Toddlers & sweets

Eibhlin2011

How often do you think toddlers should eat sweets?

I always try to make sure my 2 year old eats healthily - and I give him the occasional treat - like if we're at a birthday party - or at Christmas - or maybe the odd ice cream. The way I see it is that in a short while he'll be roaring at me in the supermarket to get him chocolate bars - so I have it easy now - and there's no need to go giving him junk if he doesn't really know about it yet.

My sister has a totally different approach - her kids seems to eat as much sweets and crisps as they like. They always have fizzy drinks etc. I see the 1 year old helping herself to as much sweets as she wants. Last Sunday I was in their house and the kids had several packets of crisps plus sweets. Their breakfast cereal was like mini chocolate chip cookies (made by Nestle)! For dinner they had pizza - and chips.

Everyone thinks we're a bit silly - and typical first time parents for monitoring what our kid eats - and for saying no on his behalf when they offer him sweets. But I can't imagine id have a different attitude on my next kid - you can see the effects on her kids weight-wise and their teeth dont look too great. Also, would the parents not be worried about the long term health of their kids? We get told that we're 'depriving' our kid of treats - but I dont mind depriving him a bit if it means he's healthier.

How Strange

Op I'm with you on this. My son will get sweets erc of course but I'm in no rush to introduce him to them. I gave him some plain vanilla ice ream on Sunday as we were out for lunch and he was like a crack addict that evening.

Fizzy drinks will be totally banned in our house except for birthday parties or special occasions. We don't drink them anyway. I read an article in the Irish times last Friday which said chocolate and ice cream are better treats, teeth wise, than sweets etc and also fizzy drinks AND fruit juice are a no no except for special ocassionally. According to the article a lot of dental problems in young children are from fruit smoothies, juices and yoghurts as parents give them regularly instead of sugary foods.

missis aggie

I totally agree. My daughter is 8 months and I already met people who tried to give her chocolate...and though I'm crazy for as you said depriving her... I have no intention to introduce sweets any time soon. I do baby led weaning, she has very healthy diet. We don't drink fizzy drinks or juices. It's funny no one would try to make adult to choclate but there is some obsession about kids

Hannibal Smith

We don't buy any sweets...very very seldom. Dessert is yogurt in our house and fizzy drinks are an absolute no.

The grandparents are demons for giving him rubbish, its s constant battle with them. Half the time we have to eat the sweets for him, he gets so much

clappyhappy

Our 3 only get a glass of coke /7.up on Christmas day, we never have them in the house, admittedly they would get 4 jellies each after dinner, and Friday night they get homemade chips and homemade chicken pieces. They eat all veg except one won't eat carrots!! I don't mind giving them the jellies as they wouldn't get anything else, oh and ice cream for dessert on a Sunday. Some may think im bad but they are fine strong healthy kids never had an antibiotic and teeth are perfect.

deisemum

I think it's all about balance and the age of the child. OP I wouldn't be keen on young children having the amount of stuff your sister's children have. Your 2 year old is still young and if she/he isn't looking for stuff then I wouldn't be pushing it. The occasional treat is fine.

One thing I've noticed over the years is that children whose parents don't allow or only allow the occasional treat are the very children who are glued to a table full of party food gorging their way through it when they're at a party and don't get involved much in the playing and they're making sure they get as much as they can. I'm talking about children from junior infants up.

I also know adults who weren't given sweets/biscuits etc or very little as a child have ended up overweight adults because with the freedom to be able to have them they over did it, in the same way as if you're allowed something you can take or leave it but if you're not allowed something then your desire for it may increase.

As I said it's about balance.

Davidth88

OP I am totally with you

Our 6YO has never had a fizzy drink, has decided she does not like them ( don't know how ).

Sweets , treats ONLY.

I was in Temple Street OP dept recently and saw a sight that I must admit made me flinch.

