I seem to remember warm milk as a common children's beverage from old books (especially pre-bed or pre-nap?)... I don't see how a milk-only "babyccino" is all that different, except in its presentation.

I had warm milk quite a bit when I was little. I think this drink is cute. A fun way to do a dad and me/mommy and me day. Cute :)

I think it's terrific for the business owners! Give the people what they think they want and they'll pay... win/win.

My daughter has been drinking black coffee since she was 2. We live in conservative non-coffee-drinking Utah, and so when we go out for coffee, I have to order a larger size to share with her. This coffee shop owner has it all right!

By the way - pediatrician OK'd the coffee drinking - 1/2C or less per day.

This has been a common thing in Australia for decades; so if it's a silly trend, it's a pretty damn persistent one! You'll never get them with coffee in them, though.
Not all cafes do it, but most do. I've actually only been to a couple of cafes that actually charge anything for it - normally they're free.
If you have a neighbourhood cafe you'll wind up serving quite a few of these as all the young mums come in during the week for their morning coffee/gossip sessions with their young bubs in tow. I think more than anything else it just gives the kids something to do while the mums can chat. I guess it's also a bit of a treat for them, and frankly it's better than the all-to-common treat of "hey kids! Who wants a HappyMeal?!"

Cambria, just yesterday your post was mocking Brooklyn's Park Slope Co-op. So if you think it is so tired to slam Brooklyn or Portland perhaps you should start with your own writing.

I think it's cute. My mom used to put a splash of coffee in my milk to get me to drink milk and I don't think it hindered my development at all - some people say coffee stunts your growth, but my mom is almost 5'5" and I'm 5'8" so I'm pretty sure I maxed out heightwise in spite of my coffee habit. If it equals more sales for these coffee shops, and it's not hurting anyone, then who cares? And if most of these babyccinos are just steamed milk with a fancy name then they truly are harmless and people should calm down.

@alexis, I don't think I was mocking the Park Slope Food Co-op. I LIVE in Brooklyn and am a former Park Slope Food Co-op member myself. I think acknowledging that the co-op meeting notes had a touch of the absurd doesn't count as mocking, merely observation.

When I was a barista we offered a kids' drink called a "steamer"...it was simply steamed milk with a shot whatever flavor syrup you wanted. We served it in the small 8 oz. cups.

In south Louisiana, kids frequently drink "coffee milk." It's a little bit of coffee with lots of warm milk and often sugar. I don't see steamed milk with a bit of cinnamon or coffee as a big deal.

Far be it for me to judge anyone else's parenting, but what POSSIBLE reason would there be to give a toddler coffee, especially if its caffeinated?! That strikes me as entirely absurd. Not only from a health standpoint, but what toddler needs a caffeine boost?

I don't see why anyone would complain about the steamed milk, though.

So bizarre that people get upset about a child drinking decaf with steamed milk. Maybe it's an Italian thing, but we started drinking coffee--actual coffee--around age 3. (NOT something I've done with my child, but she does drink iced green tea to battle jet lag when we visit family in Japan). ANd yup, I remember various truck stop waitresses out west refusing to serve us, or bringing hot chocolate instead (that's better?). But they'd serve us a Coke without blinking. And that IS worse!

I hate coffee, but the pastry shop I worked in offered "steamers," (like @clampers) which was whatever kind of milk you wanted steamed with flavored syrups like almond, mint, hazelnut, vanilla, caramel, etc. They are delicious. But that place only charged $2.25 for a large one (12 oz). Of course, it wasn't in Brooklyn either, but still.

I always got a steamer when I wanted something hot but wasn't in the mood for hot chocolate or tea.

People are seriously upset about these? They couldn't come up with something worth being worried about, so they latched onto these?

Last week I took my 7 year old out for a treat- she got a hot chocolate & I got a latte. The barista made an awesome snowman on the top of her hot chocolate & she let out a silent squeal. Totally made her day (and mine!) I love Simon's coffee shop!

My parents used to make these for me when I was a kid. They had a stovetop cappuccino maker/milk steamer. It was a great treat on a frozen New England day, especially because I was rarely allowed sweets.

