# Toddlers and Spicy Foods?



## AnnaNova (Nov 2, 2008)

so the other day we were at a mexican restaurant, and my son who is 17 mo reached out for a corn chip, so i gave it to him, but then he wanted to dip it into salsa and when i said no started fussing and crying and stuff, so i though, fine ill give it to him, as soon as it touches his mouth, he will realize its too spicy and won't want it again. BUT not only did he eat it, but he reached for seconds and was just licking it off of the chip!!! i finally asked to remove the chips and salsa coz i was getting worried about his little tummy!!!
and ive noticed in general, he's become very much into spicy foods! his favorite breakfast lately is a piece of toast with tomato-garlic goat cheese on it, not very spicy, but pretty garlic-y!
not that i mind his sophisticated palette, but im afraid it might hurt his tummy!
anyone else have a spicy food lover?


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## pbjmama (Sep 20, 2007)

My dd in particular likes spicy/flavorful food and my ds does too to a lesser level. My kids have been tasting that sort of food since birth thru my breast milk I think its pretty normal and let them eat what they like. I think bland food for kids is a fairly new thought.


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## Skippy918 (Jul 15, 2008)

My son was loving the salsa at the Mexican restaurant and he was also licking the bbq sauce at the BBQ joint off his fingers. The BBQ sauce at this place had a bit of a kick to it. He was also enjoying some of my Panang (thai) curry, which was a little spicy for me, but he was loving every minute of it. I had gotten up out of my seat to wash him off and next thing I see was him getting into my seat and double fisting the rice soaked curry in his mouth. Right now, he's into dipping food in sauces so when we're out we give him some on his plate and whether he dips food or fingers in it is fine with me. He hasn't gotten sick so I don't think there's anything to worry about. I wouldn't give him habanero sauce or tabasco since that might be too spicy.


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## earthmama369 (Jul 29, 2005)

Kids in traditionally "spicy" food cultures eat spicy foods from a very young age. Doesn't seem to hurt them, and I wanted to encourage a broad palate range, so when my kids were toddlers and wanted to try something with a lot of flavor or spice, I absolutely let them. The only thing I watched out for was small fingers with spicy food on them rubbing their eyes. If we were at, say, a Mexican restaurant, I just kept a wet wipe on hand to use as a napkin if they started to get tired and made a move to rub their eyes.

At 4 and 5, despite food allergies in my son and the normal developmental stage of being picky that my daughter is going through, they both have a really wide range of foods and flavors that they will eat. Sushi is hands-down their favorite food. Mexican and Indian food run a close second.


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## fruitfulmomma (Jun 8, 2002)

Totally normal for that age and I've never had one get sick but they usually grow out of their like of it at some point.


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## 34me (Oct 2, 2006)

My now 11 year old started his love of spicy food at an early age in exactly the same was. He has his own bottle of hot sauce in the fridge now because it's too spicy for me.


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## tabrizia (Oct 24, 2007)

We eat a lot of spicy food in our house and both my 16 month old and 3 year old have been eating it from a young age. Neither of them has ever had an issue with it. I figure they will let me know if they don't want something spicy. We have never had any tummy issues with spicy foods.


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## BeanyMama (Jul 25, 2006)

All three of mine absolutely love salsa (we are Texans and they're 25% Mexican...) My older two will take down super spicy salsa picosa but our tot sticks to the mediums. She loves buffalo wing sauce as well. We don't eat wings, but she'll take it slathered on tomato wedges


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## SubliminalDarkness (Sep 9, 2009)

We eat a lot of spicy stuff, too, and both our kids have liked it from early on. I wouldn't discourage it. Just go with it. If it's too much for them, they'll let you know.


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## butterfly_mommy (Oct 22, 2007)

Yep we have another spicy food lover! DS has been eating Salsa, Tzatziki, and super garlicky dressing that I make since before his first birthday.

He also now at 2.5 loves hot sauce on stuff, jalapeños in quesadillas/burritos, hot wings anything garlicky, spicy thai noodles, etc

I just let him know that the thing he wants to try is spicy so he may want to try a little bit at first. His favourite place to go is for Mexican food and he eats tons of Salsa. He has never had an upset stomach due to spicy/flavourful foods. He has reacted by crying and wiping his tongue a few times and saying "I don't want to taste it" after insisting on tasting some spicy foods before. Then we tell him to have some dairy to help counter the spicy food and he is fine


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## rightkindofme (Apr 14, 2008)

In my opinion assuming that children need bland food is one of the worst things a parent can do for a kid. I would *not* be interested in being stuck with blah bland food on the menu forever. My kid likes some spicy stuff that is over my ability to process and I absolutely encourage her to keep going with it.


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## Sierra (Nov 19, 2001)

My ds used to drink the salsa -- yes DRINK -- one bowl at a time for as long as he could get the waitstaff to keep bringing them, whenever we went out to eat somewhere with free chips and salsa. My dd would eat lemon slices from our water. Weird because neither is into either item now. I guess it was a phase.