Approx 18MO boy ( not the patient ) ,Mother opens can of coke , takes boy's BOTTLE , and fills it with coke.

cormie

The whole concept of a "treat" being something that's bad for your child is a widespread problem and introducing children to such sugary, fatty, processed, addictive foods/drinks at such a young age will cause all sorts of knock-on problems from weight gain to dental problems to long term health deterioration which may then require body and brain altering drugs which could cause more ongoing problems and the cycle continues. These are unnatural foods and are thus causing the children to act unnaturaly, whether it's having tantrums when they can't get their fix or developing health issues.

Unless the parents are completely ignorant of what they are feeding their children and the damage it does (I believe even my own parents are guilty of this), there's a lot more in the media and everywhere else nowadays with regards information on foods and if they are knowingly giving their children such terrible food, then this is bad parenting and just taking what they think is the lazy approach to shut the kids up without considering the long-term effects.

With regards to fruit smoothies causing bad teeth, I wouldn't be so sure they are the cause of the bad teeth. Here's some advice with regards to fruit consumption and teeth:

* Eat fruit RIPE… Do not eat unripe fruit, it is UNFIT for human consumption. Avoid lemons and limes if you have teeth issues.

* Don’t make fruit juice a daily occurrence. Devoid of fibre, the fruit sugar enters the bloodstream too quickly subsequently affecting the homeostasis of our teeth and body. Orange juice is fine because it still retains the fibre after juicing

That states fruit juice, a smoothie is generally whole fruits mixed with water so providing the fruit is ripe it shouldn't be a concern for teeth.

Have a look at this; Ice cream made from nothing but frozen bananas. It's delicious and you can add all sorts to change the flavour or add different flavours:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OkOGcEvy9Pk

Perfect "treat" for anyone and I'm sure any child would love to see the process and join in with their parents making it.

hoodwinked

deisemum wrote: »

I think it's all about balance and the age of the child. OP I wouldn't be keen on young children having the amount of stuff your sister's children have. Your 2 year old is still young and if she/he isn't looking for stuff then I wouldn't be pushing it. The occasional treat is fine.

One thing I've noticed over the years is that children whose parents don't allow or only allow the occasional treat are the very children who are glued to a table full of party food gorging their way through it when they're at a party and don't get involved much in the playing and they're making sure they get as much as they can. I'm talking about children from junior infants up.

I also know adults who weren't given sweets/biscuits etc or very little as a child have ended up overweight adults because with the freedom to be able to have them they over did it, in the same way as if you're allowed something you can take or leave it but if you're not allowed something then your desire for it may increase.

As I said it's about balance.

i agree 100% with the above,

as a child we would have 'grown up on sweets' all of my family would have (40 of us)
none of us are obese, none of us had issues with our teeth all the usual scare tactics thrown out by statistics, and 'healthy eating' campaigners!

its all about moderation, my mum once gave me this advice,
"if you make an issue out of food, you will give them issues with food" and as i've applied it to my two year old the more i see it working,

i don't make a fuss if someone buys her chocolate, (and i believe they now say chocolate isn't as bad as it was made out to be) i didn't make a fuss if someone gave her a fizzy drink, i didn't ban any foods,


now at nearly three, if she opens the fridge she will more often then not, grab a yogurt, fruit/vegetable (she eats tomatoes like apples), cheese or ask for toast more then she will go for the yellow snack bars, but then if she chooses a yellow snack bar i don't freak out either.

give her the choice of a juice (water or fizzy or fruit) and she'll choose water. because to her there is no difference but she prefers water.

Easter morning when most children were digging into their easter eggs she asked me for cheerios.

because i made no fuss, no banning of 'junk' food she takes it or (or more often) leaves it!

i was at her cousins 6th birthday recently and you could tell the children who are not used to sweets by far, two of them were digging in practically hoarding the sweets and the mother there pointed out they are 'not usually allowed sweets' my daughter and her cousin (both allowed sweets) ate one or two and walked away to play. .the two hoarding the sweets went mental afterwards, really hyper, where the others were just normal.

pwurple

Our 14 month old has an egg allergy, so we have to watch her like a hawk at birthday parties and out when people want to give her things. No cake, no icecream, no pancake, no marshmallow, no biscuits etc.

