stop feeding my baby POISON!!

Nicole - posted on 05/28/2010

My only advice since you are a SAHM is don't leave him with others. If you stay home you really shouldn't have to. If you need to do something not involving him wait for your husband (I'm assuming he is on board with you on this) or family members that agree with you to have the time to watch him. I am a SAHM and keep my daughter on a nutritious diet. I DON'T leave her with others the ensure things are going to be done the way I want them to be. This way I don't have to expect people to follow my particular guidelines and I can know exactly what goes on.

Christi - posted on 05/27/2010

i can completely understand your point of view, mine just differs. my doctor has told us that a couple of sips will do him no harm whatsoever, even his dentist has said so. he is an extremely healthy active lil boy. do what you feel is best for your children.

Elina - posted on 05/26/2010

http://blog.seattlepi.com/sassycitygirl/...

this article has a play-by-play of what pop (coke specifically) does to your body as it passes through. sure, it might not kill him, but it "binds calcium, magnesium and zinc in your lower intestine"; as in BEFORE your body gets to absorb it. so not only is it bad for you in itself, it actually leeches away nutrients provided by the 'healthy' foods you eat.

"i cannot completely cut him off from anything that has taste to it."
a)well you can't be *that scared if you're still drinking dr pepper. i'm sorry to say this 'see no evil' is very much the attitude of my friends who have type 1 in their family. there are many flavours in this world, other than sweet. there are also many flavours of 'sweet' that aren't absolute poison. it's all about choice.
b) i've worked in some pretty cutting-edge restaurants and our diet reflects that -- our baby eats from a variety of flavours from around the world and isn't a picky eater AT ALL, which means he doesn't need his food sugar-coated.
c) juvenile type 2 diabetes is on an alarming rise. also: there's new research that shows that orientals have an inherent predisposition towards type 2 diabetes (some mechanism in the pancreas peters out with age moreso than other races)
d) since i've touched on diabetes: i used to work for safeway, and there was a gentleman in a wheelchair into which i had to help load his weekly two cases of coke classic. over time, i learned that he was in the wheelchair because his feet were so badly swollen from uncontrolled diabetes. and he was still unwilling to give up his coke classic. the stuff is addictive poison and there's no reason to introduce it to a child until they're old enough to understand the negative ramifications and not just that it tastes good.
i wonder what the doctor that recommends your diet would say about your son drinking pop (yes, even a little bit).

there's a great cbc documentary called "big sugar" that covers everything from the health affects of sugar, to its horrific production process (hint: slavery lives), to the sugar industry's powerful p.r. lobbyists and marketing strategies to small children. a great, unstoppable corporate power is after your child, my child, everyone's child. in my opinion, it is up to us as parents not to just unquestioningly hand them over.

i wish you all the best in your struggle; my mom was overweight until she was diagnosed with type 2 and faced the choice between losing weight or shooting insulin; we have a family sweet tooth and i watch her struggle with that even now, almost 20 years later. which is another reason i don't want to nurture my son's sweet tooth, since he's at least half-destined to be unable to eat much of it after the age of say, 40.

reading this post over, i'm realizing that my issue isn't necessarily with sugar (even though it's added to unimaginable items) but with pop (and feeding it to small children). yes, everything in moderation but i think "don't feed him pop until he can ask for it in words" might be an easy enough rule for my friends to follow.

thank you for your input.

Amanda - posted on 05/26/2010

well the reason i don't give my son coke or any pop with caffeine is because of the caffeine. it's a drug, and he doesn't need to have it in his system screwing with his brain. i will let him have small sips of sprite or 7up maybe once a month. he doesn't need sugary drinks. his doctor doesn't even recommend fruit juice because there's so much sugar in it. he drinks water. all the time. he has a milk allergy and may or may not be allergic to soy, and he doesn't like rice milk, so he still breastfeeds 2 times a day and drinks water the rest of the time. i give him fresh fruits and veggies and try not to give him too much processed foods. people don't want to believe that the government is basically poisoning us (through the FDA) with foods that make us depressed and overweight and crazy, but they are. people didn't have our problems 100 years ago. hardly anyone had a peanut allergy back 50 years ago. now it's like every seventh person has a peanut allergy. this is just an example.
i don't blame you for not wanting your child to eat over processed sugars and foods if you have a large family history of diabetes.

Christi - posted on 05/26/2010

let me also say that i do watch my child's diet. i am extremely overweight and have struggled with it my entire life. i have seen the problems it led to when my mother didn't deal with it early in her life and i see how i am already being affected. we don't count calories or any of that nonsense, but we do eat a doctor recommended diet so that one my son won't become overweight and two so that my husband and i can get a handle on our problems. we don't keep unhealthy foods in the house, you won't see a soda or a bag of chips any where near here. we only eat out once a month, if we can afford it that month. my mother suffered from uncontrollable diabetes and died of horrific breast cancer that spread like wildfire. it scares the hell out of me to think that that could happen to me or my son, but i cannot completely cut him off from anything that has taste to it.

