Comments on: The best gift you can give your baby

By: Menucha @ Moms & Crafters

Menucha @ Moms & Crafters — Sun, 07 Feb 2016 01:11:50 +0000

In reply to Samantha.

Hi Samantha! Thank you for your story 🙂 I love hearing how it worked for other moms. I think that when I say “a healthy start” it really can be relative. And each child is different. Meaning, there are some children who are pickier and have their appetites really easily spoiled. There’s also a huge difference between trying your best to delay sweets and not even bothering. I think that the fact that you set a good example for your child is really a deal-maker. Meaning, I don’t think (and I don’t think most nutritionists or doctors will tell you this either) that kids can’t have any candy. It needs to be in moderation, after meals, etc. So waiting until a child is at an age (especially if the adults do have candy 😉 ) where negotiations, “after you eat your dinner” can happen can really benefit the child in a huge way. At the same time, I am a HUGE believer in “replacement foods” as you mentioned – like home baked goods that use honey instead of sugar. We do juice and seltzer instead of soda (the adults do this as well, and even that we only do at meals, not as our main liquid). He is now eating more and more of the cookie/cake type of sugar, but we’re holding our breath he still doesnt’ know what a lollipop is! (Just wait till we send him to preschool next year… 😉 )

By: Samantha

Samantha — Sat, 06 Feb 2016 05:13:42 +0000

I remember the first time my son had chocolate. I was preparing dinner while he was playing with his toys behind me. All of a sudden I heard a big “mmmm!” And turned around to see that he had inadvertently discovered a bag of chocolates from an Easter basket (that I hadn’t realized was even there). At first, I thought “oh no!” thinking his whole nutrition would be ruined. He was a couple months shy of his first birthday and I was waiting as long as possible (preferably over a year, not including his first cake smash) to be introduced to those kinds of sweets. My second thought was to take a picture, because the scene was too cute and funny to not remember.
Honestly, I was worried for nothing. I’d like to think that we’re healthy eaters here in my home and we really don’t keep candy around the house too much. Now my son is 2 1/2 and knows and loves candy and, when we do have some, he eats it in moderation. That said, he is an incredible eater — the only thing that I’ve ever seen him fuss about is green beans in any dish that I had ever given him. He loves his sweets, but would happily reach for an orange or apple as a snack instead. Aside from him being 2 and easily distracted, I never have to fight with him to finish a meal.
I used to be a lot more strict about him eating sweets, mostly getting mad at my parents for spoiling him the way they do (I wonder how you dealt with that in your own family?), but the more I realized that he is a good eater, the more lenient I became.
Another good compromise I think is home baked sweets. He and I bake together and have lately been more experimenting then following recipes, but it has allowed us to make healthy substitutions (avocados in cookies or flaxseed meal in cakes or honey powder in place of white sugar) and I feel better about him eating that.

What I’m trying to say is I absolutely believe in giving my sons (younger one is still a newborn, so no sweets yet!) the most nutritional start in life, but it’s not the end of he world if they have a couple of sweets. It may not be the best thing, but it certainly isn’t the worst. Still, I respect your view in waiting as long as possible until your son one day eats some sugary nonsense. 😉

By: 9 Nutritious Snacks for Toddlers - Moms and Crafters

9 Nutritious Snacks for Toddlers - Moms and Crafters — Tue, 17 Nov 2015 21:28:44 +0000

[…] I had focused on keeping as much sugar out of it as possible. I’d hand him a rice cake, which technically didn’t do damage, but it […]

By: Menucha @ Moms & Crafters

Menucha @ Moms & Crafters — Mon, 16 Nov 2015 13:19:31 +0000

In reply to Rachel. It's so frustrating when kids start going to school and all hard work is undone. Some "healthy" snack policies mean no candy, but any cookie is fine. It's really hard to find support, and it's inspiring to hear that you are managing to get HIM to learn to choose well.

