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Original poster

This is contentious! am preparing to get slagged

116 replies

Moomin · 07/02/2006 21:58

... but why do people give juice to babies (under 12m) apart from when they are constipated, that is? is it cos juice 'for babies' is in the shops so people think it's just something else to buy?

really not criticising, just wondering why it is thought necessary?

[runs away wearing tin hat]

OP posts:
Tortington · 07/02/2006 23:19

is it a full fkin moon all week thsi week or are we all spending so much time together our periods have come together now?

JoolsToo · 07/02/2006 23:23

I used to give mine Dandelion and Burdock and a Drippin' crust to suck on

MistressMary · 07/02/2006 23:25

My boy likes Innocent smoothies.
He doesn't like juice and has water otherwise.
I'm sure he'll get into coke when he's older, like his mummy.

mcmudda · 07/02/2006 23:46

I thought it was well known that drinking juice with vitamin C in it increases the body's ability to absorb iron by as much as 50%. Whereas milk with a meal decreases the body's ability to absorb the iron in a meal.

Dd is only 7 mths so has only been on anything other than milk for month so no juice yet. But even under a year I will have no qualms about giving her fresh juice diluted say 1:10. But only at mealtimes obviously.

robinia · 08/02/2006 10:59

Good thinking mcmudda, juice with meals is good. Juice or squash (I thought everyone called it squash - how else do you differentiate between pure juice and artificial stuff?) in between meals is terrible and that's why I continue to bang away about it whenever the opportunity arises .

GDG · 08/02/2006 11:15

Can't remember if mine had juice before 12 months - never bought 'juice for babies' though, and they don't drink squash - I give them watered down fruit juice because it's nicer than water and it's not going to kill them. Ds1 takes a bottle of water to school and he drinks that fine, sometimes he asks for water at home and sometimes he asks for juice - which he gets, with water in. No problem imo.

No squash and no fizzy drink though.

doormat · 08/02/2006 11:17

I gave baby juice to my children before 12moons (heavily diluted) to give them another flavour apart from milk and water.

madmarchhare · 08/02/2006 11:20

If its not full of crap and its kept to mealtimes (from a teeth pov), then theres no reason why they cant, is there?

Caligula · 08/02/2006 11:29

I think it's because lots of adults don't use water as a default drink, so they automatically assume kids wouldn't like it as a default drink either.

Whereas my attitude to drink has tended to be that if it's cold, it has to begin with a W. So water, whisky and wine tend to be defaults, with the occasional foray into something else. It simply wouldn't even occur to me to have soft drinks in the daytime - it's tea or water, whereas most adults seem to drink cordial or juice the way I drink tea.

Caligula · 08/02/2006 11:39

But for some reason I don't give the kids tea, even though it's my default drink.

Flossam · 08/02/2006 11:40

LOL caligula!

snowgirl · 09/02/2006 20:42

I give my 14 month old that Calcium enriched orange juice because she won't drink milk. Osteoporosis or rotten teeth??!

CarolinaMoon · 09/02/2006 20:53

rofl @ expat

I agree with the op about juice - why does everything for babies have to be sweet? I am happy drinking plain water so that's what I give ds. It's v good for you - got calcium in it .

Hulababy · 09/02/2006 21:09

Why sweet? Because babies are born with a naturally sweet tooth. Breast milk is VERY sweet. It is also the reason why first food suggests include things like carrot, parsnip, sweet potato, etc.

Dd would not drink plain water at all when tiny. She hated it, no matter how much we perservered and didn't offer alternatives. So I diluted pure juice with lots of water, and she drank it happily. I also, when out and about, gave her the odd baby juice - as easier to transport.

She is now nearly 4 and chooses to drink water over all other drinks. She still has fruit juice occasionally, but rarely has squash. Has never had fizzy pop.

So in the long run I don't think it has harmed her yet.

staceym11 · 09/02/2006 21:09

my dd has had juice on occasion, but most of the time drinks water and likes water, she has some coke if mummy and daddy are in mac donalds out of mummys straw but has her own bottle of water for her, she also eats a happy meal and has done since she was about 10 month old, we go to mac donalds about once every 1/2 months, she gets chocolate if i think shes been good and deserves a treat but she can take or leave it, but will insist on oranges or bananas or melon if she sees them.

i think that if you let them have things in moderation its no problem, if i said no you cant have that she'd throw more of a strop than if i said, no not today next week maybe!!!!

