Hello!

How can I convince grandma NOT to give baby little taste tests of chocolate smeared on her (grandma’s) finger? She thinks a ‘taste’ won’t hurt and that I’m just being overly fussy. What are good arguments I can use?


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  • It’s not on that grandparents think they can do what they want. It doesn’t get easier as the kids get older, they just get given more sugar! At the end of it, it’s going to affect your relationship and how much time you spend with her. They need to respect boundaries and your way of parenting. They had their turn raising kids.


  • I think you just have to be kind but firm.


  • The ‘I’m the mum’ should be enough. She should respect your choices regardless the reasons for them


  • You’ll just have to be firm with grandma if at all possible. However, it will be up to you if it is worth the confrontation. She will probably do it without you watching anyway.


  • Just talk to the grandma and remind her that it’s your baby and you don’t want your child having tastes of chick at just yet. It’s your child she should respect you choice and way of raising your baby. Sweet thing can be very additive and if bubs food is plain and insweetened they might get turned off their regular foods.


  • As a grandma I’d say you were being overly fussy – as long as baby is starting to have solids small introductional tastes of new foods is good for baby. Grandma will also give baby food that you wouldn’t normally cook.


  • Unfortunately when you get a taste for sweet stuff, everything else can taste a little bland, especially if you giving unsweetened baby foods etc, this may lead to fussiness.
    I have found with grans and nans you have to stick your neck our and be firm as they don\’t generally take the things that we deem important so seriously. They lived in a different era where sugar was to sweeten things, not in everything to make it appetizing and addictive. This is just one take on the situation, I hope you get many more answers and solve your dilemma.


  • Get over it, stop sweating the small stuff and be grateful your kids have a grandma. Both my Mum and Mum in Law died the year before my first was born and I\’d do anything to have them feed my baby chocolate.


  • Does it really matter though? Is your baby having an issue because of this? If they are just tell her. I would, she wouldn’t want to harm your baby.


  • I Quit Sugar books and That Sugar Book or That Sugar Film would be great resources for information on sugar and harmful effects it can cause that you could share with her.
    Here’s a good one to start you off with “Researchers now claim sugar found in highly processed foods is eight times more addictive than cocaine”.

    Personally if there’s something my husband and I don’t want our children having I make it known. We put what’s best for our children first and let them know if it’s something we don’t agree with and expected it to be respected because we are the parents, not them. In my eyes, they had their right to feed us what they wanted as our parents and now we have that right with our own children.

    I’ve have my mum wanting to feed my daughter lots of processed foods, everytime my daughter visits her, full of sugar when we try to give her a lot of healthy and organic foods and low sugar items with more sugary treats being just that, a treat with exceptions on birthdays and holidays. I don’t mind her giving her a treat but she doesn’t realise just how much sugar and is in each one of the treats (she would offer multiple) and all the hidden sugars as well. She uses the lines “I gave them to you and didn’t have any problems” except she did and is ignorant to the fact of why I might have been a bit hypo as a child and she resorted to vallergan instead of changing my diet. My daughter tends to get quite hypo and moody off certain foods and lots of sugar, as would be expected so we try to maintain a level that doesn’t effect her moods so much. I explain this and I ended up also purchasing healthier and low sugar snacks to keep at her house for when my daughter visits so that she can feel like she’s giving her treats still and I have peace of mind.

    On a slightly side note, if you want some chocolate products that’s actually good and healthy for them. A couple ones I personally love that my daughter also enjoys is Pana Chocolate (raw, organic, australian made and lots of flavours available. Ingredients such as cacao powder, coconut oil) and Loving Earth’s Chocolate coconut spread (organic, raw, also nut spreads available including their new hazelnut spread, Australian made and also ingredients such as cacao powder and coconut oil). My daughter is 3, has never had nutella but has the Loving Earth Chocolate coconut spread instead and absolutely loves it. There’s many alternatives so they may still experience chocolate in a healthy way.


  • I think a lot of parents have the same problem. Before I had kids we had family members who left their kids with grandma and while I was visiting and mum was out grandma gave the kids potato chips/crisps and said to me their not allowed to have them but when their at my house I feed them what I want. Hubby and I are fairly careful about what we let our kids eat. We’ve had problems with his mum saying along the lines of she’s the grandparent so she can feed them junk. Lucky the OH and his brother told her how it was because I didn’t know what to say. All in all if it’s your side you take a stand and if it’s the OH’s side he needs to take a stand. Good luck as I strongly believe healthy eating habits start young.


  • As a Grandma I have a lolly jar that all my grandkids are allowed to have a treat from but I would never give them anything that their Mum’s don’t want them to have. I’m an avid supporter of brushing their teeth & they all have a toothbrush here at Grandma’s too!


  • You could make up a lie like baby has a sore stomach after the chocolate or you could stop being fussy and just let her be a grandparent if it is doing no real harm.


  • It’s so hard to change the grandparents opinions some times. My mother in las was giving my kids peanut butter & Nutella at an early age, until I told her that my nephew had a nut allergy & that we needed to keep all nut foods away from children until they wer over 2. She wasn’t happy with the idea but I stuck to my guns,


  • I would google information and print it out for her to read. Then she can’t say you made it up. I guess there is a BIG issues with grandparents because they say ‘I have brought up my own children successfully’. They don’t realise thing change with research. They used to drink and smoke and do all sorts of things while they were pregnant but we have had research show us who bad they are.

    My mother-in-law told me she used to put scotch on her finger and give it to her babies to make them sleep and not cry. I was horrified!!!!! My son had reflux and they wanted to look after him and I just wouldn’t allow it as I knew she would do it to my son.

    It os a different generation and best arm yourself with research or articles from the internet or the doctors, a midwife or community centre might have some good leaflets too.

    Good luck!


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