Christi - posted on 05/26/2010

my son has a couple of sips of dr. pepper every now and then. it is not going to kill him. i brush his teeth twice a day and we limit his sugar and sweets intakes. no i don't order him sodas, he will have a couple of lil sips out of a straw from my drink or my husbands, but not every day, like once a month, maybe. i am not judging you though. if you feel you have a reason to be concerned, then do what you feel is best for your child. that is all you can do. and if anyone has a problem with that they can get bent, lol.

Elina - posted on 05/25/2010

so you think it's alright to feed a 16 month old coke?

Christi - posted on 05/24/2010

it does sound like paranoia to me. my mother was a diabetic and she monitor our consumtion but didn't keep us from eating things with sugar all together. you don't know if your child will end up diabetic or not, but all you can do is do what you think is best, just try not to be a sugar nazi, i say that laughingly, not meanly.

Elina - posted on 05/24/2010

i haven't absolutely restricted anything yet (except the entire coke family and their knock-offs) (esp. diet coke. omg don't get me started)
i just hate always having to be the one to say, "well, he's already had [insert sugary item here] today," just to get the, "well our kids have too," you know? especially when it takes all the restraint i have NOT to say, "yes, because you know your children are the picture of health because you've had them tested for your myriad of congenital disorders, right?" (no.)
the last thing i want to do is argue parenting with people -- it's pointless anyway because they apparently care less than i do.

lol... turns out my childless friends are the better parents (either that or they're just better at taking direction)

Vicki - posted on 05/22/2010

Unfortunately if you cannot trust your friends not to give unapproved snacks, you'll have to find alternate childcare... It sucks, but since they obviously don't think they are doing anything wrong, they are not likely to stop.

One friend I knew in high school gives her toddler pop to drink in a bottle.

I had a horrible diet as a child. I was one of those overweight preschoolers. How does that even happen?! I try very hard to eat well now, for myself and for my son. There will only be more outside influences on your child's diet as he gets older, and he will make choices for himself. You can only be there to guide him. Keep in mind that anything absolutely restricted becomes that much more appealing.

Earlier today, I had a pop for lunch. My boy signed "drink" but when I told him no, he was unrelenting. I let him try. He made the most DISGUSTED face ever, lmao... It was great. I told him, see? It's yucky. It's a grown-up drink... Here's your drink. I remember tasting my dad's beer as a kid. Gross. I still can't take the taste of it.

Elina - posted on 05/21/2010

as an SAHM i don't require a lot of childcare in the first place, and we haven't really had a chance to shop around for any professional options. so far, our childcare team consists of a bunch of our friends who are couples who have kids with whom we trade childcare when it's needed. you would think that as my friends they would be more willing, not less, to respect my wishes? not so. lunches and snacks sometimes come back uneaten; he usually ends up eating whatever they eat (which is not necessarily bad, but not necessarily great, either)
i think maybe with a professional childcare environment it would be different, and i think if anything they would welcome him arriving with his own food packed, right?
it's just the army of unrelated aunty's and uncles i don't necessarily trust. i once came back into my friend's kitchen to find the man of the house casually offering my 16 mnth old a sip of COCA COLA... geez.
don't get me wrong i'm not a total white-sugar nazi, i just feel that with so little time where i can completely control what he eats, i want to do everything i can for him not to develop a taste for sugary treats, and that includes protecting him from that evil red and white label.
and the little garburetor eats everything, so i don't see the point of going out of my way to introduce it. and he's a kid. sugar's like a drug to him. nay, it IS a drug to him. he can't help that.

Michelle - posted on 05/21/2010

I'm both a type 1 diabetic and a childcare provider. My daughter does have treats from time to time, but not everyday and normally only for special reasons (birthday's, etc.) unless of course she's home with Daddy... but that's another topic! My daycare group has a set menu that runs on a 4 week rotating basis. I send the menu home with all my new parents and they are asked to read it over and note any questions/concerns they have with it. I follow the food guide so it's all pretty healthy stuff (except Friday's when they get a special snack). I would see if you could pack your little one's foods for the day instead of them providing it. I see nothing wrong with that providing it's healthy. I say that because I had a fmaily that wanted to pack their child's lunch because she didn't like veggie's, most fruits... well she pretty much only ate it if it could be deep fried. Needless to say, I said no. You have the right to decide what goes into your child's body and they should respect that. I hope you get something sorted out soon! Good luck!

Susan - posted on 05/19/2010

That sounds very frustrating. Can you pack his foods and tell the caregiver that you've recently had him tested and he can ONLY have the foods that you've provided?



My son has recently developed allergies and we're in the midst of figuring it all out. Thankfully, I provide his meals and snacks while he's at day care and the provider is working with us by doing a food log and looking for reactions/documenting.



I do allow my son to have a treat now and then, but honestly...he doesn't care for most sweets. So it's not a big deal. Can you tell people that he doesn't like them, so it would be wasted to offer it to him? Most people don't like the idea of wasting "food"(even if it really is crap food).



Susan