Charlie won't be having much soda until he's at least 9 or 10. In general, I'd like to encourage him to drink healthy drinks and not soda. I'm willing to completely give up soda as an example. I very rarely drink any soda ever, even though I used to live on Diet Coke.
How old will your LO be when they have their first sip of Coke (or another soda beverage)?
honeydew / 7917 posts
Never if that could be possible. I have a feeling DH's family would be the first to offer. Actually my 17 month old has been offered soda once from DH's cousin, who is a mom to 3 kids. Her 4 year old daughter drinks soda from a baby bottle.
cantaloupe / 6800 posts
@yin: that sounds like my cousins wife haha
I know def. not in baby/toddler years, but it's a little unrealistic to expect them to not have any until 10 years old in my world. DH is a big soda drinker, so it wil def. be in the house!
hostess / wonderful honeydew / 32460 posts
Lo stole a sip of soda from us a while back. Dh was holding her and a to go cup. She didn't like it! 
I'm guessing 8-10 sounds about right. I always buy "healthier" soda (izze, 365 brand.. ) but don't plan on having our fridge stocked with sofas when the kids get older.
coconut / 8234 posts
We are a no soda household but I'm sure LO will get a taste if it from a member of our family at some point.
pear / 1743 posts
I'd like to say 10 but realistically it is so prevalent at children's birthdays round here that my hope is to make it to 5. It will only ever be a rare treat though!
pineapple / 12234 posts
DS has stolen sips of my diet coke and coffee (at 3) but I won't offer him any, probably ever. He thought my diet coke was gross but liked my coffee, weird! I rarely buy diet coke though and I never even buy juice. He only drinks water and milk...
wonderful cherry / 21504 posts
I almost never drink soda, and it was only allowed for special occasions growing up (any family parties at the house and birthday parties out). It was always a treat when there would be a half empty bottle that we had to finish after a party. I plant to make it like that with our kids, hopefully not until they are at least school age. I've never had a soda habit and I can't see our kids doing so either. DH drinks it more than me, so I may have to try to get him to stop when LOs are old enough to notice.
blogger / pineapple / 12381 posts
Never if it was up to me, but I'm sure as pre-teens they'll be exposed to it at someone else's house.
GOLD / papaya / 10206 posts
I can honestly say this never occured to me. We don't drink a ton of soda, but DH keeps it on hand for when people come over especially because his one buddy drinks rum and coke. I guess we'll have to kick our sodas to the curb before she figures out what it is.
coconut / 8681 posts
We don't drink soda at home and I very rarely have it when we go out. DH hasn't had any soda since he was 13 so baby won't be getting it from him. He'll probably get it eventually from a member of one of our families. I don't think we'll put an age limit on it or make it a huge deal- it just won't be available to him most of the time.
coconut / 8279 posts
Never, haha.. we don't keep it in the house because DH would go through bottle after bottle if we did and he's super health conscious. He has to physically remove himself from being around soda, haha. I'm scared DS will be the same way, so we don't want him to know what it is for a really long time.
blogger / nectarine / 2687 posts
probably around 8?
@mrbee: what's the age for diet peach snapple?
nectarine / 2797 posts
Hmmm, we don't have any in our house unless we are entertaining and even then don't plan on offering to LO, but I suppose at some point she will be offered it at a party or something, but hopefully she'll be a preteen by then?
blogger / wonderful cherry / 21616 posts
@yin: ugh. Sick.
Hopefully never!!! Haha I highly doubt that's possible but I can try
admin / wonderful grape / 20724 posts
@Mrs. Cowgirl: the things we do to set a good example...
GOLD / wonderful grape / 20289 posts
We don't drink it in the house but DH does drink it when he's out sometimes. But he does know better than to give her any. I'll keep it away as long as possible, but I know I don't have that much control of what happens when she's at birthday parties, at friend's houses, etc.
My mom told me that she talked to our dentist about children's teeth and he said their biggest issue is soda, and that they usually serve it at birthday parties. That surprised me, I assumed they'd serve juice.
cantaloupe / 6630 posts
I hope to never have it in the house, but sometimes if people are coming over we might buy it for them... I think the most likely time she'll have it is at birthday parties or other people's houses. Hopefully family will respect our decision not to offer it though.
papaya / 10560 posts
we don't drink cokes here, but i will have to keep LO away from m y MIL because she would probably give it to him at any age! i'm not going to make him crazy about it for fear that he would lash out and want it more knowing we didn't approve. hopefully by setting an example and not drinking it, it won't be a big issue.
pomegranate / 3983 posts
We don't keep it in the house, so he'll have to be old enough to serve himself (somewhere out of the house) because we won't be serving it. I don't like to make hard and fast rules though because then kids go for it at any opportunity they get. He only drinks water now, and juice is a treat that comes in a very small cup.
pomelo / 5093 posts
We don't drink it, don't keep it in the home, won't make an effort to give it to her ever, really. BUT, I'm very aware that fetishizing things like this is just as bad. So she'll try it as soon as someone offers it to her, and as a child she'll be allowed small amounts while eating out, at parties, etc. Making something totally forbidden just sets them up for a lifetime of wanting it because it wasn't allowed.
pineapple / 12526 posts
Honestly, I don't know. Me and DH both drink soda, but not often, and we don't keep any in the house.
