when exactly can you give your lo's conventional drinks of squash?

[snowkitten]

ds is nearly one and i just give him water. Obviously he is OK with this as he has had not altertive on offer but recently he has had some of his sister's fruit squash from a glass and loves it! Is it OK to give it to him in his beaker?

we have the odd splash (and I mean tea spoon of squash) or slightly more fresh from the carton stuff (I don't buy juice drinks as I don't like them so it's the non concentrate stuff) prob slight covering on the botom of the beaker. and that's all.

his beakers are approx 9oz. I have been known once to let him have a little calpso thingy (own fault for not taking his cup with me and was all that was on offer) but it's not every day.

I prefer water for DS tbh. ribena - DS would love it - grabs for my carton but he has to make do with his own water - I will not give him that. and def no fizzy/carbonated stuff no matter how much my mum tries to tell me it will be ok & the can is empty so he should have some

my kids drink squash every day, they drink a little milk, some real fruit juice and never water. they eat really well, rarely have sweets and have no problems with their teeth.

i was fed really strong ribena as my only drink throughout childhood. my mum always brushed my teeth and i never had a filling or tooth decay.

ido tend to give drinks with meals and snacks so the dcs don't walk around glugging out of flasks all day. and like many other mners i buy the sugar stuff rather than the sweetened.

tbh, i don't think mn is at all representative of the real world

Interesting MrsSpoon, none of my children have had squash as part of their normal diet and none of them have had problems with bedwetting , so there we have it, conclusive proof that squash causes bedwetting.

and my answer to the question is......................................NEVER, what is wrong with water?

my dd gets very well diluted high juice which does have added sugar (her cousin doesnt like dd's juice as it tastes 'too watery'!). She has fresh fruit juice with breakfast. She also gets her teeth brushed twice a day so that her teeth will be protected. She has had ribena occasionally but if you read the label, it is only suitable for children over the age of 3 (apart from the toothkind one I think). DS is 11 months and has only had juice when he has pinched it from his sisters sports cup, the rest of the time he has water or milk. I cant actually remember when I started giving dd juice but she was definitely over the age of 1. She will still drink water but can have juice if she wishes (she is almost 4).

p.s. my dh is allergic to benzoates so we have to avoid drinks and other products that contain it.

"tbh, i don't think mn is at all representative of the real world"

lol - Amen to that!

I'm with Dumbledoresgirl on this one - everything in moderation - also if something is totally "banned" it can become even more desirable

Ribena should be for over 3's though I think

my dd drinks very dilute squash, water, and milk - if given a choice she often goes for water - especially if I'm drinking it at the time ...

Seem to recall 4 or 5 yrs ago reading a very sad report of a little girl dying from drinking organic apple juice which wasn't pasteurised so even "totally natural" products have their dangers ...

re the bedwetting - DS2 drinks lots of squash - and is dry (not quite 4) DS1 now mainly drinks water.....infact apart from at SIL's last week can't remember last time he had squash.......and he still wets every night....he'll be 7 in 2 weeks time

re bedwetting, having had a prolific bedwetter up to age 11, we were told to avoid red drinks, whether it was squash or fresh juice, orange drinks were fine, nothing fizzy either, including water. No idea why but it definitely helped

I have 4 teenagers, not one has filling, in baby or adult teeth. They have never been limited in food or drink. They liked their squash and did drink lots, they had fizzy drinks. They prefer now to drink water or fresh juice and of course coke etc but that's typical teenagers (the bigger ones like a touch of vodka in it now too)

They had their teeth brushed 2-3 daily and then were stood over while they did it. All have excellent dental health routines andhave always seen a dentist twice a year. Our dentist has said, he has never seen a family with teeth like mine (smug emotion)

I think it is a case of a bit good luck with the teeth though. We helped things with good dental hygiene but good genes help. A friend of mine never allowed sugars, junk etc and her children only drank water. All three have many fillings and some tooth extractions. She wasn't hot on the dental hygiene side as the kids made a fuss, so she wasn't persistant.

As someone else said, everything in moderation and make sure the toothbrush gets used twice a day. Never give in a bottle, and use straws when bigger, not sippy cups

Some cildren will be perfectly fine and dry at night drinking squash, but it may affect children with a problem so IMO it's best not to give them a taste for squash just in case. My DS1 has a bladder that is easily irritated and at his worst with the bedwetting you could clearly see the trigger as being something he 'shouldn't' have been drinking, ie squash, hot chocolate, fizzy drinks. If he/we obeyed all the rules set for him by the Enurisis Clinic he would be dry, if he had something from the banned list, he would be wet.

Am very happy that my 2 drink water, for various reasons, but especially (having read this thread) because it means I don't have to read labels, and I don't have to have an opinion on whether Ribena is the same as squash, what exactly is in Ribena, whether sodium benzoate is bad for you, what age is OK for squash, whether it affects bedwetting....

[head hurts emoticon]

Giving them water is as easy as, well, turning on a tap....

Oh, and Ribena is rank.

I agree with the alien, you have to grow up in the UK to drink it because if you don't get indoctrinated at an early age you'll never see the point of it.

Likewise Jaffa cakes.