So really, the only junk she could have is chocolate or crisps.. She has had a crisp once, and a small bit of chocolate. We don't normally have it in the house I suppose. I do want to allow her these things, as she is restricted from so much else, so there has never been a time of 'no you can't have it'. I let her taste whatever other people are eating as long as it's egg free.


That coke in the bottle thing shook me a small bit. That's pretty bad, the child can't even ask for it then. The worst thing I saw was a baby who was at the crawling stage in Mahon Point play area, being put into their buggy with a happy meal to eat.

How Strange

Here's the article from last weeks Irish Times

http://www.irishtimes.com/newspaper/health/2012/0410/1224314560981.html

Hannibal Smith

hoodwinked wrote: »

i agree 100% with the above,

as a child we would have 'grown up on sweets' all of my family would have (40 of us)
none of us are obese, none of us had issues with our teeth all the usual scare tactics thrown out by statistics, and 'healthy eating' campaigners!

its all about moderation, my mum once gave me this advice,
"if you make an issue out of food, you will give them issues with food" and as i've applied it to my two year old the more i see it working,

i don't make a fuss if someone buys her chocolate, (and i believe they now say chocolate isn't as bad as it was made out to be) i didn't make a fuss if someone gave her a fizzy drink, i didn't ban any foods,


now at nearly three, if she opens the fridge she will more often then not, grab a yogurt, fruit/vegetable (she eats tomatoes like apples), cheese or ask for toast more then she will go for the yellow snack bars, but then if she chooses a yellow snack bar i don't freak out either.

give her the choice of a juice (water or fizzy or fruit) and she'll choose water. because to her there is no difference but she prefers water.

Easter morning when most children were digging into their easter eggs she asked me for cheerios.

because i made no fuss, no banning of 'junk' food she takes it or (or more often) leaves it!

i was at her cousins 6th birthday recently and you could tell the children who are not used to sweets by far, two of them were digging in practically hoarding the sweets and the mother there pointed out they are 'not usually allowed sweets' my daughter and her cousin (both allowed sweets) ate one or two and walked away to play. .the two hoarding the sweets went mental afterwards, really hyper, where the others were just normal.

I have to say, I've never noticed what kids eat what at a party! As soon as the games are over and the food comes out, all I see are kids diving for it. Some are allowed sweets, some aren't, but they all head for the goodies.

I rarely buy sweets for my son, he still eats everything that's put in front of him though, so denying him sweets hasn't effected the variety of what he eats? My dad gave him coke the other day and he spat it out . Put a plate of sweets in front of him at a party and he'll take what he wants and leave what he doesn't want (cake is another issue altogether though )

There is absolutely nothing wrong with keeping your kid away from sweets as much as possible. Whether they become obese when they're older, I don't believe, is down to whether they were denied treats as a kid, it's that they're not educated on WHY they were kept away and what damage sugary foods can do.

I do agree with what you say about everything in moderation, but in my belief there are some things that should be held back as much as possible. It's not a judgement thing...I don't think people are bad parents for giving their kids sweets. My mother is type 2 diabetic and I want my son to grow up knowing that if he eats bad food, then just like every other unhealthy choice he makes, it could have an effect on his health in the future.

Eibhlin2011

clappyhappy wrote: »

Our 3 only get a glass of coke /7.up on Christmas day, we never have them in the house, admittedly they would get 4 jellies each after dinner, and Friday night they get homemade chips and homemade chicken pieces. They eat all veg except one won't eat carrots!! I don't mind giving them the jellies as they wouldn't get anything else, oh and ice cream for dessert on a Sunday. Some may think im bad but they are fine strong healthy kids never had an antibiotic and teeth are perfect.

