To give my 2-year-old a smoothie every day?

[stopgap]

I've read a lot of threads recently about the downsides of fruit intake, rotting teeth, and drinking through straws. Now I wonder if giving my son a smoothie every dayin his straw cupis such a good idea. Typically the smoothie involves:

Hemp milk
Strawberries or blueberries
Cashew butter
Banana

My son has never had cow's milk, and the hemp milk is a great source of calcium, so I'm disinclined to stop, but then I wonder about the teeth issue...

But if you think about a toddler learning to chew they often don't do it very well (and younger still they don't have enough TEETH to chew properly) in which case a smoothie would be a more efficient way of getting the fruit into them wouldn't it?

I follow the Paul Mackenna Way Of Eating which teaches how to chew properly it's amazing how often people just throw their food down their necks!

Exactly curlew

I think you'd be better giving your DS everything whole. Fruit is better in its original state. The lack of fibre in the smoothie will give a sugar spike.

Blood sugar levels I'm thinking about not teeth.

Glances at pasta, tomatoes, water and chocolate mini roll that is the dds scratch tea.

Slinks out quietly.

There is exactly the same amount of fibre in a home made fruit smoothie as in the same amount of fruit.

Of course YANBU.

There is absolutely nothing wrong with blending fruit to make a smoothie just as there is nothing wrong with blending vegetables to make a soup.

The combination of the sweet berries with the banana, milk and nut butter actually sounds like a very good balance of carbohydrate, fat and protein which would provide sustained energy release rather than a sugar spike.

It amazes me that on this thread the general consensus seems to be fresh fruit smoothies=bad, whilst on another of today's threads the consensus seems to be that it is absolutely fine to feed an 8 month old baby a Capri Sun...

specialsubject, I don't consider smoothies baby food. Are they considered so? I thought they were more of a health nut thing.

My son has his first dental appointment soon, so maybe I'll ask the dentist what she thinks.

Dentist here, UK based so they might say summat different stateside.

Drinks have 2 issues. The first is decay through sugars. Sipping your smoothie over a long period could be a problem so try and get it down him in say 20 mins. Don't stick a cap on it and keep coming back. As long as your son is having 4 or less sugary exposures including meals, it's not too much of an issue. Whole fruit is better as chewing simulates the production of saliva.

The second issue is erosion caused by acids in the fruit. This issue is less of a problem if you drink therough a straw as it misses your front teeth. Don't brush his teeth straight after as the enamel is softened and you can wear it away. I assume you are using a fluoridated toothpaste.

My ds has a smoothie a day, his teeth are perfect. We aren't thT strict except where brushing is concerned.

Hth, happy to answer any questions.

the act of making it a smoothie gets rid of all the fibre and other solid nutrients

utter bollox!
..and I can't see any research quoted in that link either, all though it won'ty let me ger past the first page without registering

JADS thank you so much for the information, that's great.

My son drinks the smoothie from his straw cup in about five minutes flat, so sipping over a long period is not an issue . If I give him a smoothie, do I skip a second portion of fruit (half an apple, say?). He doesn't always want this, as 90% of the time he finishes his evening meal and is too full. Other than the smoothies, and sometimes fresh fruit, he doesn't eat anything sugary--no juice, sweets, ice cream etc.

I am going to switch to a fluoride toothpaste when he turns two. I was told over here to use non-fluoride toothpaste before the age of two, largely because NYC drinking water is chock full of the stuff. So for now we use a natural brand, and brush twice a day.

WTF is hempmilk?

Fairphylis, it's one of the many alternative milks you can buy. I noticed that soya milk and oat milk were more common back in English supermarkets, but hemp is more popular in the US. One small glass gives you 50% calcium intake for the day, which is why I give it to my cow's-milk-shirking toddler.

Ingredients: Hemp Nut Base (Filtered Water, Hemp Nut), Natural Flavors, Tricalcium Phosphate, Carrageenan, Sea Salt, Vitamin A, Vitamin D2, Riboflavin, Vitamin B12.

Sorry. Didn't realise that NY had fluoridated water. I have learnt something today. You could still give him the piece of fruit after the smoothie as it counts as the same exposure. Does that make sense?

You can buy hemp milk here now too (very exciting ahem)

I think your smoothie sounds like a very healthy option. My DCs get bored eating a lot of fruit so I make them a lot too (yum)

Dear JADS please can you answer a maybe naive question about gorillas who are to all intents and purposes fruitarians how they keep their teeth?

I eat fruit on an empty stomach because it's much easier to digest and doesn't give me stomach pains and arthritis that way. My teeth are damn near perfect and i'm getting on