I didn't know about honey!!

An immunologist recently told me that by the time a child is 1 they should be eating everything you are. The reason that there's so many children with allergies is because they've not been introduced to a wide variety of food. I don't blame the parents because it's usually the "experts" who are giving the advice but sometimes I question the evidence.

Its good to hear you have a lovely DiL ....most of my friends constantly complain about theirs !!

Do remember though that when babysitting, my then MiL used to give my daughter (about 6 months old and upwards !) white bread dipped in SUGAR to suck on ........and tea in a bottle !!

She is now 36 and has always had good health and excellent teeth ........and like you said, HOW on earth did babies survive at all ........I as a child used to eat chalk ..I loved it ! and when my brother and I were given the winter job of scraping a huge block of salt into large urns to spread on the ice in the back garden to make a path to the loo, that I used to eat it by the tablespoonful, sucked lemons ..loved them ! and then brother and I had spoon feeding each other Puffed wheat ........I also have , my dentist tells me, excellent teeth ! Maybe we were lucky !

It will be interesting to hear what my DD says advice is now compared to when DGS was born nearly 7 years ago. Advice on what Mums can eat has changed, she's now allowed some things she was told she couldn't have then (can't remember what)

DGS will be bottle fed when he's born (May), she bottle fed DGS as she had an emergency caesarian & didn't want to bf. I rarely see DGS for meals & when I do DD is there to ask.

I find it easy to ask DD for advice as every thing has changed sine she was born 36 years ago. Solids were given when Breast feeding didn't satisfy baby - totally against today's advice How did our DC survive & ourselves????

I had children 6 and 10 years apart...the advice was entirely different. Peanuts are ok now apparently having avoided them for all my pregnancies and their toddler days!

Agave, honey and sugar are all bad for you, tiny amounts are OK but the gran who says she is getting through a jar of honey a day (you can't be serious about that amount) is seriously damaging her health and risking diabetes.

Thank you Mcem for the info "Ok at one and older once gut has matured enough to deal with possible spores."

Can anyone explain how the world functioned in the days when everyone drank mead, honey being the most widely available natural sweetener? As far as I am aware, although there is a record of sugar being in the UK in 1099, most people used honey for sweetness until sugar cane was brought to the UK from the West Indies in the 16c.

Please don't feel badly Grantasticpasta in everything, we can only do our best using the tools we have at the time. Now we all know the new take on honey we will never offer it to little people under 1 year old..... but I guarantee there will be a new rule in place before too long.

It's amazing that I brought 3 babies up to extremely competent adulthood. According to all the new "rules" it's a miracle they survived at all.

i believe advice about nuts has changed too. That's worth checking.

kim agave is apparently being touted as a "healthy alternative" to sugar (just like honey used to be...ha!).

The reasoning begin this opinion is that it is unprocessed and has a high fructose (as opposed to glucose) content. Not sure why that makes it healthier, but there you go...

Additionally, it is also sweeter than sugar, which suggests you need less of it as a sweetener.

Otherwise, I think anything syrupy should be used sparingly if you're watching sugar intake. All syrups are basically sugar; so that's honey, maple syrup, golden syrup, agave etc.

Never heard about honey being "dangerous" though. .

Must tell expectant family member. She's not intending to bf so I guess boiled water will be ok but she herself loves honey so 'not under 12 months' is worth mentioning.

The post about not giving water was regarding a fully breastfed baby.Breastmilk composition changes during a feed. The foremilk quenches thirst and the richer hindmilk satisfies hunger. Any extra drinks other than breastmilk can interfere with milk production.
Once the baby is eating solids water is the best drink to introduce. Once weaned from the breast water is the best drink for toddlers and children.

Does anyone know why they're not supposed to drink water please?? My grandson has drunk lots of water since he was young and he's a very healthy boy who will be 4 in May. Is it wrong, and why?
is it dangerous, is something added to the water these days?? Advice please. Also, if you don't give them water, what are you supposed to give them. Juice would be wrong because of the sugar and I wouldn't want to trust the baby food suppliers in case they were just trying to make more money.

Admirable your DIL wants to do the best for her child but can't wrap them in cotton wool unless of course it's for allergy reasons

Things change so quickly with the advice given on how to bring up your child. Your DIL probably realises that and was obviously quite tactful in her observation. I wouldn't have known about the honey either. We all survived even though as I child I was out in all weathers and ate dirt, as did my DD. I'm not suggesting the advice is wrong, just that you shouldn't worry too much about tiny faux pas, they will survive too!wink

Depends on age of baby if baby is older an only having a couple of feeds a day then obviously will need more water. Otherwise breast Milk contains all the ingredients to help when babies are sick but baby will need more frequent feeding to prevent dehydration.

The amount of advice given to new moms is just baffling but most of the advice is very carefully researched for example putting babies to sleep on their back and not overheating new babies helps reduce the incidence of SIDS.

Advice changes all the time, but that's how science moves, by little jumps and starts, and previous received wisdom is shown to be at fault. I think that there's a number of reasons why honey is no longer recommended. Bags has given one very cogent one. Here's another: the sugar in honey is fructose, which is poorly absorbed and can hence cause diarrhoea. It's pretty bad for folks like me with IBS. Just relax: you're not thick, you just hadn't heard of this recent bit of advice. However, I do think grandparents should accept parents' wishes to follow current thinking, even if they don't understand why. I'm sure we made similar demands of our own parents when they babysat our children. The only time I fell out with my mum was when I discovered she'd been giving the girls bite-sized Mars bars when I had a 'No sweets except on Saturday' policy. She was upset, but acknowledged that I had the right to say what the children should eat, just as she had stopped my grandmother from giving me boiled sweets when I was an infant. Enjoy your grandchildren and go with the flow. I bet DIL is glad of your help and support.

My DDS were very fussy with what my GDS could eat and it was with trepidation I dared give them anything.Now they are abit older 7,12, my DDS agree it is a minefield of dos and donts and for first time parents can be daunting. I just said well my parents lwere brought up during the war and they lived without all this knowledge and lived into there 80s. Don't feel silly about it we are after all from another generation.

Goodness! When I remember what my daughter munched on out of the dog's dish, the coal bucket, the garden...and she has just hit 40!!

Didnt know about honey though. But i only give GC food recommended by their mums on the whole.

I shouldn't worry or take the comment personally. Science discovers things constantly and sometimes their advice turns out to be 'overkill' and sometimes it doesn't. Having the honey might cause some harm but going without for a year will do no harm at all. If the advice changes it is still the case that no harm was done if you followed it.

Also, new mothers are very cautious and this is, generally, a good thing.

If your DIL is nice then that is great. From reading some of the threads on Gransnet a not-nice DIl can cause misery.

Well Im surprised about tge advice not to give youn g breast fed babies water as DD was told by heath visitor to give boiled cooled water to her young beast fed baby when she (baby) had a tummy upset - vomiting and diarrhoea. It seemed to help.

About ten months

I went to my GP when I suspected I was pregnant.
When I told him he asked "and did you want to be?"
I said yes (we'd been trying quite hard for 9 about 5ten months)
He replied "well I expect you are then"
End of consultation.
Didn't even take my blood pressure!
All a but of a letdown.
Now quite sure what I expected - some sort of fanfare perhaps!
A couple of weeks later received in the post a leaflet on anti-natal classes and a hospital appointment card.

Morning! I've heard that Agave is the healthy natural option to sugar and honey. I'd be interested in opinions on that, please.

It really makes me wonder how my children survived childhood. You didn't know you were definitely pregnant for three months, there were no scans, etc.!!!