But we always fed our kids what we were eating, spices and all. The only thing that would have caused us to intervene would have been if their tummies had gotten upset, but it turned out that watermelon and anything with refined sugar were the only things that upset their tummies.


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## swd12422 (Nov 9, 2007)

My son was this way with spicy food, too. We had trouble getting him to try solids and he refused most things til he was 18 months old. When he finally did start eating, he liked the spicy/well seasoned stuff, nothing bland, and he wouldn't even look at anything white (rice, potatoes, cauliflower...). Then I realized that maybe he was gagging on solids so much when he was a baby b/c he hated the blandness. To this day he won't eat an avocado, and when we have Mexican food, he demands a little puddle of hot sauce on his plate.


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## Drummer's Wife (Jun 5, 2005)

My kids all love chips and salsa - and my 3rd (he's 5 now, but even as a toddler) liked spicy foods. He once drank the juice out of a can of habanero peppers!

I think living in NM, many kids at least eat mild green chiles.


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## tankgirl73 (Jun 10, 2007)

Quote:


Originally Posted by *rightkindofme* 
In my opinion assuming that children need bland food is one of the worst things a parent can do for a kid. I would *not* be interested in being stuck with blah bland food on the menu forever.









:

And







: to most of the comments on this thread too. It's completely accurate -- babies in spicy food cultures eat spicy foods from the beginning and they don't think twice about it. I'm not even sure what aspect of spicy food would even cause an upset tummy... A burnt tongue, yes, but our tummies are made of tougher stuff.









The 'bland food' thing is a thoroughly western and modern invention with no basis on actual baby biology. I suspect it stems from the whole idea that you "have to" start with rice cereal, which itself only become the norm because early formulas couldn't have enough iron added to them but they could add iron to pablum, so babies got pablum in their bottles from an early age... rice cereals could be fortified to make up for what was lacking in formulas... and since the babies needing the cereals were too young for 'real' solids, they had to have runny, bland food only, because they're 'programmed' to only drink milk at that age, no interest in other food, so they had to be essentially _tricked_ into downing that stuff...

Anyway, that's my suspicion.







Ever since learning about baby-led solids, I've had some strong opinions on baby food! But we're not even talking about a baby here, the OP is talking about an older toddler. I was giving spicy foods to my daughter when she was 7mo... 17mo is no problem at all!

Really, the surprising thing here is that so many people are still surprised that kids don't need bland food. But then they complain so much when the kids continue to only want bland "kid food" (white bread, macaroni, and hot dogs every day) even when they get older... Big shock, that's because it's what they've learned they're supposed to like!


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## crunchy_mommy (Mar 29, 2009)

17mo DS has eaten spicy food from the moment he started solids. He loves curries, salsas, garlic, plain ginger, etc. and the only way he eats bread is if it's soaked in hot sauce!

It never occurred to me to give him bland foods (I hate bland foods & he always eats what I'm eating). He hasn't had any tummy issues with it.


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## SpottedFoxx (Feb 8, 2010)

DS was eating very spicy guacamole from the time he was a year old. He loves spicy black beans too (he's 5 now). I agree - giving kids bland foods serves no purpose but to dull their palette.


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## sweetcheeks (May 21, 2005)

I have to agree that not exposing kids to spicy foods does nothing but dull their palette. When DS1 was little, we were so careful to not give him anything spicy in fear that it would upset his tummy. To this day, that kid (7) will not eat anything with any hint of spice! He even says ranch dressing is "too spicy." What the.... ?!?!

DD (5) and DS2 (2) were exposed to spicy foods before age 1 and they both can't get enough of spicy food. They both love curries, spicy chili, buffalo wings, hot sausage, anything with lots of garlic, salsa etc. I still remember the day DD and I shared some beef vindaloo leftovers from an East Indian restaurant in town. It was the spiciest dish they had on the menu and it was so spicy, I could only eat half at dinner. The next day for lunch, DD wanted some and she loved it! She got mad when it was all gone.


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## 2ID_Wife (Jul 23, 2005)

All my kids have had spicy food from the start.
One of my dd's fav meal has been since she was not even 3, rice with kimchee she would eat it daily if I would let her and could find good spicy kimchee in NY.
But then 3 of my kids were born in Korea where 80% of the food is spicy, course 10% is rice so.


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## limabean (Aug 31, 2005)

Quote:


Originally Posted by *fruitfulmomma* 
Totally normal for that age and I've never had one get sick but they usually grow out of their like of it at some point.

That's been my experience so far. DS was quite an adventurous eater as a toddler, but from age 2.5-4.5 his range of foods really narrowed and I had one of those typical bland-food-loving kids. Around age 4.5 he started to try new things again, and now at age 5.5 he'll eat a pretty wide variety of foods, though not nearly as wide as when he was a toddler!

Now my 2.5-year-old DD is the adventurous eater in the family -- we'll see if that starts to decline soon!