I think that sounds fair enough - a small amount of treats is no problem -

Eibhlin2011

hoodwinked wrote: »

deisemum wrote: »

I think it's all about balance and the age of the child. OP I wouldn't be keen on young children having the amount of stuff your sister's children have. Your 2 year old is still young and if she/he isn't looking for stuff then I wouldn't be pushing it. The occasional treat is fine.

One thing I've noticed over the years is that children whose parents don't allow or only allow the occasional treat are the very children who are glued to a table full of party food gorging their way through it when they're at a party and don't get involved much in the playing and they're making sure they get as much as they can. I'm talking about children from junior infants up.

I also know adults who weren't given sweets/biscuits etc or very little as a child have ended up overweight adults because with the freedom to be able to have them they over did it, in the same way as if you're allowed something you can take or leave it but if you're not allowed something then your desire for it may increase.

As I said it's about balance.

i agree 100% with the above,

as a child we would have 'grown up on sweets' all of my family would have (40 of us)
none of us are obese, none of us had issues with our teeth all the usual scare tactics thrown out by statistics, and 'healthy eating' campaigners!

its all about moderation, my mum once gave me this advice,
"if you make an issue out of food, you will give them issues with food" and as i've applied it to my two year old the more i see it working,

i don't make a fuss if someone buys her chocolate, (and i believe they now say chocolate isn't as bad as it was made out to be) i didn't make a fuss if someone gave her a fizzy drink, i didn't ban any foods,


now at nearly three, if she opens the fridge she will more often then not, grab a yogurt, fruit/vegetable (she eats tomatoes like apples), cheese or ask for toast more then she will go for the yellow snack bars, but then if she chooses a yellow snack bar i don't freak out either.

give her the choice of a juice (water or fizzy or fruit) and she'll choose water. because to her there is no difference but she prefers water.

Easter morning when most children were digging into their easter eggs she asked me for cheerios.

because i made no fuss, no banning of 'junk' food she takes it or (or more often) leaves it!

i was at her cousins 6th birthday recently and you could tell the children who are not used to sweets by far, two of them were digging in practically hoarding the sweets and the mother there pointed out they are 'not usually allowed sweets' my daughter and her cousin (both allowed sweets) ate one or two and walked away to play. .the two hoarding the sweets went mental afterwards, really hyper, where the others were just normal.

That's great your daughter would choose healthy food over junk at times - I'm not sure my son would make the same choice if I let him!

I've heard people say before that if u dont let your kids eat a certain amount of sweets that they'll go crazy for them. I'm not sure how much I agree with it. Maybe it's true for some kids but not for all. My sisters kids seem to have an unending appetite for junk - They'd be as quick to rush over to the table of sweets at a party as any other kid.

I know there is a chance that when my kid grows up he'll go mad for junk and become overweight etc - but somehow I have a feeling that his cousins are more likely to end up this way - They're being raised to think it's normal to eat loads of junk. I want my son to enjoy some small amount of junk food as a treat - but to understand the importance of nutrition & health so hopefully when he's grown up he might make good choices about what he eats.

cbyrd

It's all great til they start thinking for themselves and eating it anyway:rolleyes: The policy in my house is no treat til after dinner and while it works most of the time i have raiders that will strike when my back is turned :eek: i'm talking about my 13 and 9 year olds .. . After dinner treats for them were always a yoghurt or some icecream if i had it in the house.. cookies and biscuits were put away.. i don't buy much in the way of sweet stuff because if it's in the house I eat it and my ass is big enough :rolleyes:

