Do you give your children juice?

I have been asked a few times why I don't give my girls juice. It made me wonder, "Does everyone give their kids juice?" Our pedi doesn't want us giving them juice.

DS just recently started getting juice -and he is 2- and that still isn't all the time. He will normally get Gatorade or something else like that.

We don't plan on giving the girls juice for a very long time.

-If you don't give them juice, why not?

-If you do give them juice, when did you start?

*ETA-Sara, I just saw that you posted about juice. lol I guess this age makes juice be on the mind.

 

Well, since I responded to Sara that I give Pear Juice I guess I will have to come clean on this survey--lol. I only give about 1oz. juice to about 3 ozs. of water just to "keep things moving" for my guys and keep the constipation away and they barely drink any of it right now but it seemed to work really well with my first to keep her "regular". I rarely give her juice at all now. So really I give it early for constipation and then I get away from it since they should be drinking things that are better for them like whole milk (when the time comes).

Rachel

 

I dont give juice. They love water and drink it all day. I am afraid I guess that if I give them juice, they wont want water anymore. They eat fruit all day long so they are getting their fruit it.

 

I do not give juice. It has too much sugar in it and it gives them very loose BM's. Grandma on the other hand does... It isn't very often, so Ihaven't made a big deal out of it, but with ds's diapers, it's going to be less & less. My two are TWO though. I certainly would not give juice to a baby under a year. They don't need 'empty' calories. This is of course, MY opinion.

 

QUOTE(JicJac @ Aug 21 2007, 10:57 PM) [snapback]374586[/snapback]
I do not give juice. It has too much sugar in it and it gives them very loose BM's. Grandma on the other hand does... It isn't very often, so Ihaven't made a big deal out of it, but with ds's diapers, it's going to be less & less. My two are TWO though. I certainly would not give juice to a baby under a year. They don't need 'empty' calories. This is of course, MY opinion.

That's how I feel about juice too.

Isn't it great that Grandparents find that it is okay to give them whatever they want???

Their pedi said the same exact thing about the 'empty' calories.

 

My babies get juice once in a while. It is always watered down. They still drink their water and formula, that hasn't changed. It doesn't hurt giving them a little bit every once in a while. I honestly don't see what the big deal is about the juice debate.

 

I didn't vote since my kids are older and so I don't want to mess with your results.

We have just recently started giving the kids a little diluted juice every once in awhile. Since it is summer and so hot out, we have been trying to push the fluids. And there is nothing like a splash of apple juice to get them to drink a whole sippy of water!

 

I give my kids juice, but its more like juice flavored water... Like 1 part juice 9 parts water. KWIM?

 

Before a year I didn't really give them juice just formula and water in sippies. The ped told us at their one yr appointment that he would like us to start giving them juice. Not much just a bit and he said not to bother diluting it. His theory on it was that he wanted the girls to experiment and taste different things. He said, you never know when you are going to be out and juice might be the only thing available to them. My girls to this day are not huge juice drinkers but since switching to sippes only, their milk consumption has gone down so I have had to supplement some of their calcium with calcium fortified juices like OJ with calcium and some other juices that contain it. I only give it to them maybe once a day and sometimes I do dilute it depending on the type of juice. For example, Tropicana is just way too sugary and sweet for my girls so they seem to prefer it when it is slightly diluted with water. I don't ever push it on them but I do like the idea that they don't totally reject all juices. Their favorite is still water :Clap:

 

No juice here.

 

I voted other because we only give juice for illness (when you need to push fluids) and when it's SO HOT and they are going to be outside a lot, they get one sippy of juice with water in it. (I've read that it helps with hydration to have a little sugar in it.)

My guys eat SO MUCH FRUIT that it would really be counter productive to give juice. Also, my Niece is VERY overweight in 5th grade and she drank SO MUCH juice all of her life! I didn't want to repeat that mistake!

 

My kids didn't get juice until they were over a year and then it was only once a month and 1/2 diluted. Now they get it a couple of times a week and I put twice as much water (or more) than juice. One won't drink plain water so I'm going to keep adding more water to his juice until he does drink it.

 

QUOTE(seamusnicholas @ Aug 21 2007, 10:56 PM) [snapback]374584[/snapback]
I dont give juice. They love water and drink it all day. I am afraid I guess that if I give them juice, they wont want water anymore. They eat fruit all day long so they are getting their fruit it.



Plus my neice drank a lot of juice when she was little and at 5 had to have dental work for all the cavity's!

 

I give juice (1/2 juice 1/2 water) to keep things moving for my two as suggested by the ped as they had major constipation issues when starting solids). They aren't too into and usually don't drink but an ounce or two maybe once or twice a week.

 

QUOTE(seamusnicholas @ Aug 21 2007, 11:56 PM) [snapback]374584[/snapback]
I dont give juice. They love water and drink it all day. I am afraid I guess that if I give them juice, they wont want water anymore. They eat fruit all day long so they are getting their fruit it.


This, exactly! Once they can go to the store and buy it themselves, then they can have it!! :winking0009:

 

I don't give my boys juice cause it's wasted calories and I don't want them to get a taste for it. Water is fine for their thirst.

most commercial juices have very little nutritional value -- you really gotta know what to get. I prefer to give my kdis smoothies I make and water.

Cheers

TeriD

 

I don't give juice either for the same reasons posted above: empty calories, don't want them to get a taste for it, etc.

 

Sometimes for variety and for practice with sippy cups, I'll give them water with a splash (about 1 oz) of juice in it. OF course, I made the huuuuuge mistake of leaving the juice in the refrigerator and a family member filled the sippy cup up for both with NO WATER! One of my daughters is great with her sippy and ended up with really gross, gross diapers for the rest of the day (and a sore, gassy belly at night....lots of fun!). My other girl just chews on her sippy, so she hardly got any....and slept the whole night through.

Anyway, no more juice for a while!

 

I didn't give them juice until just recently, and mine are 13 months old. The only reason they occasionally have juice now is that I started buying Minute Maid mini juice boxes with apple juice for when we go out. It's a convenience for me.

 

I was told to wait till they were 9 months and then only give about 2-4oz a day and dilute it with water.

 

Not so far. I plan to stick with formula/milk and water for the first year or so. I'll introduce fruit juice later.

 

I didn't give any in the first year. Around 18 months, I started letting them have a small cup of juice at breakfast time on occasion. Undiluted juice at that It goes in a special open cup for cup practice. It's worth noting that they're just as excited by water with an ice cube in it. Anyway, they've already got their water habit well established and they eat well so I don't see a problem with it. The problem as I see it is when parents fill a bottle or sippy with juice and let the kids have it all day. Their little teeth take such a beating from the frequent exposure to sugar.

 

I voted Other. I don't give juice except on rare occasions as a treat. I would give prune juice when they were babies only for constipation. I really don't think they "need" juice and this was a huge argument between my mother and I.