This is so true – kids love sweet things. Why not, I love chocolate, but I don’t remember getting much chocolate or sweets as a child. Fridays were chocolate day. My Dad would bring home chocolate which we would all munch though after tea. Now the tables are turned. 3yo loves sweets, candy, chocolate, cake – you name it. Yes, we give him SOME, but when should a child 1st get candy?

Setting your children up with a sweet tooth too young?

One argument goes that giving your children sweets at a very young age will teach them that sweet things are good, and encourage them to reach for a chocolate bar instead of fruit when they are older and fancy a snack. The levels of obesity in children and young people surely bares out this theory.

Children need nutrious food, not empty calories

Children grow phyisically and mentally so quickly when they are young. It makes sense to give them food that will nourish their minds and bodies the most.

When is too young?

Having said that, it is easy to say, “I’m never going to give my toddler candy.” In practice, it is so much harder. They get chocolate selection boxes for Christmas, their friends eat sweets, they LIKE sweets. I guess my reaction is, in moderation it’s OK.

It also makes sense to never give a baby sweets. They really don’t need it and they could easily choke on something that isn’t totally soft. A small piece of chocolate that melts in their mouth is probably the best of the bunch.

Our 3yo really only gets chocolate even now. I worry about the effect sugary sweets will have on his teeth. I would prefer him to want grapes and raisins for a snack – and the majority of the time he does. Sometimes though, he just wants CHOCOLATE. Is it genetic? Sometimes it is just very hard to say no.

How old were your children when you 1st gave them sweets? Are you suceeding at holding off? Or do you just let them have what they want?

“Sainsbury’s shopworker refuses to sell pregnant woman Cheddar cheese” *

But can you eat cheese when you are pregnant?  

The confusion seems to arise because there are so many different kinds of cheese and only some of them should be avoided when you are pregnant.

WHY?

Listeria can harm your unborn child. Some cheese, like soft cheeses and mould ripened cheeses are more prone than others to allow the growth of the listeria bacteria.  This is because they are moister and less acidic than other cheeses. Most healthy adults can fend off listeria infection. Pregnant women are more at risk. A pregnant woman herself is unlikely to be seriously harmed by listeriosis, but it could do serious harm to her unborn baby.

Can cheese be good in pregnancy?

Calcium and protein are essential in pregnancy and cheese is an important (and tasty) source of these. Some women report cheese cravings when they are pregnant. Is this because their bodies are craving this calcium and protein? The jury still seems to be out on this one!

Good Cheese and Bad Cheese

This is a list of which cheese pregnant women can eat without worrying and those which she should avoid. Of course every woman is different. If you ate cheese before you were pregnant, it makes sense that it will be OK once you are pregnant – if you follow the following:

Bad cheese in pregnancy

Mould ripened soft cheeses (like Brie, not like cream cheese or cottage cheese) Pasteurised or unpasteurised these type of cheeses should be avoided when pregnant

Including:

• Brie,
• Blue Brie,
• Cambozola,
• Camembert,
• Chaumes,
• Chèvre (goats cheese with a white rind),
• Pont L’Eveque,
• Taleggio,
• Vacherin-Fribourgeois

Blue veined cheese

Including:

• Blue Wensleydale,
• Cabreles,
• Danablu,
• Shropshire Blue,
• Danish Blue,
• Dolcelatte,
• Gorgonzola,
• Maytag blue cheese,
• Point Reyes blue,
• Roncal,
• Roquefort,
• Stilton,
• Tomme,
• Wensleydale (blue).

Soft, unpasteurised cheese,

• These include goat and sheep’s cheeses:

Good cheese in pregnancy

Hard cheese

Hard cheeses are generally considered safe to eat. The Food Standards Agency (www.eatwell.gov.uk) states that “listeria is present in very low numbers (less than 1 bacterium per gram of cheese) in these types of cheeses and they are therefore not considered a risk to health during pregnancy.”

This is an indication only – there are SO MANY HARD CHEESES! (in alphabetical order)

• Austrian smoked,
• Babybel,
• Caerphilly,
• Cheddar,
• Cheshire,
• Derby,
• Double Gloucester,
• Edam, Emmental,
• English goat’s cheddar,
• Feta, (in the UK, Feta is deemed safe to eat when pregnant, but in the US, pregnant women are advised to avoid it)
• Gouda,
• Gruyere,
• Halloumi,
• Havarti,
• Jarlsberg,
• Lancashire,
• Paneer,
• Parmesan,
• Red Leicester.

