The sugar-free dilemma

Tristan just turned one on the 9th.  For his birthday I made him his very own sugar free carrot cake with sugar free cream cheese frosting.

Ok, wait… some back story:

After my recital in December, I had a nice reception.  I won’t say who, but I will say that people were feeding Tristan cake.  There was fruit available (and he LOVES fruit), but cake was the drug of choice that night.  I was busy chatting with people, and couldn’t be the diligent guardian I should have been. Needless to say, Tristan at least waited until I had changed out of the most expensive dress I have ever owned –  to puke on me.  Yup, so not only was he hyper, but it also didn’t settle well in his tummy.

I should also mention that I did not handle sugar well as a child.  I would have an extreme sugar high, then a sugar tantrum, and then I HAD to fall asleep.  It was always how sugar ran in my system… hyper, tantrum, and major crash. I admit, I don’t know how other children usually handle sugar, but I really didn’t handle it well.  Strangers would try to be nice and would give me candy (oh I know…don’t take candy from strangers!.. boy I was bad) and my mom would then have to deal with the ensuing terror that I would be for many hours to come.  She did have me on a sugar free diet most of my childhood though, which helped control my moods and things.

Ok back to the main line of this post…

When Tristan’s birthday rolled around, I made it clear that at his party I did for him, he would have specially sugar free treats made for him.  He also seemed to really like the cake I made, so I don’t feel like I was being mean or anything.  I just think that sugar can wait.  He is, after all, only one.

Well some people ended up missing his birthday and wanted to do a little birthday for him when they could.  That wasn’t an issue really, so long as it was sugar free.  Well that wasn’t ok apparently.  I found out that I had upset someone by saying “no sugar.”  I guess it is seen that I am being unfair, or not letting him have a full birthday experience.  I don’t really know why it was such a big deal…it just was.

Sigh

I did finally win out…minus one bite of sugary cake (I guess I can’t totally win,) but really I mean the best for my boy.  I think most parents mean the best for their kids when they make choices like these.  I am hoping to help Tristan develop good eating habits, which in turn will help him maintain a good weight (unlike mommy and daddy here….we are working on it though) and grow up a healthy little boy with few – if any – health concerns.  Oh and non-rotted teeth.

For one thing, high fructose corn syrup is used in most sweet and/or processed things.  The companies that make that stuff try and tell the public that it is OK to eat, but I have come to find out that it is broken down by the body in a different way than table sugar. (Here is one of the articles) – This can greatly impact risks for diabetes.

So pardon me for my evidence based parenting.  I didn’t realize I was such a downer for trying to be a good mom.

Something I should mention… Tristan did have a nice second 1st birthday party.  He got some neat things like a ride in car for me to push him around in (he likes it).  I know people try and make him happy, I am just wanting things to go my way since he’s my kid.  That’s all.