Juice Question

Hi

Once I started giving my son juice, I have always diluted. Even now that he is 2 1/2. This way, he gets the taste but not too much of the sugar.

Hope this helps.

I have seen all the posting that say that they CANNOT get their kid to drink WATER.
BUt iam sorry if your kid has no other choice they WILL drink water eventually...

Parents should just be ready to stick with it.
My 19 month old daughter doesn't drink juice just milk and water she know what juice is now but will only drink a sip from cup once in a while.
I think you are setting up your kid for future choices and there is no better CHOICE than water.

But of course if you don't drink water and drink juice then its hard to convince your kid to drink water
As far as baby juice/ adult juice i think if you choose pure juice no added sugar you will be fine.

YES a fresh fruits are better than juice anyway

Just my pet peeve and my 2 cents worth

Good luck

When my son was young, I could NOT get him to drink water! My Pedi told me to just do 50/50 mixes with juice, so 50% juice, 50% water. Just make sure you get 100% juice. Not that it's that big of deal, but it will just make you feel better. I know as new moms we so want to do everything we "think" we're supposed to, and don't want anyone to judge us, but frankly, really, we just need to do for our children what gets us through the day & makes us feel okay. My husband's mom used to put Coca-cola in his bottle. And he grew up just fine - not overweight, no rotted teeth, etc. Today's society seems to really overreact to everything in our quest to be perfect.

But I digress.....one thing I did do with my son was I started buying the flavored waters - (like Propel) - he loved it from day one, and even now, at 3, he still likes to get his "special" water every once in awhile. Eventually, he switched to real water. The flavored water is such a subtle taste that you can "wean" them off quicker to real water than you can if you try to wean from juice. 4 ounces a day of juice is the standard, and if you dilute it by half, then you could give him 2 bottles a day of 4 ounces each. I think it's not so much the juice, as you don't want him filling up on liquids instead of formula. (but do watch for problems with the acid in juice...that kind of diarrhea is awful) I don't know any standard for the flavored water. I never gave him much, just enough so that I felt he was hydrated.

I wouldn't waste any money on "baby" brands - 100% juice is 100% juice, regardless how you buy it. I suggest just buying frozen cans & making up a batch. It's way cheaper, even if you end up tossing half of it.

Good luck!

The reason why you don't want to give your dc straight juice is that it gives them diarrhea. Also, it has no real nutritional value and is corrosive to their teeth if given too often. I will on occasion give my ds juice to help with constipation typically, you just dilute a little bit of juice with a lot of water -- no real formula really -- and shake it up in a sippy to mix. I keep the little bottles or juice boxes on hand for when he's constipated, sick and it hurts to drink milk or when he has diarrhea/nauseau and needs some (you would use white grape in this case). The only convenience with the baby brands is you can buy a tiny bottle instead of a big one or a 6 pack; otherwise there really isn't a need to stick to their brands. I like to buy organic when I can.

Frankly, you're better off just sticking to formula or breastmilk and then supplementing with water when necessary.

I diluted 50/50 with water until my girls were about 3. They don't need all the fructose. Just check your labels & make sure they are only juice- no high fructose corn syrup. Personally, I used only organics w/ the babies.
D.

ITA: I didn't start giving my son juice until he was around a year or so. Until then, their only liquid should be breastmilk or formula. Since there is no nutritional value, you are filling your baby up with something useless instead of giving him something he really needs like breastmilk/formula.

My 2 year son drinks A LOT, so in order to stay within the 4oz/day guidelines, we dilute his juice A LOT. Like 90% water, 10% juice. There's just enough juice in there to make it not taste like water.

We've never used the baby brands of juice. I think the one time I compared the labels, there was actually less sugar and junk in the adult version than the baby version.

I give my son 75% water and just a splash of Juice to give it flavor since he doesn't like plain water. I don't worry too much about the brand as long as it is 100% juice and no sugar added. Hope this helps!

My children wanted Gerber juice in the little bottles long after they were infants! (They did not have Gerber juice boxes way back then. Haha) I loved it since you could just take the top off and put a nipple on the bottle so they were portable and more convenient. They loved the mixed varieties. I never diluted them. These are the rules my doctor gave me: never give them orange, white grape and pear juice are the lightest. You are probably correct; the grown versions may need diluting. The frozen concentrates are cheaper and you can dilute to your taste. My kids love the Welch's white grape which is extremely cheap, but I don't make it much since they are older, and I try to keep them on water as much as possible. Enjoy the first one. You will never be able to re-live it. The next ones will never be the first!