I don't make a big deal out of it i wouldn't say no if they ask for a biscuit.. but i draw the line at 2.. My 2year old has been known to climb his way into the cookie jar and with him it's 2 cookies per day max.. or a lollipop.. he can't really eat icecream or yoghurt and if i give him fruit now i get it handed back to me.. except for berries.. and when i buy it it's gone in minutes..Nana's house is always great for berries. But every dinner i put in front of him he devours.. breakfast is 2 weetabix and 3 slices of brown bread toasted with some jam on.. but to look at him you wouldn't think he was such a good eater..
My fruit bowl is always full and they eat lots of it too.. they have no treats at school so while i would love it if they didn't eat crap it's just not realistic to think they'll never eat it.. it's all about balance i think..

iguana

Eibhlin2011 wrote: »

I've heard people say before that if u dont let your kids eat a certain amount of sweets that they'll go crazy for them. I'm not sure how much I agree with it. Maybe it's true for some kids but not for all.

There have been a couple of studies that bear up deisemum's and hoodwink's observations. It's up to everyone to decide for themselves but having a few sweets/biscuits a few times a week or even a small amount a day will not cause any long term issues in most children. It makes sweets just another food stuff and no different psychologically in terms of treat value as an orange or a carrot stick.

I've definitely seen it myself. We would usually have a biscuit after dinner as children or a small chocolate bar/bag of crisps in our lunch at school but they were no more or less enjoyed than apples, grapes, nuts or mandarins. In terms of highly desirable treat food, orange juice, melons, strawberries and raspberries were by far and away the most prized. And as an adult I do enjoy sweet treats but far prefer in season exotic fruits.

How Strange

I used to love peaches as a child and it was a real treat to get one from the fruit & vegetable guy on a Saturday and to this day it's something I love.

I actually dont really agree with sweets etc being considered treats or used as rewards. As kids we'd also have had crisps or chocolate bars for our school lunch. A little in small quantities is better, imo, than only giving them every now and then and having a big build up to getting them.

caprilicious

iguana wrote: »

...I've definitely seen it myself. We would usually have a biscuit after dinner as children or a small chocolate bar/bag of crisps in our lunch at school but they were no more or less enjoyed than apples, grapes, nuts or mandarins. In terms of highly desirable treat food, orange juice, melons, strawberries and raspberries were by far and away the most prized. And as an adult I do enjoy sweet treats but far prefer in season exotic fruits.

I agree with this too. Exotic fruits were definitely a more prized treat as a child & to this day I do enjoy them more than a portion of junk food.

I can also agree with the point of the child that is completely denied treats being more prone to pig out on them when they are allowed them.(well in my case anyway )
As a child I had an allergy to chocolate, anything with E no's in it (most sweets with strong colouring) & fizzy drinks due to asthma.
Thankfully (or not where my waistline is concerned :rolleyes:) I grew out of the asthma & the allergic reaction as a teen, but developed such a massively sweet tooth making up for lost time with the chocolate & sweets as an adult.

I do allow my daughter treats (she's 2), but draw the line at fizzy drinks & wont give her those, I also didn't allow her to have sweets until her first birthday. Though she had only started solids properly at 11 months, so didn't want to progress from solids onto sweets!
She has a few jellies every day or two or if I'm having a biscuit I'll give her one.
I agree moderation is key, though I can understand why some people would prefer their child had no sweets at all. They're not called junk food for nothing!
The bit that frustrates me are those that give you grief for not giving your child treats!
A well intentioned loved one tried to give my daughter some coca cola around Christmas time. When I said no way, she's only a baby I was the worst in the world for begrudging the child a treat :rolleyes:

Love2love

I use to get the bus every morning with my son when he was very young and I seen this woman with twin daughters get on the bus too most mornings. All three were obese. Now I know some people have medical condition ect but I dont buy it as her excuse. Her daughters would be on the way to school at 8 in the morning and they would be tucking into chocolate and crisps. I seen them last week and they were so overweight the girls were struggling to walk. I mean huge, they would be the biggest children I have ever seen including TV. They would be approx 11 or 12 now.
Now I am no model but come on.......