Soft and processed cheeses:

• boursin,
• cheese spread (also called processed cheese),
• cottage cheese,
• cream cheese,
• feta,
• goat’s cheese without a white rind,
• mascarpone,
• mozzarella,
• Philadelphia,
• Quark,
• ricotta.

Yoghurts

• all varieties including natural, flavoured and biologically active,
• probiotic drinks,
• fromage frais,
• soured cream
• crème fraîche

As with any other dairy food, keep it the fridge and eat it within the use by date.

What to Eat When You’re Pregnant: Including the A-Z of What’s Safe and What’s Not

Other related articles

What food and drink should I avoid when pregnant?

* The Sainsbury’s article: http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-1218197

Then Sandy (Baby Baby) tagged me with the Gift of Life. It made me stop. It made me think. It made me get back some perspective. I am so lucky. 2yo is happy, healthy and more of a delight than I can even begin to explain. It doesn’t matter what he gets for his birthday – he is so much more fortunate (and so am I) than so many other children and mothers.

This year alone 128000 babies won’t see their 1st birthday because of newborn tetanus. 

The Gift of Life rules

1 Open the virtual Gift For Life by going here
2 Write a small post on the campaign
3 Pass on to 5 other bloggers
4 Add the campaign badge to your sidebar
5 Feel incredibly proud that you are helping to make a difference!

I am passing the Gift of Life on to:

Messy Mummy
All grown up… still feeling like a kid
icklebabe
Alittlespaceforme
Clareybabbling

Together we can eliminate newborn tetanus

Firstly wash, peel and chop the fruit and veg you are using, make sure you remove any pips and stones. 3 types is about the right number to start with.

Choose any, but these are great to start with:

Fruit, can be fresh or tinned

• Banana
• Strawberry
• Apple
• Pear
• Peach
• Carrot
• Red green or yellow pepper
• Mushroom
• Tomato
• Cucumber

Get your toddler to cover their eyes, and feed them a small piece of fruit or veg, ask them to tell you what it is. Congratulate them if they are right. If they get it wrong, ask them questions about it to help them and guess again. Is it sweet, crunchy, sticky, soft, etc.

You can join in the game too, by swapping round and you cover your eyes and get your toddler to feed you bits of fruit and veg. You should be good at guessing the right one, but you can say, oh it’s sweet and crunchy, is it an apple?

This games makes tasting new food fun, and helps with improving their vocabulary – it can get messy though!

Can I drink alcohol if I’m pregnant?

• We have all seen TV footage of women drinking while they are pregnant, but are small amounts safe??  The Department of Health recommends that you avoid drinking alcohol if you are pregnant.
• It makes sense also if you  also avoid drinking alcohol if you’re trying for a baby.

Can I use hair dye when I am pregnant or breastfeeding?

• I tried to find out about this when I was pregnant, as I had heard that pregnant women shouldn’t dye their hair. On researching on the internet, I still did not find out much info. I thought it better to be safe than sorry so just let my hair go un-dyed.
• There seems to be more information today and most research seems to point to it being safe. This is due to the chemicals in permanent and semi-permanent hair dyes being not highly toxic.
• Information seems to suggest that the chemicals themselves can cause harm but not in the doses used to dye your hair.

How do I reduce the risk in colouring my hair while I’m pregnant.

• Wait until after the first trimester (12 weeks), after this the risk of harming the baby is much lower.
• While home colouring – make sure that you wear gloves, leave the dye on for the minimum time, and use in a well-ventilated room.
• Highlight your hair instead of dying all of it. This is safer because the chemicals used are only absorbed by the hair itself, and not by the scalp and into your bloodstream.
• Use semi-permanent pure vegetable dyes, such as henna

Things to remember

Watch out for your hair going a funny colour! Your hair may react differently to colouring or perming  - your hair’s condition may alter during pregnancy and therefore the way it reacts to colour.

I‘m pregnant – can paint fumes affect my unborn baby?

• One of the things many pregnant women do, is decorate the new baby’s nursery, but is it safe?? Ok so climbing up on ladders is not a good idea when you are pregnant, but the risk from modern household paint is very low.
• If you are stripping old paintwork or using solvent-based paints – beware! Old paintwork might contain traces of lead – you need to avoid this when you are pregnant.
• Standing on ladders and stretching can be dangerous though – be very careful.

Is it safe to use a sauna or jacuzzi if I’m pregnant?

