Every time I go to the doctor or dentist for Arli, they start telling me how much juice she should be drinking. "She doesn't get juice", I say, "I don't see any reason that a 1-year-old needs juice." They agree and support my decision. I think this is great, and it makes me feel that I am doing something right.
But if you ask my husband, or either grandmother, they think I'm being a ridiculous sugar nazi. There's no way to keep her away from sugar, they say. A little juice is fine for a child. I don't disagree with either of these statements, however, I do read. I read all the time about how obese kids are getting because of all the processed food and sugar in their diets, and all of the other health problems that come along with too much of these things. If I can, I'd like to give my one and only child a chance to lead a healthy life. And I don't have to ask anyone's permission to do so.
When she was 6 months old and just starting solids, my mother-in-law started feeding her some of the yogurt she brought with her for lunch. She was offended when I politely asked her not to. "But she likes it," she said. I'm sure she does like it. Babies like sweet things. But adult yogurt has a ton of sugar in it, it is probably artificially sweetened, and babies don't need that. It's not good for them. I don't care what they did in the '70's. Look at all the overweight, diabetic, unhealthy adults that grew up in the '70's. I don't want to raise one of those, if I can help it.
She got really worried that I was an uptight freak who was only going to feed my child tofu and millet or something (this was probably because of my former freaky vegetarianism!). She expressed to her husband that I might not even make her a cake for her first birthday! What kind of a mother would deny her child cake?!?
For the record, I'd like to say that Arli gets plenty of sweet things, like fresh fruit and whole milk baby yogurt, even some baby cookies or small bites of my ice cream. She also had a delicious (and healthy) birthday cake that I made myself from scratch that contained an entire cup of sugar in the recipe! She gets more processed food than I would like, due to the fact that sometimes she will only eat 5 tater tots and a rice cracker rather than any fresh food I try to cook up. That's just the way it goes sometimes. Processed food is fine, in moderation.
When she is older, I'm sure she will guzzle down all the juice she wants to, and eat popsicles and grown-up yogurt and cake from the bakery. But for now, she gets the healthiest food her mama can make, and her mama doesn't feel that feeding her less sugar counts as abuse. For now, her mama has the last word.
Your Doctors have told you to give Arli juice!?!?! The kiddos Doctor always asks about juice intake and tells me over and over and over again to not give them juice. I got a lecture last time Shane was in because he gets 4-8 ounces of 100% fruit juice a day (it's 3/4 water!!). She reminded me once again to not give them juice. Around 2 they inevitably get juice from play dates or birthday parties, etc. I completely agree moderation is the key. Shane still thinks at home you have to add water to make juice. That was long...sorry, just surprised by the Doctors.
ReplyDeleteThey don't tell me to give her juice, they just assume that I do. I thought it was strange too. I kinda like your doctor's views on things better than mine.
ReplyDeleteAlso, I have to say that I am not in any way passing judgment on what other mothers do, or saying that I am better than them. This is just something I believe in so I'm going with it. :)