are all toddlers this obsessed with candy/sweets?

[hildare]

dd has had a lollipop once, ever.  we do bake goodies more than we should...

but she is kind of obsessing about candy. 

i checked out a book from the library, about PLANTS.  there is one picture on one page that shows a lollipop and she refers to this plant book as the "CANDY book."  and wants to look mostly at that page and talk about how she wants a lollipop.. a red/green/rainbow lollipop.  also in her pretend play, she mostly bakes pies. 

she hasn't done anything like insist in the grocery store or anything, but i think she might not yet have made the connection between the stuff she sees and what's inside (we've tried to limit exposure). 

yesterday she had a MONSTER freak out b/c we were baking, and i made icing, and dh said when my back was turned she ate a fistful of powdered sugar.  then broke down...

is all this "normal" behavior?  or do i have a sugar fiend on my hands?  i don't know what to think about it. 

[lovepickles]

DD has never had anything sweet like chocolate, sugar or dessert/baked things. She's obsessed with grapes, raisins and corn. Sometimes I make these bland high fiber muffins and she likes those but isn't "excited" about eating them.

If her obsession concerns you I'd eliminate all sweets from the house and from everyone in view of her. Maybe make "cakes" out of raw fruit layers (no sugar added).

In my opinion kids need to develop their taste of healthy things rather than start early on high fat and sugar items.

[Verloren]

DS has a pretty serious sweet tooth too. He is constantly asking for cookies, chocolate, etc. He will pick all the dried fruit out of trail mix before he eats anything else. He pretty much loves anything sweet. He does eat reasonably healthy (although he has gotten very picky about veggies) and he only gets small treats on a regular basis, i.e. one little square of chocolate after dinner. If I let him he would definitely just inhale sugary junk all day though.

I think it is pretty normal for kids to like sweets. As long as you control how much she actually gets to eat them I don't really think it's a problem.

[Mal85]

Oh yes, DD has a serious sweet tooth. I'm very pregnant right now and had a major candy craving a few weeks ago, so we had a bag of mini candy bars in the house. She seriously woke up in the morning, immediately saying "Mama, I need candy!" Obviously, candy wasn't appropriate for breakfast. It's still been her catch-phrase though even though we don't have anymore candy. I'm dreading how Halloween is going to go. We do trick-or-treating, but after that night the candy is put away and handed out one piece at a time when appropriate. With Halloween being less than a week before my due date, I'm afraid my will-power may be too weak to fight with her about it!

[leftcoast_trillium]

Totally normal. Children are born hardwired to seek out sweetness. Seriously...they've done studies with newborns and sugar solutions and the newborns will prefer the one with the highest concentration (even if it's only slightly higher then the other one) and our first food (mama milk) pretty much tastes like melted ice cream.

My little guy is totally fruit obsessed and I think it's because that's where he gets his sugar fix from, we don't eat much processed food and don't have a lot of sweets around. I don't mind, since he's a good eater and we don't want to get to controlling about food. He's had pieces of chocolate periodically, since when I have some, I share. But never any "candy".  He's still obsessed with "candy". Talks about it, feeds his trucks candy, pretends small little things are "candy", wants to look at the pages in books where there are pictures of children eating candy. He went through an obsessive "ice cream" phase too. I suspect he's had some candy at his daycare or else picked up on it from the 3 and 5 year olds there. It doesn't really bother me that much, I figure candy, like so many things, is just part of life and he'll need to learn about it sooner or later.

I let him eat some sugar off the counter while I bake, but it's like a 1/4 teaspoon or something...not sure what you mean about breaking down...like she ate it and then freaked out?

[newmamalizzy]

I think mine is kinda crazy because she's NOT into sweet things.  i.e. I think it's normal.  If it wasn't there wouldn't be gross things out there like rock candy.  Or gummy worms.  Or Fun Dip.