• It sounds relaxing and calming to use a sauna or Jacuzzi when pregnant, but becoming dehydrated or overheating is not a good idea when you are pregnant.
• So while a sauna or Jacuzzi itself is not necessarily a bad thing, the risk of overheating or dehydration is, therefore while there is not much research out there it would be wise to avoid them.

Is it safe to use fake tan during pregnancy?

• Fake tanning lotions and sprays are a popular and safer alternative to spending time in the sun to get a tan.
• The active ingredient in fake tan is Dihydroxyacetone (DHA). It is a non-toxic substance that reacts with cells in the outermost layer of the skin and produces a brown pigment (colour) called melanoidin. The outer skin cells are already dead, and are shed as the skin constantly renews itself. This is why fake tan needs to be regularly re-applied to maintain the colour. The DHA doesn’t go beyond the outer layer of skin and therefore isn’t absorbed into the body.

• Although there are no known dangers of using tanning lotions, they can sometimes cause an allergic reaction. For this reason, it’s advisable not to use fake tan during pregnancy, as changes in hormone levels can make the skin more sensitive than normal. If you do use fake tan, always test the product on a small area of skin first to see if you have a reaction.

Other related articles

Tell me about driving and travelling by train when pregnant
Exercising, sports and other activities while pregnant – what should I avoid and why?
Can I fly and go abroad when I’m pregnant?

OK, a new method was called for.  What does he really like… Numbers were a big fave. Luckily IKEA were selling cookie cutters in number shapes – I had some in the cupboard.They had been sitting there as I had never got round to the baking cookies thing!

He got to choose which numbers he wanted – and it was easy to do. Hey presto it worked like magic. He was eating bread. Margarine on numbers, jam on numbers, cream cheese on numbers.

At the moment he will only eat the number 5. He has gone through 2 3 4 and 8. I wonder which will be next?

Bread ‘fives’, with slices of strawberry and banana with halved grapes.

Lunch went down a treat!

Yes, fruit and vegetables are delicious, tasty and good for you, but sometimes you need some new ways to get your youngsters to eat them.

Here our favourite Vegetable Snacks For Kids – please add more!

Raw vegetables

Cut up fresh raw vegetables into bite size pieces, or sticks.

Be careful about serving broccoli, carrots, and cauliflower to young children as they could choke. You can grate some veg, like carrots, instead. You can serve the vegetables with cheese, or milk to provide protein and fat. Add crackers or fruit juice for carbohydrates.

Good vegetables to eat raw include:

• broccoli
• green beans
• carrots
• green peas
• cauliflower
• turnips
• celery
• cucumber
• peppers
• mushroom

Tomato and vegetables juices
You can blend chopped up vegetables to make a juice, or use the water you boil your vegetables in (cooled down of course!) as a nutritious drink.

Vegetable Art
Instead of arranging vegetables for your kids, give them sliced raw vegetables and let them design their own vegetable creations – then they can eat them!

Vegetable dips
Chop vegetables into bite size pieces or sticks and dip into hummus, natural yoghurt, unsweetened apple sauce. Good dipping vegetables can be carrots, celery, green or red pepper and broccoli.

Vegetable smoothies

How about a spinach smoothie? – sounds odd but tastes great!

How to make:
1 banana, sliced
150g (5 oz) green grapes
1 (200g) tub vanilla yoghurt
1/2 apple, cored and chopped
50g (2 oz) fresh spinach leaves

Blend all together. Add a little milk if your smoothie is too thick.

Apple and carrot smoothie?

How to make:
250ml milk
1 very ripe eating apple
1 small carrot

Pour the milk into the blender
Peel and grate the apple and carrot, add them to the blender.
Blend until smooth.

Grape and broccoli smoothie

Simply add seedless grapes and raw broccoli to your blender and blend until smooth
Add ice to make it less thick if necessary.

Remember to be aware of allergies and only give food to your child that is age and development appropriate.

A great recipe book for helping your child eat healthy nutritious meals: Big Book of Recipes for Babies, Toddlers & Children: 365 Quick, Easy and Healthy Dishes: From First Foods to Starting School

Just one comment on the book is:

I can’t praise this book highly enough! It’s very well laid out and even the pages are tough enough to be wiped down easily. I have tried loads of the recipes already with my own toddler and have recommended it to all the parents in the nursery where I work. I was amazed to find how easy it is to make root vegetables into a fun and nutritious meal. My son’s favourite is Toddler’s tortilla but I have yet to try any recipe that he won’t eat! A real find!

Other related articles
Easy fruit snacks for kids
What food and drink should I avoid when pregnant?