Why do you choose to avoid added sugar til 2yrs old?

[1love4ever]

I have heard many parents say that they are not giving their kids added sugar til age 2.  What are the benefits of this?  Why have you chosed to do this?  I waited til age 1 with DD (except DH slipped her a few things between 10 and 12 months, ARGH!!

[babygirlie]

sugar is bad for your entire life. It has no nutritional value at all and has many set backs like obesity, diabetes, addiction etc. I don't kn ow why "'2". My aim was never. Somehow she scopes it out like a shark in a tank and someones pricked their finger. She's only 2. I avoided it at all costs. Guess she has her mom's genes :(

[1love4ever]

I agree, I dont want it in my life at all either.  But in todays society it is basically impossible to avoid.  I try very hard though!!  DD gets very little.  Actually in a day, usually all she gets is what is added to a cup of Stonyfield organic baby or toddler yogurt, and sometimes a cracker or something.  With my next baby I would love to wait longer, but the yogurt I think will be the hardest.  I can buy organic plain yogurt but how do I make it more appealing?  What are your favorite non-sugar sweeteners?  Anyone tried Stevia?  Can you make things like cookies with it?  Where do you get it for cheap?

I have been buying Wholesome Sweeteners organic sugar  from Costco.  It is really cheap and minimally processed, organic and fair trade.  I use it in baking (I always use less sugar than what a recipe calls for), but would like to be able to substitute something else.

[Honey693]

I was hardcore no sugar until a year (DD didn't know what was going on anyway), but I slowly backed off after that.  Her second Christmas she was 14 months and I let her have a few bites of cookie, cake, whatever homemade treat there was when I was eating one.  I didn't want to make sweets a huge forbidden thing b/c I think that's incredibly unhealthy and the surefire way to end up with food issues.  That was when we started talking about how some foods you can eat as much as you want of, but some are treats.  She didn't understand then, but I just kept talking about it and now, at almost 3, she gets it.  She'll turn down a cookie for blueberries sometimes, but sometimes she picks the cookie.  I don't stress b/c I know she's eating tons of fruit and veggies and she realises that sugary food isn't an every day type thing.  That being said I try to keep sugar limited to homemade treats or ice cream shops.  Somethings just should not have added sugar imo (juice, applesauce, dried fruit) and Is till keep her away from those things.

[Mylie]

I didn't give my L sugar until well over a year.I never gave her the baby desserts either.When she started baby food it was organic rice cereal with a bit of organic baby fruit mixed in and jars of organic veggies and fruits.I drove my mom crazy because she always wanted to give her a bite of this or that,She drank 1 or 2  4 oz bottles a week of organic pear juice,But when she went off the bottle she would never touch juice again.She prefers her whole fruits.She will be 4 years old in September and this kid eats heathier than Richard Simmons,She loves fresh fruit,rice,potatoes,veggies(mostly raw) and lean meats.She hates most sugary things although she loves Annie's fruit snacks and fruitabu fruit rollups,She despises chocolate and hates pop.She will only drink water and rice mik in her cereal.

In my exsperience it seems like since I delayed givinh sugar she didn;t develop a strong taste for it.She is also allergic to gluten,dairy and soy.

Just our exsperience.....

[Wilbur]

Originally Posted by 1love4ever 

I agree, I dont want it in my life at all either.  But in todays society it is basically impossible to avoid.  I try very hard though!!  DD gets very little.  Actually in a day, usually all she gets is what is added to a cup of Stonyfield organic baby or toddler yogurt, and sometimes a cracker or something.  With my next baby I would love to wait longer, but the yogurt I think will be the hardest.  I can buy organic plain yogurt but how do I make it more appealing?  What are your favorite non-sugar sweeteners?  Anyone tried Stevia?  Can you make things like cookies with it?  Where do you get it for cheap?

I have been buying Wholesome Sweeteners organic sugar  from Costco.  It is really cheap and minimally processed, organic and fair trade.  I use it in baking (I always use less sugar than what a recipe calls for), but would like to be able to substitute something else.

DS likes plain yogurt just fine, as do I (which took some getting used to at first, since I was raised on Yoplait... ugh... but I try to remember that his tastes haven't been altered the way mine are... and now that I eat plain, the sweetened stuff is gross.) More to the point, when we do want to change things up a bit, I'll put in a few drops of Stevia and a little spash of organic vanilla flavor for vanilla (not extract, which has alcohol, but flavor which doesn't and tastes as good as it smells even before it's cooked). Stevia drops and mashed or frozen fruit for fruit flavor, etc. For awhile, definitely before age two, he loved plain yogurt mixed with baby food prunes. And yes, Stevia is expensive, but it's so ridiculously sweet that you only need a few drops (of the liquid) and it lasts forever.

We did a great job avoiding pretty much all processed sugar & it's variants until about 2.5, but it's still rare that he gets any.