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?

I was going to suggest a jug of water in the fridge flavoured with cucumber slices plus some mint leaves or alternatively a bit of root ginger & mint leaves, both went down well with my dd when small
Fruit flavoured herbal teas chilled are also often appealing to dc & very harmless.

Check ketchup I take too. Oh and those packs of raisins. The devils work !

*intake.

That's a nice idea.

YY to we all get things 'wrong' sometimes. My Dcs don't drink juice, but the only way I can get calories into my food refuser DS1 (who has sensory issues around food and learning disabilities) is to give him complan powder in chocolate milkshakes. The dressing down I got from the dentist made me cry in the room. But either that or the kid starved.

It's easy for others to identify where they think you are getting it 'wrong'.

Sugar-free squash contains artificial sweetener, which is probably not good for you.

Of course it's not but the urgent problem here is the teeth. So worry about that and don't worry about the sweeteners. You can't worry about everything or you'd be stuck paralysed in a little box.

Add a slice of lemon or orange or cucumber to their water .

This would probably be an expensive option but I’ve seen fancy water bottles advertised online with a disc thing that goes near the top where you drink from. They make plain water taste of fruit, but there’s nothing in the actual water, it’s the scent from the disc.
You can get a variety of “flavours” and swap them around….no idea if it’s a viable option for you, and as I said, would be potentially quite costly, but figured it was worth mentioning.

@BertieBotts , i think the sweeteners can be sinister. At least you can drink plain water, but the sweeteners get sneaked into food. The last time I looked into it, there was no concrete evidence that they are safe

There's no actual evidence that sweeteners are unsafe and they have been studied extensively. I'd rather drink sugar free than sugar loaded drinks

My dc wouldn't drink water at all as babies and that continued into childhood so I sympathise. They loved milk though so it wasn't too bad. I would use just a dash of sugar free squash to add a little flavour to water, that surely wouldn't do much harm.

@dementedpixie, is there evidence that they are safe? Tests aren't carried out on children, they are usually carried out on healthy youngish men.

There probably isn't a widely known maximum daily safe amounts of intake for them, whereas there is for sugar and salt

Just don't have anything in for them to drink other than plain water - if they know there's an alternative in the house they'll hold out for that, and mither you in the meantime. Keep water in the fridge if they like it cold.

By the way, if it comes in a plastic bottle, doesn't need keeping in the fridge and you have to dilute it, it's not juice, it's squash - sugar and chemicals and shit. Calling it juice makes it sound wholesome and natural, which it isn't.

Buy a soda stream and allow them to bubble their own water. They will have their own litre bottle of fizz for the day to top up any time they like. That and a glass with cucumber and fruit in and they seem to gobble it up all day long. You can get little bottled things called Fruit drops which are no added sugar which can flavour the water which are fairly nice too. Don't be surprised if they scoff it up just to bubble some more water!

Don't let them know those Soda Stream syrups exist though!

@ermagerdabear
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.

That’s interesting. From my perspective it’s the other way around - there are so many flavoured options these days, of water too. When I was a kid in the 70’s/80’s the choice was water or milk (which isn’t appealing in hot weather). Cordial made with way more water than the instructions was a rare treat and I don’t think my mother ever bought juice. I occasionally got a glass of lemonade at the pub. With that very sensible upbringing I of course completely embraced soft drink and favoured stuff as an adult. You can’t win.

Another rule we had was was no biscuits in the evening, they get stuck in your teeth apparently.

Good luck OP. Be tough, it’s worth it. Never had a single cavity until my mid thirties. And agree, cold water tastes better.

When my middle two were young I weaned them off squash. Honestly they were like tiny little drug addicts for about 4 days, but they haven't drunk juice since. They both drink a lot of water now. It will be awful for a few days but it will be worth it!

If dilute juice Is all they'll drink. Better they drink that than nothing at all. Just get the sugar free one.

Stop buying it. Don't have it in the house.
If there's no alternative they'll drink water.

Let them have it as a treat when they're out.

I can't get over calling it "diluting juice" it's cordial or squash to me.
I always get the sugar free/no added sugar option.

I've ended up calling carbonated soft drinks "fizzy juice" I blame my DH. 😂

Yeah, there's diluting juice, fruit juice, fizzy juice, water (cooncil juice) and milk 😆

I've ended up calling carbonated soft drinks "fizzy juice" I blame my DH

What else is it called?

Pop, fizzy drink, ginger,.
The juice is a bit misleading.

Thank you so much for all of the tips and advice! I’ve just bought some sparkling water to try them with so I’ll see how that goes. Also I’ll start keeping water in the fridge too before giving to them, I hadn’t thought that they might enjoy more colder 😊. Also to those who asked, my eldest son is 9, middle son is 7 and youngest is 4.

Try hot as well as cold. On its own or tea/green tea/ginger

cold with cucumber is good. I wouldn’t do orange/lemon due to the acid if their teeth are already bad

imo cold turkey is best on the juice. Sugar free is still acidic so it’s best to ditch.