A MUM has shared her anger after her daughter was given chocolate cake on her first birthday without her parent’s consent.
For Reshni Ratnam, her daughter Isla’s first birthday was memorable but for all of the wrong reasons.
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“Our daughter, Isla, was given a large piece of chocolate cake (with icing and smarties) without our consent,” she wrote on Rendeview.
It is unsurprising that Reshni is protective of her daughter as Isla weighed just 1.2kg when she was born at 29 weeks on November 3, 2017.
Reshni calls her daughter a “miracle baby”.
“Every milestone is a big deal to us. First birthdays are special to every parent” she says.
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“They only come around once, and when they do a lot of effort is put into making them a milestone to remember.
“We watch Isla’s diet closely and rarely feed her packaged products. We don’t add salt to her home cooked meals.”
Isla had never had any sweet treats in before but all that changed on her first birthday.
“Isla was violently ill (projectile vomited everywhere) the night of her birthday and had a terrible tummy for several days after. Her body was not ready for a sugar rush,” she said.
“In fact, we didn’t want our dear daughter, who only weighs 8kg, to eat cake on her birthday.
Her body was not ready for a sugar rush
Reshni Ratnam
“No doubt the photos look good — it’s definitely one for her photo album. She devoured the piece of chocolate cake. But a line was crossed that day.
“I know it’s not the end of the world but this incident has hurt my husband and I dearly.
“Since the incident, comments have been made like, ‘it’s just cake’, ‘it was her birthday’, ‘why can’t she have cake? Is she allergic to sugar or flour?’.
“The fact our daughter was sick from ingesting so much cake is a sign her little body wasn’t ready for sweet treats.”
Reshni said it didn’t cross their minds to tell family and friends not to feed cake to their little one because they always thought it was their decision as her parents.
“It is not OK to feed a baby without their parent’s consent. Adults should show some leadership and not encourage children to eat sugar-loaded foods, especially at a young age,” she said.
“We know as she gets older this will change. But for now, we would like to call the shots, especially given her rough start to life.
“While nothing malicious was intended by giving our one-year-old a sugar hit, we hope in future others are mindful before good intentions cause harm.”
This article was originally published on Kidspot and has been republished with permission
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