[Asiago]

As LeftcoastTrillium spoke of, children instinctively are geared toward sweet because human milk has the highest lactose levels of all mammal milk. Lactose is milk sugar. Human milk has the highest ratio to feed the growth of the very large human brain. It makes sense that children, especially those of breastfeeding age, would like the taste of something sweet.

More info:      http://tinyurl.com/3vrr7tr

[Snapdragon]

I sometimes give ds some pretty mild cookies- vanilla swedish style ones- he loves them- I try to be really mindful of how often and not do it regularly but once in a while it is okay with me. Since I have started, just about every day- a few times- he stands under the counter where I keep them and shouts "cookie! Cookie! cookie!" (which at 18 months sounds more like- "coa-cka! " or "coa-kee"- but it is so funny! Sometimes I give him one or else I just distract him or say no- but it is funny how he does it.

[crunchy_mommy]

I just wanted to mention that maybe she'd enjoy playing Candyland! Maybe she is just as intrigued by the bold shapes & bright colors of candy as by the sweetness/taste. Could be fun, my DS loves that game.

We are on a strict diet (vegan/GF/no artificial colors & flavors) so that naturally cuts down on the types of candy available to DS. But he LOVES chocolate. LOVES it, even the 90% cocoa bars. He also loves TJ's frozen chocolate banana bites and coconut ice cream (and cookies/cake on the very rare occasions we come across veg/GF ones!) Almost every morning when he wakes up, he asks for something sweet. However, he's only allowed one small treat a day, except on special occasions or if I make something for all of us (rare). So once he has his frozen banana bite after he wakes, he's done for the day. He knows this & doesn't seem to have an issue with it (and he doesn't even ask every day) but did have problems when it was more of a free-for-all and he didn't know when he'd get his treat. So I guess I'd suggest picking a certain time of day & designating it 'treat time' -- I know this is usually dessert after dinner for most households but I do not want DS having chocolate at night and he prefers a morning treat anyway -- so there is not that anxiety over whether/when there will be a chance to have sweets. And 'treat' doesn't always have to mean chocolate or lollipops, it could include other healthier things like smoothies or muffins or whatever you deem acceptable.

(And besides chocolate, my DS's favorite foods are things like mushrooms, avocados, broccoli, hummus, etc. so having treats once a day has not changed his liking healthy food!)

[Adaline'sMama]

I let DD have some of whatever im having, and yesterday that was Halloween Oreo Cookies. Shes had sweets plenty of times, but she isnt obsessed with them. They arent forbidden, but sometimes I say "no", same as I do with lots of foods if I dont want her to have it at the moment. But there have been times when I was at my wits end and needing to keep her occupied for a few minutes and given her a sweet treat and she has put it right on the floor and continued doing whatever it was I was trying to distract her from. She would almost always rather have peanut butter or something really messy than something sugary.


By the way, thanks for reminding me that Fun Dip exist. I might have to go to the gas station.

[hildare]

Originally Posted by leftcoast_trillium 

My little guy is totally fruit obsessed and I think it's because that's where he gets his sugar fix from, we don't eat much processed food and don't have a lot of sweets around. I don't mind, since he's a good eater and we don't want to get to controlling about food. He's had pieces of chocolate periodically, since when I have some, I share. But never any "candy".  He's still obsessed with "candy". Talks about it, feeds his trucks candy, pretends small little things are "candy", wants to look at the pages in books where there are pictures of children eating candy. He went through an obsessive "ice cream" phase too. I suspect he's had some candy at his daycare or else picked up on it from the 3 and 5 year olds there. It doesn't really bother me that much, I figure candy, like so many things, is just part of life and he'll need to learn about it sooner or later.

I let him eat some sugar off the counter while I bake, but it's like a 1/4 teaspoon or something...not sure what you mean about breaking down...like she ate it and then freaked out?

yes!  exactly!  like it impacted her behavior immediately, she ran around and then i guess with the "crash" pitched a huge, incomprehensible tantrum.

and what you're saying about the being obsessed with it, but having never/hardly ever had it is pretty much what she's doing.  so weird. 
 

