When did you start to offer cakes/biscuits?

[Buntybear]

My outlook on toddler food is so different to everyone else's as Olly is so allergic that sometimes I just need a little guidance on the very basics!

Olly has never had any cakes or biscuits and is coming up to 20 months now. I was thinking about trying some vegan, gluten free baking but then saw the sugar in the recipes and I had 2nd thoughts. I was looking at things like banana or carrot muffins.

I would consider these 'treats' maybe as a snack once or twice a week to help expand his diet but I am having second thoughts and just need advice form Mums with kids who have 'normal' diets. Are cakes etc acceptable as treats at 20 months??

Thanks 

[Canwi]

In a word, yes.

[~Emma~]

In a word, yes.

 I agree!

 DS had his first taste of chocolate on his first birthday, in the form of a chocolate cake!

 DD has allergies too and I am planning on making her a dairy free cake as a treat for her first birthday in a few weeks. Its a right of passage for these little uns!

 

[Buntybear]

OK thanks! It is just me being paranoid and just not used to Olly eating what other little ones eat! He just really has fruit for snacks at nursery and when I was there the other day the other kids had flapjacks all that sugar!

[Canwi]

Sorry for the brief reply. At work, and got called away.
When you have child with any health issue or allergy, it is natural to be more cautious about things.  So you are not being paranoid.  You have a legitimate reason to be more cautious.  Some sugar won't hurt Olly especially if it is given in a treat form.
As he gets older and you find more things that he can tolerate without reaction, his diet will expand.

[~Emma~]

 I have found with DD that because she has an allergy she eats more sugary things than DS ever did. Rusks for example, they are full of sugar but because they are fortified with calcuim etc I give them to her. So paranoid about her never getting enough! I would never have dreamt of giving them to DS as I once watched a documentary that stated that rusks have more sugar in them than a choc digestive! 

[skatty]

You don't need to add sugar to banana muffins if you use ripe bananas   My dd found my dark chocolate rice cakes and sneakily at them behind the chair at 10 months and then on her first birthday she had her first jaffa cake and sucked on it for a while and left it! There is definitley nothing wrong with a toddler having a treat  

[clazzat]

Nothing wrong with a toddler having a treat, but I didn't let mine eat cake until she was 3 - I found it much easier to just not give her sweet treats than to have the argument about whether she was allowed it every time she wanted it, yk? So there's nothing wrong with waiting either, and I always found that she was perfectly happy to be given something else that she liked (a fruit bar or raisins) even when others were having cake.

[firsttimemummy]

I was thinking about trying some vegan, gluten free baking but then saw the sugar in the recipes and I had 2nd thoughts.

I used to make cakes, etc with no (or a very little bit) of sugar in it - Murray ate it fine (only sweetness was the fruit that I sometimes added) - kids like savoury as well, so will eat it ...

[Lemonthyme]

I make cakes with no added sugar (obviously natural sugars in fruit / dried fruit but no refined sugar).  I did post a date cake recipe on my blog and I think the original recipe I adapted it from was gluten free and vegan:

http://mamacook.blogspot.com/2011/04/no-added-sugar-date-loaf.html

I think this was the original recipe:

225g Dates
85g Vegan Spread
1/2 tsp Cinnamon
225g Rice Flour or a GF Flour Blend (Dove's Farm are great)
1tsp Bicarb Soda
1/2 pint Rice Milk (or soya or normal)
115g Sultanas
1/2 tsp Nutmeg
1 tsp Baking Powder

Chop dates and boil in milk until mushy. Add spread and sultanas, boiling for further few minutes. Remove and add remaining ingredients. Mix and bake for 30 mins at 190 (or until knife comes out clean).

[Etsy]

We waited until our son was 2. Mainly due to a lot of reading we discovered that the blood brain barrier is not fully formed until they are 2.  So sugar and all the preservatives that are in all the snack foods can affect the brain development. He loves fruit and yogurt and now enjoys the odd treat. Just our was of doing it:)

[*Becky*]

DS had cake from 1 but not chocolate or sweets and now at 3 he is still not really allowed sweets. Cake is fine i think in moderation, particularly if it is home made. x

[babyrose]

we waited til A's 1st b/day he had one bit of cake then tried him with another bit and he refused it. he still doesnt eat of cakes or biscuits and he is now 16 months.