I find it hard to keep my two away from junk most of the time because of other people giving it to them - namely the grandparents but what I can do is educate them about food. My daughter is not 2 yet so I have a while to go before I can explain it to her but my son is almost 6 and he will refuse most junk because it's not good for him but its his choice(most of the time). If we go to the shop he will ask for fruit / cheese rather than crisps. Berries are a staple at this stage

lynski

at our toddler group my little daughter then 18 mths came up to be and handed me a full size kitkat to open for her. I looked around to see where it came from and saw the very overweight granny, with the very overweight children looking at me. so i went to apologise hand it back as i thought my little one had grabbed it and she said no she gave it to her. :-O one of her grandchildren at 18mths looked like the characters on the ship in wall-e and he was so fat he could not walk.
I kinda grinned and thanked her and gave the baby a half a finger.
I try to be balanced about ti, but i dont buy sweets routinely, or fizzy drinks ever. I find if i chop up carrots, cucumber, pepper, apples, tomatos and leave them on the table at meal times they will clear the lot when their meal. I have to hid the vegs sometimes because they love them so much.
hard to remain balanced though when they are going through the 'no eating' phase at about 3 -arrragghhhh was told last year though to look at consumption over 3 days and you would see that they are fine.

farmchoice

The older i get the more i come to realise that the most important and useful maxim in life is:

EVERYTHING IN MODERATION.

if you apply this rule you will not go too far wrong.

Rosy Posy

We were very strict with our first child- he didn't have a sweet until he was over one and that was given to him by the grandparents, but we did allow him to have a lot of fresh and dried fruit and if we were out he'd have fruit juice. When he was three we brought him to the dentist for the first time and all of his molars were completely rotten. They were so bad that three of them had to be removed in hospital under general anaesthetic. None of the dentists or dental nurses believed us when we said that he never had sweets. One of the dentist's even said (in front of his ears, I could have throttled him) that fruit was just as bad as sweets for teeth! Various explanations that have been given to me are, that his teeth all came in very early (first two teeth at four months, full set of baby teeth including 'two year' molars by the time he was one) and may not have been formed correctly; grazing on fruit between meals (apparently they should have a two hour break between eating with no snacks and only water to drink); and, co-sleeping and breastfeeding (saturating his teeth with sugary breastmilk overnight). Now we go to the dentist with all the kids every six months and I help them brush their teeth twice a day and after they have had anything sweet to eat. The baby even gets his two teeth brushed though without toothpaste. The older kids do get sweets at birthday parties and occasionally when they get a package from their grandparents, maybe about twice a month. I do a lot of home baking so they would get that more often. With the sweets, one big thing that I've noticed is that one set of grandparents always send the natural, no artificial flavours or colours kind and the other send 'traditional' bags of penny sweets, and when they have the ones that are filled with E numbers you can really see it in their behaviour afterwards, especially in my son who is a sensitive child. Tbh, when those kinds arrive I usually let them have a few so that when granny interrogates them on the phone to make sure that the witch (me) hasn't stolen the kiddy's sweeties they can say that they got them, and then the get put 'away' indefinitely.

cynder

My kids are no longer toddlers, they are 12, soon to be 7 and a 5 year old.

They had their fare share of sweets n treats. I never noticed any change in behavior after their sugar fix. They are not fat or over weight. They are infact slap bang on average, well my 2 boys are, my 12 year old is the height n weight of a 14 year old. She has at least 5 cans of coke a week to treat her hypoglycemia. She's diabetic type 1 since the age of 7, she has more sweets n chocolate now then what she had before getting diabetes.


As far as I'm concerned everything in moderation.


As for far toddlers my daughter was a big toddler I breast fed her till 2.5 years and she hardly ate, I tried to get her off a number of times but had no help, until I used mustard on my nipples, at just 3 she was the size of a 5 year old and the weight of a 6 year old. she was a big toddler I say people called her fat, chubby, or that she had puppy fat... But they had no idea of her diet, or her health or her age. She was born 54cm in legnth and weighed 9lb 1 oz and was 1 week early. She was born big and remained that way.