By: Rachel

Rachel — Sun, 15 Nov 2015 20:53:49 +0000

Thank you for writing this post! I’ve struggled as well to give my little guys a good start. People think I’m crazy when I say that my three year old only eats organic, whole grain, real food. He has never had a candy (to my knowledge) and enjoys organic dark chocolate occasionally and thinks it’s amazing. He enjoys ice cream I’ve found that’s been sweetened with honey and ice pops I’ve made from 100% juice. There is simply no need to introduce him to ‘treats’ that are not healthy over teaching him about treating his body well and making better food choices. I’ve especially had to fight my in,was and recently my husband to keep things this way for as long as possible. I don’t understand why people feel sorry for him when he is getting the best of the best we can afford and is super healthy and happy. He doesn’t know he is missing out. When he is at the coffee shop he asks for a raisin bran muffin or a bagel and completely skips over the donuts and cookies like they don’t exist. To offer him these treats when he doesn’t even want them seems ridiculous to me. Now he is at nursery school and I am just shocked at the “healthy snacks” that are brought in for the kids. My son came home with Oreo cookie all over his face the other day. He told me he had “chocolate coin cookies with white icing.” How is this a healthy snack?! *sigh*. I know I have to let go a bit sometime, but I don’t understand why the majority of parents aren’t more concerned with teaching our children about healthy nutrition. It may be more work, but it is soooo worth it to have a child who loves food. He now has these sorts of treats outside of our house, but even at parties, we talk about making better choices. Like choosing the pretzels over the cheesies and eating the veggie arias pizza over the cheese pizza. I feel such a sense of pride when my son says to someone, “no thank you, it’s not organic.” Inside I’m absolutely beaming!

By: Menucha @ Moms & Crafters

Menucha @ Moms & Crafters — Fri, 13 Nov 2015 18:58:50 +0000

In reply to Kendall. Good for you for trying to do what's best for your baby! It's so important to give it a fair try, and that's what you're doing :)

By: Kendall

Kendall — Fri, 13 Nov 2015 18:55:56 +0000

It was nice reading this. My son’s nutrition is very important to me too. It does seem like I’m alone. When I ask other people to not give my son candy juice or soda. He definitely knows what all these things are at 2 already because I’m a single working in college mom and I can’t always control what his grandparents or daycare feed him but I try. My mom for example gives him juice it’s sugar free but I’ rather him just drink water . This makes it hard for me to get him to drink water but he knows I won’t give him juice so eventually he drinks it. Anyway if I even talk about to other parents they are always really surprised when I say how strict I am about food or nutrition. I will try to defend myself but they usual just try to ignore me from there. I can tell they think I’m overacting. So Goodluck to you I’m super glad I read this.

By: Elmo Food for Parties: Mini Gelatin Cups - Moms and Crafters

Elmo Food for Parties: Mini Gelatin Cups - Moms and Crafters — Wed, 11 Nov 2015 15:49:51 +0000

[…] say no had he asked for his favorite Elmo food. I’m very strong on not introducing sweets (he doesn’t even know it’s good!) but I’m not a big fan of saying “no” if he asks, if everyone […]

By: Menucha @ Moms & Crafters

Menucha @ Moms & Crafters — Tue, 20 Oct 2015 12:46:54 +0000

In reply to Jen. It shocks me how young people consider normal for candy consumption (before they even have teeth to ruin!) Family support is so important.

By: Jen

Jen — Tue, 20 Oct 2015 03:29:35 +0000

I’m there with you sister! My daughter is 26 months and she just had her first candy (an organic sucker) the other day. She has a condition called FPIES (food protein induced entercolitis syndrome). Which basically means she has terrible food allergies to a large range of foods that make her colon bleed. When she was 6 months old my MIL gave me a sucker to give to her and was upset when I wouldn’t. Not only was she SIX MONTHS old, but she was allergic to it! And my MIL didn’t care! People just want everyone else to be “normal” along with them. Even if that means making unhealthy choices for your own child. Crazy!! Good for you for giving your child his best start with health. My child loves healthy food because that’s all she knows!