idea of sweets is still fruit at this point lol

 

[Feebster1]

I am trying to hold of on any sweet things as long as possible, she will have years to make up for it later!

However my OH seems to think differently and i constantly catch him sharing his ice cream or choc biscuits with her!! gggrrrrrr!!

I know that despite whatever i say the grandparents will also give her treats so i feel quite confortable at the moment being 'bad cop' and giving her healthier options such as yoghurt and fruit (if she will ever eat it!) as a treat.

Guess we shall see how all that works out, best laids plans etc!!

 

[LockandKey]

I started giving my oldest tastes of ice cream around 9 months, chocolate was around 1 yr old, she ate part of chocolate cupcake for her first birthday. Now that she's 2, I give her a bit here and there in moderation maybe once or twice a week, but mostly treats for her are things like bananas, grapes, apples, animal and graham crackers.

 

[Larkspur]

He had nothing with sugar before 12 months but since on the rare occasions I have a piece of cake or biscuit or chocolate (maybe once a week) I will give him a tiny taste.

My parents limited sweet stuff... It just wasn't part of our daily diets. Now I just don't even think of buying it much at all. Usually the only thing we have in the house is icecream and a one-liter tub of that will last months. Their strictness had exactly the intended effect in my case.

 

[CT125]

I'm probably going to be in the minority, but I let Darragh have a biscuit most days and if I'm having a small snack type cake, I let him have some of that, too. I've given him vanlila ice cream on a few occasions, usually with fruit, and recently he's been enjoying oat and raisin cookies.
I don't eat a lot of chocolate anyway, so he rarely gets that, however I've no problem giving him it if I do have it.
He has a massive appetite anyway, and the sweet stuff he gets comes after he's had his meal, a yoghurt and a few slices of fruit. he also gets quavers sometimes after all of this
I used baby dessert jars from about 7 or 8 months before he was able to eat the same as what I did
I'm confident he has a balanced, healthy diet despite the snack treats he gets and I'm just careful not to overload him with a huge amount of them, they're more a filler once he's devoured everything else!!

 

[CoffeePuffin]

I held off from any refined sugar (even bought/still buy sugar free yoghurts) until her birthday when she had some birthday cake. We went away for the week on her birthday and I let her have a few licks of my ice cream at the beach. Now I think I will give her tastes of things now and again but wouldn't purposefully buy her something sweet (although she has her 12 month jabs tomorrow so I'm getting her some white chocolate buttons!!).

 

[biglebowski]

Thanks ladies. Im sure we will be carrying on as we are until he is at least a year as he loves trying different fruit, and adores his natural yoghurt. I just started to think we were being really strict due to a few comments made my some relatives (mainly older). They made me feel mean for not allowing "treats". I just dont think he needs them at the minute, certainly doesnt miss them, and there will be many years to stress about chocolate consumption!! When we do allow them Ill probably have a bash at baking healthier treats. With my baking skills he will be put off cakes or pudding for life

 

[nevernormal]

I'm hoping not to give him any added sugars until at least 1, but then he can have bits & tastes of whatever DH and I have.

The problem is, I have the worst sweet tooth ever! My mom liked salty snacks more so I didn't grow up with a lot of sweets on hand (or at least not consistently), but now that I can buy them myself it's so easy to go overboard. I'm trying to cut back and change my own habits before we start weaning. I know part of my problem is when Dh and I first married he would always ask after each meal what dessert was, so I was constantly finding stuff, and now I'm used to it (did not grow up having dessert except when guests were over!). We'll probably have more sweets than my family did growing up, but I know personally I need to learn some self control if I expect LO to learn it!

 

[lozzy21]

I never got her her own till she was 18 months but I would share mine from weaning. I hate the concept of using sweet things as a treat or a reward. They are simply part of a healthy diet that you have in moderation.

 

[eulmh82]

My 18 mth old has never had chocolate. He had his first digestive biscuit last week because he was given it and he started eating it and enjoying it so didn't want to take it off him. He has natural yoghurt with fruit and snacks on fruit and raisins. You think I'm a health freak right. I'm a chocoholic!!! I can't get enough sugar and I didn't want my son going the same way. He ll have it in the future etc i just thought while I can control his diet I will he's plenty of years to eat rubbish when he's a teenager and I can't control it! I know my friends all think I'm mean but he shows no Interest in these things anyway so I don't see the point

 

[overcomer79]

They get enough sweets at daycare! At home it is fruit and yogurt. We care about what we can control. But I'm not a control freak either and don't go in with thousands rules. I'm fairly laid back.

 

[babyblog]

With my first I probably waited longer, with this one I'm not strict at all. We gave him tastes of things from when he was weaning

 

[Button#]

He had cake on his first birthday which he loved but since then he won't eat cake. He doesn't like chocolate or ice cream. He's had a couple of biscuits since he turned one and a couple of servings of apple crumble.

I have a really sweet tooth but I try not to eat too much sweet stuff in front of him, especially while he's more obsessed with fruit than with junk.