When to allow children to consume sugar/candy/sweets/junk?
We have so far not allowed our toddler (20-months) any foods that contain sugar (chocolate, cake, sweets, sweetened juice, etc.) on the premise that consuming sugar is not needed and only causes trouble for the parents, in terms of risks of making the child a picky eater, trouble at mealtime caused by sweets in between meals, and health concerns like tooth decay. This also means that we politely turn down any sweets offered to the child by third parties. (It's amazing how rudely insistent strangers (e.g. waitresses) can be!)
We do allow normal healthy foods that taste sweet, like fruits and teas, but no fruit juices and no deliberately sweetened foods.
Obviously we can't keep our son sugarless forever, and don't aim to anyway. So my question is this:
Until what age does it make sense to avoid sugar? Why?
Also, what strategies are effective to postpone the introduction of sugars?
Come to think of it, one could ask almost the exact same question about spices. They're not unhealthy of course, but they're only needed for taste and therefore carry the same potential of causing a picky eater.
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Moderation is very good. Once they reach a higher age like 5-6 offer it in moderation. I guess a rule of thumb is if they are too young to ask for it, then no. They don't need sweets impacting their early development and at that age the probably won't care anyway. Perhaps the best age to start is the age where they can somewhat understand the risks associated with the junk food. Even still moderation is probably best until a certain age. When they grow up more and clearly understand the risks allow them to eat it as the please because you probably won't be able to stop them anyway.
I would say, when your child starts asking for something you deem sweet or junk. For example, if you are at a party, and everybody eats a cake and you son seems interested, give him a small piece. Not doing so might potentially create an opposite result to the one you are trying an achieve: forbidden fruit is much testier.
You might even find that your son will not be interested in all sweets and junk: my friend has a kid who does not like cakes and cupcakes. My son (he is four) does not like soda (coca-cola, etc), he did not like it when he tried it (at a party, we don't keep these drinks at home), and he does not crave junk foods even though he had a chance to taste some of them.
If your son starts asking for the stuff at home, introduce rules like one cookie after dinner, no snacks before meal, etc.
Also, keep in mind, that kids become more picky around age two. One of the reasons is that they don't need as much food.
When to let your child try junk food isn't nearly as important as how you eat in general and making sure that you not only limit junk food, but don't treat every other food as simply a way to get to dessert.
Frankly, if you've established good eating habits as the norm, you don't keep tons of sweets around the house, and in your and your child's mind junk food is an occasional treat, sweets will only ever become a big deal if you change your stance on any of those things, or if they are spending a lot of time with someone who eats very poorly.
From my experience as a proud mother of three, I believe "all things in moderation" is the best route; however, sugar should be avoided for babies 18-24 months then slowly introduced, starting out with small things with low fat, low sugar and not too much kj. My kids love fruit and all other healthy alternatives not because I kept them from sugar but because I didn't 'overdose' them with sugar. Kids are allowed to have sweet things, sugar, or junk food. It's part of growing up but it is definitely something that needs to be controlled. Healthy eating should always be encouraged.
On the spices front, these should be avoided until about 9 months then slowly introduced.
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