Unless you know the ins and outs of a toddlers diet and health don't critasise the parent. For all you know the woman giving their child coke in a bottle or passing their fat child a chocolate bar could be saving them hypoglycemia and possible coma, the child, baby or toddler could be diabetic and need the sugar fix. It's easy to look on and think you know everything. Just to add type 1 diabetes is not weight related, it's genetic and an absolute pain to live with for both parent and child.

cynder

Rosy Posy wrote: »

We were very strict with our first child- he didn't have a sweet until he was over one and that was given to him by the grandparents, but we did allow him to have a lot of fresh and dried fruit and if we were out he'd have fruit juice. When he was three we brought him to the dentist for the first time and all of his molars were completely rotten. They were so bad that three of them had to be removed in hospital under general anaesthetic. None of the dentists or dental nurses believed us when we said that he never had sweets. One of the dentist's even said (in front of his ears, I could have throttled him) that fruit was just as bad as sweets for teeth! Various explanations that have been given to me are, that his teeth all came in very early (first two teeth at four months, full set of baby teeth including 'two year' molars by the time he was one) and may not have been formed correctly; grazing on fruit between meals (apparently they should have a two hour break between eating with no snacks and only water to drink); and, co-sleeping and breastfeeding (saturating his teeth with sugary breastmilk overnight). Now we go to the dentist with all the kids every six months and I help them brush their teeth twice a day and after they have had anything sweet to eat. The baby even gets his two teeth brushed though without toothpaste. The older kids do get sweets at birthday parties and occasionally when they get a package from their grandparents, maybe about twice a month. I do a lot of home baking so they would get that more often. With the sweets, one big thing that I've noticed is that one set of grandparents always send the natural, no artificial flavours or colours kind and the other send 'traditional' bags of penny sweets, and when they have the ones that are filled with E numbers you can really see it in their behaviour afterwards, especially in my son who is a sensitive child. Tbh, when those kinds arrive I usually let them have a few so that when granny interrogates them on the phone to make sure that the witch (me) hasn't stolen the kiddy's sweeties they can say that they got them, and then the get put 'away' indefinitely.

My lady was breast fed till 2.5 I took her to the dentist at 2 as I saw holes in her teeth. She wouldn't open her mouth for them so said to bring her back at 4, at 3and 3 months she had a swelling on her gum, took her to the dentist and she had chronic tooth decay she had 14 out of 20 teeth decayed she had 10 teeth removed at 3 and 6 months. The cause? Breast milk, fruit and weak enamel. Not sweets,

She could only eat fruit with her main meal. And had taytoes instead of sweets. At 6 they removed 2 more teeth and filled her fangs. As soon as a tooth came in she had to have them sealed. Every tooth in her mouth is sealed. When she got diabetes she needed her sugar fix so notice we could do with regards to teeth, she needs sugar to live.


My cousins son was fitted with dentures at age 3. He has no enamel and his teeth have to be pulled before they rot.

Please Kill Me

My 18 month old daughter hasn't had a piece of chocolate (or anything else sweet) pass her lips as yet. Like someone else said, there'll be plenty of time for that. But if/when it does happen, it'll be rare! Our 6 year old ask for fruit when we're out, never sweets! We have a movie night once or twice a month where he'll get a packet of Buttons and a juice. Other than that, it's milk/water and fruit. I'll keep it like that as long as possible, but there's no objections as yet.

