Juice

I have boys that are 5 months old actual age and 2 1/2 months old adjusted, and I'm trying to figure out when to introduce juice into their everyday routine and how often to give it to them. Their pediatrician says we are already at a point to try solids, but I'd like to start introducing juice as well. When did you start giving juice and how much did you try at first?

 

I did not do juice at all until we started sippies, and then it was kind of a treat to get them to work at using the sippies.

Can I ask why you want to start juice? I'm not anti-juice by any means, but it is generally just lots of sugar with little health benefit, and at their age I would stick to formula pretty much exclusively with a little baby food (solids) for practice. Maybe start some water after 6 or 7 months in a sippy.

 

the only time i did juice at that age was when they were constipated and i needed to get things rolling again.

now, i occasionally put it in their sippies, but usually for a treat. i agree with the pp that it is lots of sugar with little nutritional value and when they were young i didn't want them filling up on that instead of formula.

but, if you do decide to try it, my food list from my pedi suggests only 1-2 oz per day, diluted 1:1 with water. and avoid citrus juices, stick to apple or pear because they are more gentle on the tummy.

 

We started sippies at 5 months with a tiny bit of water. I was told by their doctor yesterday they don't start juice until they are 6 months. They can get 2-4 oz a day (instead of a fruit baby food) diluted with some water. My girls don't drink it everyday. They drink water out of their sippies. I didn't want to make a juice a habit for them, so they get it as a treat. Never give babies juice out of a bottle; it's a bad habit and can form bad tooth decay. I say if they are ready to handle sippies and get the concept to let them try water first then diluted juice as a treat.

 

We gave juice (very watered down) in sippies occasionally at around 6 months. They didn't actually drink very much but would get a bit here & there. I also often gave them water and, now, they will ask for water as often, maybe more, than they ask for juice.

 

I tried to get my boys to drink juice around 8/10 months when they didn't want to eat their fruit. It doesn't have much benefit to it. Babies get everything they need from BM and Formula even once they start eating solids. Even now at 22 months my boys don't want juice. They'd rather have an apple slice.

 

We haven't started on juice as they seem quite content drinking water from their sippie cup. I offer water after each meal, they only have a few sips but it is part of our routine.

 

I've only done juice for constipation as well. My pedi told me she would be happy if I never offered them anything but milk or water.

 

I didn't offer juice with the twins until about 18 months. Like pp said, either water, formula, or milk, is really all they need. They would rather have milk over anything still.

 

Our twosome mainly get water and milk...In the FY, their sippies were mainly water and sometimes we would put in a splash of juice to change it up for them.

 

I think I've offered juice maybe twice...and they werent really that interested but drink water from sippies. Personally I would rather have them drink water than juice; I also didnt want them to get used to a sweet drink and thinking that their drink always needs to be sweet.

 

We've only given juice to DD when she had constipation problems. I give water and formula in sippy cups, I don't really plan on making juice a part of their diet because it doesn't offer many health benefits. I can see it for a treat now and then but our pediatrician doesn't recommend it as a usual drink choice.

 

I may have used a small bit of juice to flavor their water when learning how to drink from a sippy, but I also don't offer juice before 1 yr of age on a regular basis.

After one year though I give juice water down about 1/2-1/2 or sometimes 1/3 juice to 2/3 water. My ds is 7 and still drinks his juice 1/2-1/2 with very little complaints, occasionally he gets straight juice as a treat!

 

Mine are 13 months, and I've never given them juice. I figured I'd wait until 2-3 years old for 3 reasons 1)I didn't want to encourage a sweet tooth in them. 2)I've seen nutritionists saying that it is loaded with sugar and can cause cavities. 3)It has been linked to obesity in a few studies I've seen.

At that age I'd focus on giving them mostly breastmilk or formula with solids thrown in for practice. For some reason, and I don't really know why; I've heard the veges should be introduced before fruits. But who knows? The advice on this is constantly changing.

 

Ditto. Exactly what my pedi recommended, too.

 

Thanks to everyone for the pointers on juice. I really didn't intend for juice to be part of their every day routine, but I did want to get them to try it from time to time because I'm having to work at a little home feeding therapy for both of my boys. They have very sensitive gag reflexes and their pediatrician and their developmental specialist said that introducing new textures via solid foods and trying different fluids besides their formula might help them overcome the gag reflex. Both doctors said to take is slow and do small amounts of everything at first. I just wanted to see what everyone else had experience with as far as juice was concerned. Thanks again for all of the responses!

 

My dd had/has some feeding issues...not the gag thing though. But our OT reccomended some drinkable yogurt (yobaby) or just yobaby yogurt with some juice to water it down so they can get it through the sippie. She also reccomended trying something with carbonation...we found some good carbonated juice at toys r us. Just some ideas!

 

We only did juice for constipation, and that was just a little prune juice in a bottle with formula/EBM. They never had their first real sippy/cup of juice until well past age 1. And that's still only half water/half no sugar added juice maybe 3 times a week.

I'd check with your pedi on juice. Mine would be happy if mine never had juice (except for that little constipation issue we used to have).