I'm not seeing the problem. At all. Though my little one would be just as happy with the coffee drink.

Yeah I don't see what the big deal is, they seem fun. They're mostly warm milk so they are probably better for kids than hot cocoa or juice. In RI they've been serving sugary coffee milk to little ones for decades!

My toddler has tried coffee but hates it, maybe I'll make her a double babyccino. She towers over my neighbor's kindergartners so I don't have to worry about stunting her growth.

Hot frothy milk to calm your kid down doesn't sound like a bad idea.

I want to add that I, like other folks, drank real coffee as a little girl. My parents would give me a juice glass of half coffee, half milk. They started doing that when I was about 4 years old. It was only one glass a day. I never had any sort of side effects, and grew to be a hearty 5'5", which isn't bad for an average gal.

I don't have a problem with the drink per se - even when it contains coffee, it is decaf, so it can't be that bad for kids health-wise.

But I do take issue with a larger trend this is part of: pressuring kids into looking and acting like grown-ups. Racy lingerie targeting 8 year olds, make-up for kids, heels for kids... Then, we wonder why there are so many pedophiles and why preteens get pressured into having sex too early.

Whatever happened to letting kids be kids? The age of innocence is already too brief as it is. I think any loving parent can remember how safe they felt before they were exposed to some of the nastier grown-up stuff and would wish for their kids to get their share of that careless, safe and joyful feeling.

I don't think this is a trend, they've just given it a cute name... Like a few other people have mentioned, most coffee shops offer "steamers", which is all this is.

As said above this have been in Australia for quite a few years. As a kid I would steal all the froth off my mums cappucino. A babychino just guarantees the Mum can enjoy her cappucino froth and all. I make them at my work but we serve it in a normal size cup with a little bit of hot chocolate in it.

@Viktoria -I hardly think drinking some milk froth is the same as the sexualisation of children. Kids have been copying their parents for years, whether it be wanting their own kid-version of their parents coffee or playing mum to a baby doll, cooking at a play stove. This is all normal and certainly isn't in the same vain as racy lingerie.

I don't have any issue with the product - like many others have mentioned, steamed milk is a pretty traditional kids' drink. I do, however, object to the ridiculous name. Can't we just call it steamed or hot milk and be done with it?

BKK, to be clear, it is the way they market the product that bothers me. Maybe the examples I have given of things that go overboard with the idea of kids acting (or trying to act) like adults were not the best as they are the most obvious ones, and since the most obvious ones mostly have to do with hypersexualisation...

Like I said, the beverage itself doesn't bother me. It is more the fact that it seems to be marketed as something that allows a kid to feel like a grown-up, as though that were desirable to a kid, that bothers me - and this is far from being the only such product. Sure, it is healthy and normal to play mommy and imitate our parents. But when a kid normally drinks milk and juice, I don't see the relevance of marketing bite-sized cappuccinos to them. Or, as Piccola says it more succinctly, why not just call it a steamer? You know, something a kid would otherwise drink. Or even why not allow kids to have their own beverage that is not a typically grown-up thing but that they can enjoy with their parents while parents enjoy their grown-up things?

Good grief, I can't imagine why people are upset about this. They must be grouchy or generally anti-child in general.

I'm not sure about the rest of the world, but here in Australia where the babycinos originated, they couldn't call it a steamer. Steamer is known as slang for poo, and we aren't polite enough to ignore an overlap like that ;-) It just wouldn't be a good product name. Also, it would be very unusual to find sugary syrups in babycinos around here. I think perhaps the steamer people have mentioned is a different drink entirely.

I'm a little concerned that they are commercially available as babycinos with a decaf shot. I know some people give coffee and wine to children but that part does seem a little unusual to me. I suppose you could ask for it without, though.

Does it make it worse that we also have pupacinos in some places? They are for dogs, served in a dog bowl, and made of puppy milk. I think they have a sprinkling of carob chocolate on the top. I'm pretty sure the dogs don't enjoy the frothy fun as much as the kids do though ;-)