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?

Buy sugar free and the problem goes away. You can then over time train them to have it more diluted. But a lot of squash is sugar free these days, I remember trying to find some last time I was in the UK without sweetener and it was impossible.

I agree with trying them with chilled water. I find water unpleasant unless it is chilled. It also depends on the local tap water as some taste really foul compared with others, so need to be filtered too.

My children drink much more water now, as we keep 2 big jugs in the fridge. I wish I had room for a plumbed in fridge with water dispenser.

Sugar-free squash is still quite acidic, so it's not great for teeth either, especially if you're drinking it all the time.

Check what they’re eating. Anything that sticks to the teeth isn’t good. My son had to cut back on eating oranges as the acid is bad for his teeth.

Dehydration isn’t healthy either. I’d give them a target of how much water they need to drink to earn their evening juice.

How old are your DC OP? Would new water bottles be an incentive?

My 2 will drink more water if there are ice cubes in it, but they have water bottles with them all day. It ends up just becoming a habit to sip it.

Avoid dried fruits and chewy sticky foods as they stick in the grooves in the teeth. Chocolate is actually better than some sweets as it gets washed away faster.

Sugar free juice and drink it with a straw so it's going straight down

Go cold turkey completely on the juice, don't allow it at dinner time. Honestly I had the fussiest non water drinkers and it worked here when I really didn't think it would. Only took 2-3 days of them asking for juice before they gave in to the water and now they all love eater. Get a water filter jug as cold water is much more appealing. You could also try ice cubes and straws. Just give it a try.

I would just throw it away.

Tell them you won't be buying juice any longer as it is ruining their teeth. If they are of the right age, I would apologise to them and explain that you should have given them water from a young age to prevent this.

I only say to apologise as I had a similar (ish) experience with my parents when I was younger and I can't believe that they have never brought it up to apologise and I resent them for it.

My parents gave me sweets non stop. They gave me £5 every weekend to spend on penny sweets. By the age of 8 I had crippling headaches and everyone thought I was making it up for attention, took me to the doctors several times until one finally asked if it could be my teeth. Went to the dentist and I had to have general anaesthetic to have 6 of my back teeth out. They were completely rotten and I had been having nerve pain.

Now that I have children, I understand how much you want to give your kids what they want and to make them happy but it's not helping them long term.

I say just take responsibility and just get rid. They might strop for a few days but tough. They will get over it. It's for the best.

It's the acidity of the squash that causes problems with enamel, sugar free is still acidic. You could just limit them to squash at mealtimes or encourage them to eat something like a small piece of cheese after drinking it to neutralise the acidity in their mouth.

I'm just adding about the water, I cannot drink it really cold or with ice cubes. I actually drink hot water, I boil it and I drink it like most drink tea/coffee.

Just another option for you to try. And as a pp tap water tastes differently in different areas.

Echoing PP who say it might not all be down to the cordial. You need to look at what DC are eating and how frequently. I've had a lot of discussion with my dentist re DS teeth and what I've taken from this is:

• Limit eating between meals, constant snacking / eating is bad for teeth.


• chocolate is actually better than other sweets as it slides off teeth. Better to give chocolate/cake etc after meal


• Watch citrus fruit and fruit juices as they are acidic and can strip enamel. Dilute pure fruit juice as you would cordial


• Avoid dried fruit / health bars with lots of dried fruit in them as they stick to teeth and are high sugar


• Milk isn't too bad


• Don't clean your teeth too close to eating especially after breakfast. allow a good 30-40 minutes between eating and brushing OR clean teeth before breakfast, especially if you are eating / drinking citrus at breakfast.

Confused by ‘diluting juice’ - do you mean watered down fruit juice or do you mean for example orange squash?

Diluting juice is squash/cordial rather than fruit juice. Commonly used in Scotland

The (well diluted, sugar free) juice would be fine alongside a meal and then they could have water or other drinks between meals

Are you certain it’s the juice/squash/whatever?

Do they eat a lot of fruit? A lot of sticky sweets?

One of my DSs drinks no added squash by the bucket load and was at the dentist last week with absolutely no issues.

Unless their diet is otherwise perfect (and your post alone means it probably isn’t!) I would be inclined to think it’s something else.

One thing that will help is straws.

Show them some pictures of rotten teeth!

And I second the suggestion to get a water filter.

Perseverance op. It's a long game.

(Mine took to water when desperate on warmer days.)
Remember water is in foods.
Especially soup!
I was a water dodger for years, I now do think about it and drink more but I usually put it in a nice glass. Silly but it helps me.

Cheese at the end of meals is meant to help enamel.

Do they brush their teeth properly/do you do it for them and for long enough. I’m 40 and have no fillings even though I never drank plain water as a child but what I did do was a) brush twice a day really well and b) had most drinks through a straw. I also never had many sweets. It seems to be the in thing to get all funny about juice but my kids (14 and 10) also have no fillings whereas a lot of my non juice drinking friends’ kids do and I’m sure it’s from sweets.

My kids go nuts for water if I Chuck in an ice cube or 2!

Other surprising things that are worse than chocolate for tooth decay: crisps/ savoury snacks that get left stuck in crevices.

I was also going to suggest a straw, which PPs have already mentioned.

How about getting them each a special new cup to mark the occasion.

You could stick some cucumber in a water jug (NOT lemon - too acidic) to make it tastier.

If you get a water filter make sure it isn't filtering out fluoride as some of them do.

If you do continue letting them have juice occasionally make sure they aren't swooshing it around their teeth.

But most of all you have to be firm here. Go cold turkey on the juice and let them be thirsty if necessary. If you feel yourself wavering just think about how annoyed with you they'll be when they're older for letting their teeth rot. Better to fight with a child and be in the right, than acknowledge to an adult DC that you let them down. Good luck!

Stop buying it altogether..