[coldandsleepy]

My son is obsessed with lollipops-- which he has never eaten.  I think he saw one in a book somewhere (The Very Hungry Caterpillar maybe) and just got this idea that they're amazing.  If he sees one at the store, or a picture of one, or anything vaguely resembling one, or if the thought just passes through his head, suddenly all he can talk about his lollipop lollipop lollipop.  Ho boy.

Who knows what lurks inside the brains of toddlers?  I think it's normal for them to have bizarre little obsessions at this stage in life.

[mamazee]

Someone slipped my toddler a piece of candy when I wasn't looking, and she was off and running with her obsession about candy, candy, candy. And of course there's no way to have an effective discussion about healthy food choices with a 2-year-old. Normal.

[leftcoast_trillium]

Originally Posted by hildare 

yes!  exactly!  like it impacted her behavior immediately, she ran around and then i guess with the "crash" pitched a huge, incomprehensible tantrum.

and what you're saying about the being obsessed with it, but having never/hardly ever had it is pretty much what she's doing.  so weird.  

Ahh. We saw this one time when I let him eat an ice cream cone with his grandparents on an emtpy stomach. It was like he was drunk on sugar. He didn't melt down afterwards, but we went to the park and I had him run like crazy and then hustled him home to dinner. I'll bet she had a sugar rush and then crashed. Maybe next time just control the amount, by putting 1/4 - 1/2 teaspoon on the counter? They have to really work on it to get it to their mouths so it keeps them busy "having sugar" for a while and it's small enough that it doesn't make 'em crazy. That's what works for us, anyway!

[schlafmanko]

I rarely restrict sweets except right before meal times. I think that telling kids they can't have sweets is more likely to increase kids' desire for them than it is to cultivate healthy tastes, and it gives kids no experience in how to self-regulate their appetites.  That was my mom's philosophy, too, and it seems to have served my siblings and I well as adults.  If we had different genetics, maybe we'd crave sweets more, but as it is, we rarely eat many.

My two year old is obsessed with the aesthetics of sweets, too, but doesn't usually want to eat much sugar, especially if there are other foods available.  She loves unwrapping lollipops, for example, but then she'll take two licks and use them to go pick up cat hair.  Or she'll ask to look at pictures of cakes on my computer and read books about making cakes, but then she doesn't eat more than a bite or two of cake at  a time.  So wanting candy doesn't necessarily mean wanting to eat candy at this age. 

[Adaline'sMama]

Originally Posted by schlafmanko 

I rarely restrict sweets except right before meal times. I think that telling kids they can't have sweets is more likely to increase kids' desire for them than it is to cultivate healthy tastes, and it gives kids no experience in how to self-regulate their appetites.  That was my mom's philosophy, too, and it seems to have served my siblings and I well as adults.  If we had different genetics, maybe we'd crave sweets more, but as it is, we rarely eat many.

My two year old is obsessed with the aesthetics of sweets, too, but doesn't usually want to eat much sugar, especially if there are other foods available.  She loves unwrapping lollipops, for example, but then she'll take two licks and use them to go pick up cat hair.  Or she'll ask to look at pictures of cakes on my computer and read books about making cakes, but then she doesn't eat more than a bite or two of cake at  a time.  So wanting candy doesn't necessarily mean wanting to eat candy at this age. 

This sounds a lot like DD. She wants to have it, but she doesnt really want to eat it, much.

[elmh23]

Some kids are more sweet tooths than others.  My second is a big ol' sweet tooth!  If there are any sweets in the pantry, he'll ask for them a lot.  When he was smaller (he's now 4.5) he actually scaled the pantry shelves to get to some cookies.  More than once.  My third is very similar.  My first is the kid that will only eat the frosting off of cake, not eat the cake, and while she enjoys sweets, she's perfectly fine not having them.

[mommy212]

My son is a choc-o-holic- seriously! We usually all bake together once a week, and he likes to eat the dough, eat the cookies, etc... It's usually always chocolate because that's what I like to eat  He hasn't had lollipops or candy stuff yet.