How Strange

Just to reassure any breastfeeding mums, mums who breastfed and the dads too of course; breastmilk on its own does not cause tooth decay. I've been told before that night feeding while co sleeping or extended breastfeeding (considered to be 6 months in this country but normally up to 3-4 years) can lead to tooth decay. This is untrue. There can be many factors leading to tooth decay such as weak enamel from before birth, other foods or drinks given along with breastmilk, genetics.

http://kellymom.com/ages/older-infant/tooth-decay/

http://www.brianpalmerdds.com/caries.html

http://www.curetoothdecay.com/Baby_Bottle_Tooth_Decay/breast_milk_cavities.html

cynder

How Strange wrote: »

Just to reassure any breastfeeding mums, mums who breastfed and the dads too of course; breastmilk on its own does not cause tooth decay. I've been told before that night feeding while co sleeping or extended breastfeeding (considered to be 6 months in this country but normally up to 3-4 years) can lead to tooth decay. This is untrue. There can be many factors leading to tooth decay such as weak enamel from before birth, other foods or drinks given along with breastmilk, genetics.

http://kellymom.com/ages/older-infant/tooth-decay/

http://www.brianpalmerdds.com/caries.html

http://www.curetoothdecay.com/Baby_Bottle_Tooth_Decay/breast_milk_cavities.html

It is true that breast feeding CAN cause tooth decay, just as sweets can cause tooth decay, just as fruit and fruit juices can cause tooth decay, just as weak enamel can cause tooth decay...


To say breast feeding does not at all cause tooth decay is a lie. Ask any dentist....


Just to add we can all find links on the net to support our views!!!

http://www.agd.org/public/oralhealth/Default.asp?IssID=296&Topic=C&ArtID=1185

Acadamy of dentistry...

http://www.simplestepsdental.com/SS/ihtSS/r.==/st.126871/t.126759/pr.3.html
American Academy of Pediatrics:

Clearly, breastfeeding puts most children at very minimal risk of cavities and is protective for many children. But under certain and very specific conditions breastfeeding may push the limits of a child's capacity to ward off tooth decay. This may occur when breastfeeding:

Is very frequent
Occurs repeatedly throughout the night
Is not followed by cleaning the baby's mouth

This complexity explains why the American Academy of Pediatric Dentistry has developed a carefully stated position on breastfeeding. The academy fully supports breastfeeding. But it cautions that, "the risk of potentially devastating … decay exists for the breast-fed child as it does for the bottle-fed child."

How Strange

It's not true to say breastfeeding causes tooth decay. Ask a dentist who knows about breastfeeding; there's a difference. Read the links I posted.

Sorry for going off topic.

cynder

How Strange wrote: »

It's not true to say breastfeeding causes tooth decay. Ask a dentist who knows about breastfeeding; there's a difference. Read the links I posted.

Sorry for going off topic.

Agree to disagree, we can all find links to prove out points, my is from first hand experience of chronic tooth decay...

I myself have a great set of teeth with only 4 fillings. I really think everything in moderation works better than forbidding sweet and sugary stuff. Even fruit as that has bad effect on teeth too.

Thankfully my bottle fed boys are doing well, the soon to be 7 year old had 2 teeth removed last year (one due to an abscess the other due to decay) and already has his molars sealed that are not due in till his 8.

My 5.5 year old who had the bottle till he was 4 (twice at night and during the day) and the soother till he was 4.5 has no cavity's at all...

They have a varied diet, with sweets n treats,taytoes, potatoes, meat n veg and no added sugar drinks with aspartame and pure fruit drinks too.

How Strange

http://www.aapd.org/media/pressreleases/breastfeeding-99.asp

The American Academy of Paediatric Dentistry's press release from 1999 on tooth decay and breastfeeding.

Incidentally I asked my dentist this week when should a young child have his/her first dental visit. He reckoned before they start school but they should accompany mum or dad on routine visits so it's not all new to them when they first go.

cynder

NEWS_ID=43 5. 1Ref Manual 97-98 #1 ... 19 Reference Manual 2000–2001 ORAL HEALTH POLICIES Breast-feeding Revised May, 2000 Council on Clinical Affairs The American ... http://www.aapd.org/pdf/breastfeeding.pdf


Revised may 2000. Can't link because I'm on the phone but if your interested you can type in the link.