Juice - which is the lesser of two evils??

[IWillOnlyEatBeans]

Hi

DS (18 mo) wont drink water on it's own, so I give him juice to drink. ATM he gets Ribena Lite (as this is what I drink) but I am getting slightly uncomfortable about the sweetners used in it. But I think if I gave him 'normal' Ribena I'd feel uncomfortable about all the sugar...

So is one better than the other? What juice do your DCs drink? He loves the Goodies Water and Juice drinks, but at 98p per tiny bottle it's not exactly good value for money!

I am persevering with offering water, but I'd rather he drank juice than nothing...

Thanks!

Make your own 'Goodies' drink? Think it's just apple juice & a little grape juice diluted with water. Refill the bottle & he'll never know..

I used to give mine just abit of fresh juice topped up with water

DD doesn't like water and drinks cold fennel tea. (Don't know if that makes me sound weird, but I was a nanny in Germany and it's normal over there.)

what about diluted smoothies?

imo sugar less evil than sweetener

Would always favour water over sweetners.

I read somewhere that if they eat a bit of cheese after - it makes the saliva less acidic/sugary.

I would give them ordinary squash rather than one with sweetener added. Just make it very dilute, or mix juice and water.

I had the same problem with my younger DS and gave him squash/juice. As he has got older I have successfully weaned him off it and he drinks water or milk now.

I dont think Ribena is advised for under 3's (says somewhere on the label). We use Hi-Juice squash or just fruit juice with a bit of water added.

My DS is the same. I went to the supermarket and looked at all the bottles of squash (people must think I'm mad!) and found Organic Rocks Squash which doesnt have aspartine in it or any other sweeteners. It's really nice and even I have it now! We just dilute it heavily for DS.

I am amazed at how many parents say their child won't drink plain water. At our nursery that is all we offer and guess what? They drink it.
Keep trying the water. You never know, you might have a breakthrough.

Thanks.

They sell Rocks Organic in my local Sainsbury's I think - will give it a go, thanks StarryEyedMama.

Honey, I have been offering plain water since DS was 6 mo. On 'water only' days his nappies have been pretty much bone dry. I am still working on it though!

my ds was dehydrated with rock solid poo the whole of the six months I only offered water for. As I said, I have now weaned him off juice and back onto water.

If you are working in a nursery you might notice some children only drinking one mouthful instead of a whole cup HoneyPablo, that was my ds!