1/2 and 1/2 on the juice and water. No reason why you can't give it to him at his age, he's old enough. And juices, all preference. Its all the same just make sure 100% juice. Ask your Dr, just to have his opinion, won't hurt!!

He shouldn't really need juice unless he's constipated, and then you would give him about 2 oz of apple juice twice a day without diluting it. Juice isn't necessary nutritionally, and it's high in sugar, which is empty calories. Of course, this is why they say no more than 4 oz a day. However, your baby is smart -- he knows that if he will eventually get juice, he'll turn down your offers of water until the juice comes along.
At one point I started both my kids on apple juice to relieve constipation, but juice soon became a regular beverage, and soon replaced water before I even realized it. So one day I simply stopped offering juice. They held out for about 2 days -- only drinking their milk, which I offered at breakfast and lunch. By the third day they started drinking water again, and drank lots of it quite happily.
All this just to say that there's no reason to start something that's not really necessary, and that you might have to break him from later.

I have a 7 mo old baby boy too!!!

We started solids a few months ago. I rarely give him juice, there's really no necessity for it right now. However, i will if his BMs are hard, or if he just wants a "snack" ;)
You should dilute it, since its really sweet. Usually i'll do 1/2 juice and 1/2 water. I'm not sure if you can use regular juice. It may have more additives then the baby juice- just check the labels.
Hope that helps

My son is 20 months old and I still dilute his juice 90% water and 10% juice twice a week other than that it's just milk and water. I also give him the graduate juices which i tasted myself and it's not sweet by all means, no comparison to the adult juices.
Juice is not necessary and has no nutritional value per my Pedi.

Good Luck.
M.

MY PEDIATRICIAN TOLD ME NOT TO GIVE JUICE BECAUSE EATING LOTS OF FRUIT IS BETTER FOR THEM WITH THE FIBER AND NO ADDITIVES. ALSO THERE HAVE BEEN STUDIES THAT CHILDREN WHO ARE GIVEN JUICE ARE MORE LIKELY TO BE OVERWEIGHT THAN KIDS WHO ARE NOT GIVEN JUICE. THERE IS A GREAT JUICE BY KNUDESENS AND THEY HAVE BLUEBERRY,CRANBERRY(VERY TART),CHERRY AND POMEGRANIT. NOW STUDIES HAVE SHOWN POMEGRANIT IS THE HIGHEST ANTIOXIDENT YOU CAN GET SO IF YOU CAN GET HIM TO DRINK THAT DILUTED WITH WATER THEN THAT WOULD BE GREAT FOR HIM SINCE THIS CERTAIN JUICE HAS NO SUGAR OR PRESERVITIVES. IT'S TOTALLY HEALTHY! ALSO SAD TO SAY VERY EXPENSIVE BUT WILL LAST A LONG TIME BECAUSE YOU ONLY NEED TO PUT 1/4 TH OF THE JUICE WITH THE WATER. IT HAS A SUPER CONCENTRATED TASTE. I'VE SEEN IT ON SALE FOR 4.99 AT KROGER AND SPROUTS AND IT'S ALSO AT WHOLE FOODS. I DRINK THE CRANBERRY DILUTED WITH WATER FOR BLADDER INFECTIONS AND IT HELPS MORE THAN ANY OTHER CRAN JUICE BECAUSE IT IS SO CONCENTRATED. WELL HOPE THIS HELPS! GOD BLESS!!!

Hi L.,

Dilute the juice about 50% with water or skip it altogether. 7 month old babies don't need to drink anything more than breastmilk or formula, and water. Juices are very high in sugar and too much can be bad for their nutrition and for their teeth. Don't ever put baby to bed with a juice or milk bottle since it will just bathe his teeth with sugar while he sleeps. A great resource for questions like this is "What to Expect the First Year".

Take care,

M.
www.GoodHealthMadeSimple.com

Hi, L.. My girl is a juice hound, but I never give it to her straight. I've always diluted it. I usually do about 1 part juice to every 4 to 5 parts water. She probably does get more than 4 ozs of juice per day, but she is getting 4 to 5 times that amount in water and keeping hydrated. I would definitely dilute the juice though, so he doesn't get used to the sweet taste of undiluted juice.