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## Auraji (Sep 19, 2008)

We love spicy food at home. I think my DD's first spicy food was curry when she was about 8 months. She loves it, she will eat chunks of habanero cheese that *I* think is too spicy. I make beans with green chilies and she loves that too. I basically give her whatever she wants to eat that is not a choke hazard, if I'm in the kitchen cutting an onion and she's pestering me to give her some. I give her a chunk, I thought she wouldn't eat it, but to my surprise she did lol


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## blizzard_babe (Feb 14, 2007)

DS likes spicy food... unless we tell him it's "spicy." Somehow he has a definition for the word spicy in his head, and that definition is "food I don't like." If he doesn't like something, he says, "It's too spicy." But yeah, give the kid tortilla chips and a bowl of salsa, and he's in heaven







.


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## mambera (Sep 29, 2009)

Quote:


Originally Posted by *tankgirl73* 
babies in spicy food cultures eat spicy foods from the beginning and they don't think twice about it.

Might depend on the culture. I tend to let DD have food of whatever spice level she wants but my MIL (from India) is still making separate food for DD (14 mo) because the regular stuff we eat is "too spicy for babies."

Quote:

I'm not even sure what aspect of spicy food would even cause an upset tummy... A burnt tongue, yes, but our tummies are made of tougher stuff.








I consider myself to have a pretty iron stomach but I did get a tummy upset once from eating too much hot lime pickle. DH warned me but I didn't listen.


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## blizzard_babe (Feb 14, 2007)

Quote:


Originally Posted by *mambera* 
I consider myself to have a pretty iron stomach but I did get a tummy upset once from eating too much hot lime pickle. DH warned me but I didn't listen.









I have no idea what hot lime pickle is, but I want some. The name alone combines three of my favorite things... spicy, lime, and pickled things







.


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## Sugarshoc (Feb 5, 2007)

My ped said all table food is fine at 6 months old. She had her first taste of ground up jerk chicken with rice at 6 months and hasn't stopped. DD LOVES spicy food and she is now 2. During my pregnancy, I had serious cravings for extremely hot and spicy food and I ate a lot of it. Her tolerance for spice is much higher than mine. As soon as I had her, my palette went back to my normal spice tolerance. We've never had any tummy troubles due to her yen for pepper.


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## Charrey (Jul 27, 2010)

My 3 yr old son is just the opposite. He says foods with black pepper are too spicey! Some foods we have to make a special version for him since he's so sensitive to even the mildest spices.


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## mambera (Sep 29, 2009)

Quote:


Originally Posted by *blizzard_babe* 
I have no idea what hot lime pickle is, but I want some. The name alone combines three of my favorite things... spicy, lime, and pickled things







.

http://www.amazon.com/Priya-Lime-Pic.../dp/B002UL53ZO

I love this stuff. Just remember, a little bit goes a long way.


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## sapphire_chan (May 2, 2005)

Quote:


Originally Posted by *mambera* 
Might depend on the culture. I tend to let DD have food of whatever spice level she wants but my MIL (from India) is still making separate food for DD (14 mo) because the regular stuff we eat is "too spicy for babies."

Does she make it rice cereal bland or does she just turn down the heat to something more like "Indian restaurant in America mild"? Cause some of the hotter levels of spices in Indian cuisine could cause actual burns.


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## babybirkel (Apr 1, 2009)

my 18 month old DS LOVES salsa. he will eat all kinds of spicy things...curried lentils, etc. he will eat salsa with a spoon.









we eat a lot of ethnic/spicy foods at our house, so if we didn't give him spicy things, we'd have to make either separate meals for our son or make all our food bland. if something we make is too spicy, he usually lets us know by making a face, saying "hot" and taking a drink (and he means hot like spicy hot, not hot as in temperature). and then he just won't eat anymore of it.

i say it's no big deal.


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## happysmileylady (Feb 6, 2009)

That's basically exactly the same thing that went on with my oldest. She's now 14 and is generally always willing to try anything, and always has been.

My younger one, now 20 months, has tried salsa, but I think it burns her tounge. I suspect that she got a jalapeno directly to the tounge the first time she tried it and is a little "gun shy."


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## SparklingGemini (Jan 3, 2008)

My DD loves, LOVES, spicy foods and has since she was first introduced to solids.

Her favorites are Indian and Thai, and she'll eat jalapeño slices my the handful.

She just turned three this month but I don't think she's going to grow out of her varied tastes any time soon. She's quite the foodie.


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## meemee (Mar 30, 2005)

i could not believe it when my then 10 month old grabbed raw onions from the cutting board and ate some and then went for seconds and thirds.

everyone used to surround her at 18 months to watch her down wasabi with sushi.

then she went off of it.

and is now once again back with spicy food.


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## Megan73 (May 16, 2007)

DS (2 next week) loves all kinds of food and eats Indian and Thai food enthusiastically. We had a bit of a crisis last night, though, when as he was rubbing a red Thai curry into his hair







and a little got into his eye. Ouchee!


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