to be totally confussed about juice/squash!

[tryingtobemarrypoppins2]

What is better for teeth and health? Watered down fresh fruit juice? NFC/FC?? or Squash?? No added sugar/sugar/high juice????

Come on MNers you solved my Yoghurt worries lets move on to drinks!!

Oh I can actually give some useful advice about teeth brushing. My ds is always in a hurry and that included showing his teeth the brush and declaring it job done!!! Now i stand him on the toilet so he can see in the mirror and he brushes his teeth til he can see them shine. Basically during scrubbing when he has done enough i simply switch the light on above the bathroom mirror which seems to reflect in the mirror and therefore make his teeth light up!! He loves brushing his teeth now and I'm hoping he doesn't cotton on to my deception anytime soon!!!

i dont know what is best, but mine drink water, milk and weak cordial. my friends ds had 6 teeth removed in one go because of having milk and milkshake through a bottle throughout the night for 5 years he was in a lot of pain before they were removed

No, I won't drink plain water, especially the tap water here, it just tastes of chlorine - yuk. I have to be very very thirsty before I will drink it plain.

bertiebotts: why is that do you think?
my second cousin was a right little madam when she was younger and REFUSED to drink any water on a long hot car journey because she 'didnt like the taste'
probably because my aunt and uncle only ever gave her juices and coke....
and she lives in australia, a place where i need a bottle of water on hand alllllll the time. nothing else is as refreshing to me...

Tap water here (Australia) tastes disgusting too - I waste it for about 10 seconds before it becomes drinkable (we're luckily ont on water restricitions in our area). We are going to get a water filter as soon as I can persuade DH to fork out for it - we had one in the UK and it was brilliant, we drank loads more water there than we do here.

DS does drink water but prefers milk or watered juice - we don't have squashes at all.

I had to look up squash. I have often read mention of it and just assumed it was a fruit drink.
So squash is sweetened, which means unsweetened juice is better, if this is something they drink on a regular basis.

We buy fruit and veggie combo drinks, hoping there are more nutrients that way. My mom makes her own juices, but I figure I survived drinking juice made from frozen concentrated orange juice growing up.

gtamom: fruit juice is full of calories, much of it sugar, watered down is better. Better yet is to eat the orange. And have water separately. Fruit juice attacks teeth as surely as cola - ask a dentist.

I agree with teh good for teeth/bad for body setiment

it's a pita!

just make sure their teeth are brushed and avoid that horrible artificial sweetener.

I use the organic versions you can get in healthfood shops - blackcurrant is sweetened by apple juice etc. They recommend dilute at 1/8. Ds has it at about 1/20 with meals.

I always try to avoid the 'no sugar' juices as they have artificial sweeteners - I prefer getting a squash with sugar if I can't get the natural ones for any reason.

My dentist told my DD she can drink almost anything with a meal, but only water at other times.

Dear god now I feel like an awful mother. I never realised it was bad.

I have never drank water, the taste makes me heave, so my kids have been brought up the same. They have milk and weak Robinsons squash (both NAS and full sugar)all day. My dd especially drinks about 1.5L of fluid a day, prob 70/30 squash/milk.

And quite a lot also they have fizzy water mixed with lime cordial (lime & soda), and occasionally they have lemonade and coke (both diet).

They both do their teeth really well, and let me give them a proper scrub twice a day.

* monkey lies down with a cool flannel after panic attack over additives/salt/toothless children rotting from the core *

We got a filter tap as the water here tastes awful . Now it tastes ok and the dds think it's special as it has a separate tap stupidly expensive though

think you are probably talking in general about younger children but we only get the cordial/ squash without sweeteners. Getting more difficult to do though.

oh monkeyface - one word - perspective

I am sure you are a great mother. I did do a double take at your 70/30 squash/milk comment. Eww.

my mother is a children's dentist and her view is anything as long as it is very very dilute (including fruit juice) is fine but not out of a bottle, according to her that's the worst thing (a carton with a straw is better as the drink doesn't stay in the mouth very long). Not sure what her view is on the NAS thing. It's things like polos that she gets all upset about.

No added sugar better for teeth but bad otherwise I think. We go for watered down fruit juice, or occasionally high juice (which doesn't have aspartame in it).

I drink (and give my children the same) a mix of fruit juice, squash, milk, water and some fizzy drinks/more treaty drinks. Mostly its probably squash or water but there is a good mix in there depending on what we fancy. I normally get robinsons squash although when money is tight I just get whatever I can afford so about half the time lol I dont get the sugar free ones as I read somewhere ages ago that sweeteners cause cancer (not sure how true it is) and on balance decided I would rather them have fillings than cancer.
Bottles we stop at around 12 months, my 14 months old just drink out of cups and beakers now.

My children brush their teeth twice a day and see a dentist regularly - no problems yet and i am the same no problems. I dont really get the panic about it to be honest? - if you brush their teeth and dont let them wash their mouth out with cola then surely thats enough?

Possibly an interesting read - [http://www.clinicalresearchdental.com/core/crdArticles/publication2.pdf Orange juice and other acidic fruit juices are more harmful to ... Yanfeng Ren]].

If there any 50/50 Juice/Water product available? Maybe that would result in more acceptable results, especially if drank using a straw.

Milk, Juice, Sugar in any form, I feel are all likely to damage teeth if in prolonged contact and if taken in large quantities. I suspect it's like most things, if balanced out it's fine but if one thing it taken exclusively then the effects can be bad - remember Sunny Delight turning children Yellow/Orange?

We have a water cooler and when DGC visit they all have their own cup within easy reach and help themselves whenever they want to.

They very rarely ask for anything else to drink.

I think if you don't give them the choice then they are happy with water and enjoy pouring it out of the cooler themselves.

Nothing to do with nutrition or tooth decay,
just can't stand he thought of standing in front of the fridge which they make their choice.

Went to DGD's first birthday party today and all there was to drink was 200 Ml bottles of water.

All the DC's enjoyed it because it didn't interrupt their playing and was easy to drink from the bottle, none was waster as bottles are small enough for little ones to drink the whole bottle.

While they make their choice.