What would you do? Kids Drinking juice.

[Mumma93]

I had my 3 kids at the dentist last week. Eldest’s Enamel is badly worn and my middle needs some fillings 😢 I’ts totally my fault as all they’ve drunk really since very young has been diluting juice, none of them have ever taken to water. Anyway since the, I’ve told them they only have the option of water or milk now during the day except at dinner time they can have a cup of diluting juice with that. Now the problem is that my 2 eldest don’t really like milk and they despise water, so apart from a sip or 2 when they’re really thirsty during the day, they are just waiting until dinner time to have a drink of their juice 😫. I’ve obviously tried explaining that they need to try drinking some more as it’s not good for them but it’s not making a difference. What would you do?

Perseverance! It also depends on their ages

We use a three-strand approach;

• education on how to look after their teeth (and some pictures of people who haven’t)


• education on why it’s important to have fluids. (If you’ve got a bit of biology knowledge/how old they are, you can get animal kidneys from the supermarket meat aisle to dissect at home).


• reward “if you’ve not finished your first water bottle by lunch time, you definitely won’t be getting pudding tonight” “if you’ve had two empty water bottles when we hear the ice cream man, you’ll be able to get an ice cream” and so on.

Maybe also look at sugar-free juice and ask the dentist for hints and tips?

Good luck! (And did I mention perseverance?!)

I had exactly the same with a couple of my kids at the dentist, we were getting through 4 bottles of juice a week (there are five of them) and when we got home I said no more juice just water or milk and they just accepted it, maybe the option of juice at mealtimes is confusing the issue, my advice is go cold turkey. Only when mine hit late teens did I occasionally start buying it again and only because it's better than coke. Good luck, stay strong, they aren't going to go thirsty

Are we talking squash here, or actual fruit juice?

Get a water filter! And keep it in the fridge. I HATED drinking water as a child because it really tasted unpleasant to me. Really cold filtered water is much easier to drink.
And then just perseverance.

Why parents get themselves in this position I do not know, surely you knew the nutritional benefits of your kids having water but gave them juice because you were too lazy to nip it in the bud earlier, now needing fillings, assuming at the cost of taxpayer money.

Play hard ball OP, either water or no fluids. Also drinking a lot of milk isnt a good idea either.

what about flavoured water?

Diluting juice is also called squash /cordial right? Any way I'd get rid of it all together. Milk isn't good either. They might not drink much water the first day but they aren't going to die of thirst when there is water available. Also don't worry too much about the amount they are drinking, they don't need 8 glasses a day or whatever, that's a myth. A healthy person can just drink when they are thirsty.

I was this child. I would literally go days without drinking unless offered juice. I'm still not much better. So, when I had children, it just didn't occur to me to offer water. Water wasn't appealing.

It was my husband who figured out how to turn things around. He would make them drink a cup of ice water and then they could have a cup of juice. A cup for a cup. Interestingly, our oldest really developed a taste for water that way and now drinks it almost exclusively. Our middle child is the most stubborn (redheaded little firecracker), so I simply took her juice and replaced it with flavored water. She still prefers juice, but will drink the flavored water without bribe. Our youngest my husband had the foresight to start young (like, from before a year old) so he hasn't had any problems drinking water. He views it as a "big boy drink".

I can tell you that withholding drinks didn't work on me or my kids. It just made us dehydrated.

when I had children, it just didn't occur to me to offer water

😮

I definitely wouldn't give in OP. With perseverance anyone can retrain their palate.

Would a soda stream make plain water more appealing to them?

Sugar free squash?

We allow kombucha for dinner or lunch and water in between. I just try to keep sugar to a minimum in general so they've only ever had access to milk or water never tried anything else to know different when they were very young. Now they're older they can have kombucha if they want. Juice is no better than any other sugary drink at the end of the day just as much sugar in all. I drink a lot of Coke and never had a filling but it's still not a healthy option and I've never wanted my kids to do the same.

Maybe next time lead with the second half of your reply 😊. FYI myself and my husband are both tax payers. Thanks for your input though.

We all get things wrong op. Mine was giving my kids an evil and abusive father. Id put fresh fruit chopped up in the water and try and make it look like more of a treat. Good luck.

How would flavoured water differ from diluting juice? We have similar issues in our house - I drink a lot of diluting juice and the kids have picked up the habit from me. It started because if we have water and leave it anywhere our cats jump up and drink it... So I started drinking diluting juice and now it's all I drink.

Sometimes I add cucumber to water and that's nice but my children don't like it.

Can’t you just switch to sugar free squash? That won’t harm teeth. My kids have one fresh fruit juice with breakfast as it’s packed with vitamins then just water or one cup of sugar free squash.

What about those water bottles with the tube inside them that you can put fruit/veg into to add flavour? Could fill it with frozen berries, cucumber slices also make the water taste nicer. Or just ice cubes.

Hmm I wouldn’t assume it’s the squash. Some children / adults have worse teeth than others, sometimes it’s genetic despite whatever you do. My children have always had squash, the odd fizzy drink and sweets / chocolates and now aged 19 and 10 they’ve never had so much as a telling off from the dentist- no fillings etc. What I’m trying to say is I would go for sugar free squash, it’s most important that they drink something and just brush teeth well and twice a day and try not to beat yourself up about it.

My dh has loads of fillings, lots of teeth issues and does everything he’s “supposed” to do. I do think good / bad teeth is a lot more complex than people think.

Can't you use no added sugar diluting juice and gradually water it down more and more

I dont think I'd blame it all on what they're drinking. Look at what they're eating too

Diluting juice is just squash so make it less strong by adding more water. Switch to no added sugar varieties.

If they’re waiting all day for the evening juice, you need to scrap that too so that water is literally the only option. If they don’t like it use that as a learning opportunity - life is full of things we have to do that we don’t particularly like. I, for example, loathe the school
run 🤣

Plus shown them pictures of rotten teeth etc.

Have to agree with this. I was brought up in the 80's where very few people drunk water just on it's own (at least not to the extent everyone does these days) and sugar free/low sugar drinks were few and far between. I hated the taste of milk on its own and my teeth survived.

Sometimes it's just down to genetics, but it won't hurt to replace the sugary squash with a lower sugar or sugar free version.

Is the squash sugar free?

How is their teeth brushing ?
I would stop the squash at meal times so that they aren't keeping themselves dehydrated all day.

Is the squash sugar free? I'd be looking at diluting it more if they really won't drink water. Over time they'll hopefully end up having drinks with barely any squash in it.