I tend to agree with @sarac: though. If someone offers, I'll allow a small sip. I agree that forbidding things makes them more desirable. Since we don't buy it or keep it in the house on a regular basis, I would assume she'll be older though.
cherry / 249 posts
I once knew a woman who kindly took in a friend's 6 month old for a few months while the single mom was deployed with the military. One day she was talking to me about how many 'rules' the mom gave her before leaving her baby with her and how she decided without telling the baby's mom to ignore the 'rules' and just treat the baby as she treated her own little one when he was that age. And as she was telling me this, she put her coke can to the baby's mouth, let her sip a bit, and then said in a conspiring fashion, "She told me to give her nothing with sugar but my son had soda all the time when he was a baby, and he's perfectly fine. She's way too controlling. And look! She likes it!"
Needless to say, I was appalled and we grew apart pretty quickly thereafter.
grapefruit / 4671 posts
I need to start working on seriously curbing my Coke habit now that LO is 3 months. I need to set a good example when she is older. I'm hoping to avoid soda for as long as possible.
pomegranate / 3872 posts
I think a dixie cup of soda at a birthday party at 5 or 6 years old is fine. We don't have soda in the house but I don't believe in making anything off-limits.
wonderful pear / 26210 posts
Good luck trying to keep a kid away from soda until 9 or 10! I was pretty industrious as a kid and used to take sips from adult drinks when my parents had people over, so even though we normally only had diet soda, I had regular coke before I was 6 (I remember being in our old house).
I think by fetishizing, the pp means not to make something more desired by holding it back.
cherry / 249 posts
I didn't have soda until I was in junior high school -- same with any sort of fast food as well -- and I can definitely say that as a teenager, I would always choose that sort of stuff over something healthy because I felt like the opportunities to have it was scarce since I couldn't when my parents were around. While I don't drink soda now and don't want my kid to drink soda, I realistically know that when something is not necessarily forbidden but at least never an option, it becomes that much more desirable so I'm planning on at least having it at special occasions such as birthday parties and the such.
hostess / eggplant / 11068 posts
LO had a drop of pop (that's what Canadians say) at her first birthday and I think she loved the bubbly feeling. But she won't have any pop for as long as we can help it. However, I remember drinking Coke regularly as a young child. Like, at birthday parties we'd get a glass of Coke or Sprite, or if we had McDonalds as a treat, etc. MY problem is that I LOVE Coke.
@chopsuey119: My fridge won't be stocked with sofas, either. 
pomelo / 5866 posts
I drink a soda once a month at the most but I let LO have a sip of Coke and a sip of Sprite once. It was just to see if she would try it and how she felt about it. Oh, and I gave her my mixed Icee (coke/cherry) and she loved it a little too much so yah, won't be doing that too often and I would never ever give/buy her a whole one willingly into her teens. If we were at a party, I MIGHT bend the rules.
hostess / wonderful honeydew / 32460 posts
@Rubies: when I lived in Ohio, everyone called it pop too! Thought it was the oddest thing 
pomelo / 5866 posts
@chopsuey119: http://www.popvssoda.com/ I thought this was a pretty interesting visual because there are no hard and fast rules as to the regions people call it pop/soda/coke.
squash / 13764 posts
We never have it in the house since neither of us drink it, but I'm sure that by the time LO is 5 or 6 he will have had a sip from a family member or at a birthday party or something...I don't think it's a huge deal to let kids try "junk" stuff (soda, candy, etc), as long as it doesn't become a regular thing or a huge deal.
cantaloupe / 6751 posts
My parents didn't allow us any soda growing up so I didn't really drink it until college. I'm gonna try the same thing with L and any future kiddies.
wonderful grape / 20453 posts
Meh, not sure. I had way too much of it as a child, but once my kids are toddlers, they can share one or have it once in awhile. Less coke (because of the caffeine) than things like shirley temples and orange sodas. I don't believe in not allowing kids to experience even the junky things in life because otherwise they don't learn moderation. Which obviously is a HUGE issue in America. They simply learn "can have" and "can have not". I wasn't drinking much soda at all, but started drinking a fair amount of ginger ale and sprite in my first trimester. As long as it's not combined with a steady diet of ho-hos and twinkies and chips, I'm not concerned. I drink soda and I don't feel it's so bad that I need to give it up in order to prove to my child that she shouldn't. I also eat right and exercise, so as a whole, my life is healthy. Soda's at the bottom of my worry list
I also like sparkling water. I keep it around and have it quite often. So many fruit juices are loaded with just as much sugar, anyways.
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