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I haven't read the article, but babies like sugar more than anyone I've ever seen before. In fact, when doing procedures to a baby like inserting a cannula, we
by jazoom 8y ago
I haven't read the article, but babies like sugar more than anyone I've ever seen before. In fact, when doing procedures to a baby like inserting a cannula, we often give them a tiny tube of sugar water to suck on. You can then do pretty much anything you like to them and they don't even notice. They're too busy voraciously sucking out every last molecule of sucrose.
By the way, I've tasted that sugar water, and it isn't even all that concentrated.
It also works if they're sucking on a breast, but it doesn't look like they've just discovered the best thing in the world in that case.
Edit: I just thought I'd clarify (it's not the sucking itself) that when I said they suck on a tube of sugar, it's more like someone is occasionally placing a drop of the stuff on their lip. That keeps them occupied for about 30 seconds at a time. There's less than 1mL of liquid in those tubes, so it'd be gone in a few seconds if we let them suck on it straight away.
- satya71 8y agoAs you said that sugar water is not very concentrated. But baby food tends to be excessively sweet, almost dessert-like. I have struggled with this first hand as a parent.
- jazoom 8y agoBut babies obviously love sugar, so this title is ridiculous. Just because you don't love dipping a moist steak in a tub of salt doesn't mean you don't love salty foods. That's too much of a good thing.
- headsoup 8y agoMaybe you should actually read the article instead of spouting nonsense.
- jazoom 8y agoI don't read articles with ridiculous titles. They don't get my eyeballs. What did I say that is "nonsense"? Perhaps you can enlighten me?
- headsoup 8y agoBabies do not 'obviously love sugar.' They just have the sweet taste-buds first, which aligns with breastmilk being sweet. The baby is just as likely to be freaking out at the sensation overload (not necessarily in a bad way) rather than enjoying the sugar. Also, babies are familiar with tastes from before birth depending on what the mother ate, so it's also likely the mothers have had quite the sweet tooth while pregnant. But it's not a preference thing for babies, it's physiological...
- jazoom 8y agoOkay cool. Thank you for enlightening me. I guess I'll just go back to medical school since some dude from HN thinks my professional observations are nonsense.
- headsoup 8y agoWell you did come here stating how frequently you're giving babies sugar and that you can't be bothered reading articles you're commenting on...so assumptions may be made.
- jazoom 8y agoI commented on the title only. I made that obvious. I also didn't say anything about frequency. I also don't get my medical knowledge from The Guardian.
- steve_adams_86 8y agoI agree - I have to keep sweets to a minimum with my 1 year old because he really, really prefers them over normal food for hours or even days after eating them. He also loves very salty foods. He's like any kid really, just smaller (which causes me even more concern about him eating a lot of salt and sugar).