Elf1981 · 09/02/2006 21:13

My DD is 18 weeks old and I prepare (once a week) a bottle of juice.
She has 1/2 oz pure juice with 5 1/2 oz of cooled boiled water.
Out of the 6oz that I make up, she probably drinks 1/2 oz.
It makes her poop. It's that or watch her cry and struggle when she needs to go, or get out the little thing they give you to give calpol with, and fill that with water and squirt it down her throat. Surely the juice is kinder even if it isn't nutritionally best.
I've seen babies given fizzy coke from their bottle, so I hardly count myself as a bad mum for the bit of jucie my DD does have.
As for food... the only packed stuff I have is baby rice for when I do wean DD and a few baby youghurts I was given. And a cook book from M&S all about weaning, what foods they can eat and what you can make for them at each stage. I love to cook. So she'll be eating mummy's naff food rather than C&G/Hipp chocolate jarred pudding, but at least she'll get some juice as a treat ;)

Elf1981 · 09/02/2006 21:15

Hulababy, good point. I tasted my milk, and it's far far far sweeter than the juice I give DD. Must be all that chocolate I eat

Mercy · 09/02/2006 21:20

In answer to the original question.

Because juice is good for you?

It counts as 1 portion of fruit/veg? - (I guess this applies even if it's very diluted)

It aids the absoption of iron when drunk with meals?

It tastes nice?

Don't really get what your point is

Elf1981 · 09/02/2006 21:28

Anyway, the Ribena point and not being suitable for under 36months, here's the story that my family laugh about.....
When I was a baby, my mum used to give me Ribena in a bottle to go to bed with. I must have been around a year and a half old. There was no warning labels like there are now. She didn't think there was a problem with it, just that juice was healthy.
Anyway, cue all my teeth going rotten. The front six teeth were an awful colour, partially eroded. When I closed my mouth, the teeth didn't meet as I hardly had any front teeth. V embarassing pictures. I think I had the teeth removed when I was six ish (weren't taken out too early due to dentist not wanting the adult teeth to grow too soon). When my teeth grew back, I then had to go to speech therapy and learn how to speak as I'd learnt to speak with hardly any teeth there.
So I think the reason Ribena is 36 months is due to the high sugar levels and that parents used to give in a bottle, where as at 36 months, most babies will drink out of the carton / cup, so not as bad as the bottle, plus not given it to sleep with.

nulnulcat · 09/02/2006 22:08

i give my 2 yr old dd diluted fruit juice mainly apple sometimes whatever is in fridge exce[t she doesnt like tomato have done since she was 6 months old maybe a bit younger weaned her early as she was always hungry made most of my own baby food sometimes couldnt be bothered so she got jars she drinks well diluted ribena, loves fruit shoots and we go to mcdonalds as a treat, doesnt like the chips though prefers carrots, i give her sausage rolls to eat when she is in her buggy (still cant understand why this is bad!!) and i dont restrict her drinks to just mealtimes if she asks for a drink i give it her as adults we get thirsty and it might not be mealtimes so why shouldnt kids! but im a chav so im a really bad example of being a parent

TwoIfBySea · 09/02/2006 22:32

I've seen people giving their babies fizzy drinks so it doesn't surprise me.

The only time I gave dts juice was when dts1 had really bad constipation. Gave him a little drink of oj and off he went!

Apart from that it was water and milk and they are still their favourite drinks.

TwoIfBySea · 09/02/2006 22:33

Should add that now I dilute orange and apple juice for them as well as water and milk, they are 4 now.

Original poster
Moomin · 09/02/2006 22:39

mercy- my first point should have made it clearer that i was referring to the 'baby juice' that is marketed sepcifically for babies and is on the same shelf as all the baby jars. it was clarified later on but maybe you missed it. if you read colditz's posts i think she's really hit the nail on the head.

i was not criticising people for giving their babs fruit juice which a lot of posters thought i was. i suspected it would be contentious though because people are so very touchy about anything that they perceive to be a criticism of their parenting skills/choices. and anyway, who the feck cares what i or anyone else thinks about them anyway?!

OP posts:
TwoIfBySea · 09/02/2006 23:54

You mean that stuff in the bottle that costs a fortune and looks a rather dubious colour.

Ah, see what you mean. But still I thought it better to wait before introducing fruit juices, they still had fruit as a puree.

Caligula · 10/02/2006 14:25

Re Ribena and blackcurrant juice in general, apparantly there's something in it that can irritate the bladder so it's not a good idea to give it to kids who you are trying to potty train/ night train.