Is it okay to give your baby cookies, cake, and candy?

Many parents are worried about their kids’ sugar intake, but what about sugar and babies? In this article, you’ll learn when you can give sweets to your baby, the potential health outcomes of the early introduction to sweet foods, and how these foods shape food preferences early in life. 

When Can Babies Have Sugar?

As the world becomes more focused on infants and the nutrition they need to grow well and develop a healthy brain, you may wonder where sugary drinks and sweet treats fit into the mix. Leading organizations have a stance of this topic: 

• The American Heart Association (AHA) state that babies and young toddlers should not receive any sweets in the first 2 years of life.
• The 2020 Dietary Guidelines for Americans (DGA) stand strong in its advice to avoid added sugar in the first 24 months of life.

Not only is the introduction of sugary foods tied to chronic disease in children, it also may shape food preferences and choices.

Infants and Young Toddlers: Trends in Sugar Consumption

As it stands, babies and young toddlers are receiving cookies and other sweets earlier than age two. Statistics from the Feeding Infants and Toddlers Study (2018) capture what’s going on in the nutrition of babies and young toddlers. They found:

• About 30% of 1-year-olds and 45% of 2- to 3-year-olds drink sugar-sweetened beverages, with fruit-flavored drinks being the most popular.
• Twenty-seven percent of children between 1 and 3 years do not eat a single serving of vegetables during the day.
• About 75 percent of 2- to 3-year-olds exceed the upper limit for sodium.
• More than 60 percent of 2- to 3-year-olds go beyond saturated fat guidelines.
• Three quarters of children between ages 1 and 2 years eat sweets every day, and 90% of 2 -to 3- year-olds do.

Between 18 and 20 months of age, the young toddler’s diet looks similar to the average adult diet. They eat the foods their parents eat.

Unsurprisingly, this is associated with a higher likelihood of excess body fat in childhood and chronic illnesses like heart disease.

It’s easy to see that if we want to turn the tide on unhealthy eating, we need to get a handle on infant nutrition. We need to help babies get started on a healthy track with nutritious foods the primary focus.

A Lot of Sugar and Sweet-Tasting Foods Aren’t Good for Baby

Sweets and added sugar are things you should consider avoiding in the first two years of life. Here’s why:

1. Sweet Foods Contain Few Nutrients and Little Nutritional Value

Foods such as cookies, candy, and sugary cereals, and sweet drinks like juice and soda, have a lot of added sugar, which isn’t a nutrient young children need.

Most concerning is the trade-off that happens when sweets are part of a baby’s diet. Important nutrients like calcium and vitamin D, and DHA might get crowded out by sugar. Whole foods, especially fruit and vegetables and other healthy foods, get displaced when sugary foods are part of the diet.

Nutrients are in high demand in the first 2 years of life. Filling those little tummies with sugary food doesn’t help nourish your young one’s body or brain. 

2. Sugary Treats are High in Calories

Often, sugary foods, while high in sugar content, are also high in calories. Diets high in calories may offer too much energy (calories) for children and are associated with extra body fat. 

The prevalence of extra body fat is about 8% in children under 2 years of age, according to the CDC. Food choices really matter in this age group.

Of course, beyond age two, a healthy diet can include sweets. It’s all in the balance.

3. Eating Sweet Foods Strengthens Taste Preferences

Sweet food begets sweet food. Infants are born with an established preference for sweet flavors (amniotic fluid is sweet and so is breast milk). They are also born with little experience with bitter tastes found in foods like vegetables.

The foods that babies eat outside the womb, particularly if they are high in sugar and fat, may reinforce the preference for sweet and fatty foods.

[Listen in to my interview with Dr. Julie Mennela about children’s preferences in food.]

During the first 5 years when children are establishing their food preferences, frequent exposure to foods with a sweet taste or sugary beverages may further encourage a preference for these foods.

4. Sugar Increases the Risk for Cavities

Tooth decay can happen when your baby’s teeth come in contact with sugar. It happens before your child has teeth!

Why? Sugar helps bacteria grow and this causes the teeth to decay.

Many of the liquids that young children drink contain natural sugars, including cow’s milk and other dairy products, infant formula, and fruit juices.

Eating solid foods with sugar also places more sugar on your child’s teeth, increasing the likelihood of decay.

Make sure you brush your child’s teeth every day to lower the risk of tooth decay. 

My Advice About Sugar for Babies (and FAQs)

If you can delay the introduction of cake, cookies, candy, and sugary beverages, that’s ideal. Remember, the world will expose your baby (and child) to many sweet options, some of which you’ll have no control over. But you do have control while your child is young.

When can babies have cookies?

For traditional cookies we bake in the oven, the ones full of chocolate chips and sugar, babies can look forward to eating them after they turn two.

Other baby cookies and baby snacks like arrowroot cookies have been around since my kids were babies! They’re fine.

What about candy for baby?

There are many types of candy out there for all of our children. But, for babies, candy shows up as lollipops for the most part.

Is a lollipop good for babies? I wouldn’t call them “good for babies” as they are all sugar. My advice would be to avoid them as much as you can until your little one turns two.

And then, I’d use them sparingly, and definitely not as a food reward for good behavior or eating.

Also, remember, many candies are choking hazards for babies and young toddlers and should be avoided.

What sweets are suitable for a 1-year-old?

Nature’s original sweet treat, of course!

Fresh fruit. (Or canned in their own juices, dried, or frozen.)

Fruit is naturally sweet and packed with lots of nutrients and fiber for your little one. Serve sweet fruit with all meals and you’ll curb that sweet tooth from the start. Avoid fruit drinks.

Can babies have chocolate?

The AAP advice avoiding chocolate until your child is two years old. It not only contains added sugar, but it’s also a source of caffeine.

When can babies have ice cream?

It’s advised that you avoid ice cream until your baby is two years old. This falls in line with the general advice of no added sugar before age two.

However, there’s another caution with ice cream: food allergies.

Since ice cream is a dairy product and may contain nuts or peanuts and other allergens – or be cross-contaminated by them — it’s best to wait on ice cream.

At what age can a baby eat birthday cake?

Truth be told, each of my four children had cake on their first birthday. It was a special occasion.

We didn’t know then what we know now. Our food landscape and children’s health problems have escalated since the ’90’s and 2000’s when my kids were babes.

That being said, I think if cake is offered on the first birthday and it doesn’t become a regular habit, that’s just fine.

Resources

• Check out my YouTube channel for feeding toddlers and kids – the next stage!

• Check out my book, The Smart Mom’s Guide to Starting Solids. It’s my step-by-step guide to starting solids for new parents (and seasoned ones, too) and includes the latest information, from food choices and important nutrients for brain development to feeding methods, food allergies and more. You’ll get guidance on foods to avoid for babies under age one, as well as the recommended foods to introduce to your new eater. 

• Read, The Ultimate Guide to Baby’s Nutrition in the First Year.

Originally published in April, 2015 | Updated November 2024