Is juice really the work of the devil?

[siblingrevelry]

I've always prided myself on feeding my children with care and attention to nutrition. I give them healthy packed lunches and cook dinner from scratch etc.

They are not fussy eaters, but my eldest has an issue with the texture of fruit, so will have banana pancakes for example, but not the raw banana. Often at breakfast time I will give them a small glass of fresh juice with their porridge/weetabix, to ensure he gets one of his daily quota of fruit (the rest I make up in veg, so they end up having about 6-7 of their '5-a-day').

Lots of folks on here are horrified at juice though (although happy with squash?). My personal thoughts on juice is regarding the sugars on their teeth being a problem, rather than the cals (they are all thin), so I would have thought having it in one 'hit' would be ok. The rest of the time they drink only water/milk at bedtime, so their teeth aren't exposed to a constant stream of sugar.

Am i naive or mis-guided, and is it really to be avoided at all costs?

I give mine juice, alongside their porridge and berries in the morning. As far as I'm concerned that's two of their five before lunch, and that's no bad thing. Seriously- it's juice, holds lots of nutrients (not as much as actual fruit but still plenty of nutrients) doesn't encourage bad eating (like fizzy water which gives children a taste for the fizz if you ask me) and they enjoy it. Carry on.

(btw- texturally I find bananas foul, love.the flavour though)

We have juice, rightly or wrongly. It helps the body absorb iron for a start. We water it down and dd normally drinks with a straw. Her teeth are fine and she's a skinny Minnie.

Mine have orange juice with breakfast.

The dentist said there's no reason why they shouldn't as long as their teeth are brushed afterwards.

Not a great idea to brush straight after as the teeth will be so very soft due to the acid. You end up brushing the enamel straight off. Leave for a while or brush before is my advice (I'm a dentist).

Yes, we always leave a gap between juice and brushing.

Actually mrsmorton I've been meaning to pick a MN dentists brain . Is it ok for 7 & 5yr olds to use regular adult toothpaste, not fancy whitening stuff or anything? Would it have too much fluoride, too little?

Good question Meglet-mine are currently 2, 5 & 7, which causes me trauma every time as I've only seen 0-2, 4-6 and 6+, which confuses me as to who fits where (and do I really have to buy 3 tubes?)! If the two eldest could use ours it'd make life easier!

On another note, I think I'll stick with the juice!

Nothing wrong with a little juice but like everything else, everything in moderation init!

Fruit isn't necessarily the fruit if the gods, it's packed full of sugar which isn't good for your teeth and not good for blood sugar levels if you have diabetes and acidic amongst many many other reasons it isn't great for you, But berries - raspberries, blueberries etc are the better fruits of the fruit family. I personally cannot stand fruit or juiced variety but I do love live my veg in all forms. Much better for you too.

Adult toothpaste is perfect definitely.

I don't think there's much to recommend juice over whole fruit. It's easier for sure, all the fibre has been removed and all the sugar is left. It's not a health food as far as I'm concerned - only to be consumed in small quantities.

Thank you mrsmorton

sibling that's partly why I was getting fed up with kids toothpaste, so expensive and all the different types aimed at different ages. I was assuming that as DS now has some adult teeth then adult toothpaste would be fine.