Fruit shoots

[tiptoes]

Just got back from visiting MIL's with ds 5 and dd 3.
When we arrived the children went to the fridge to get a drink and Gran had got some fruit shoots in.Had to laugh as had read a thread on mumsnet about how bad they were.

Well,they had'nt had them before and did'nt want to appear rude so they both drank one each.

A couple of hours later at different intervals they both had the mother of all tantrums.Laying on the floor,kicking,shouting,can't even remember about what now.

DH promptly went to the fridge and hid the rest.

Maybe just a fluke as they were tired from travelling but don't think I will be buying them again just in case

New to mn and dd has only water (only 8 months)
But what is the problem with these drinks? Seriously- not a moral debate but facts please as I have no experience of them!

tiptoes - my elder son used to react very badly to fruit shoots when he was younger too - to the point where you could time the descent into atrocious and hyper behaviour. He's got better as he's got older (but we still only give them on fairly rare occasions as a result).

Lilymolly-I think it's the ingredients ie aspartame etc

If you do a search for fruit shoots on mumsnet you will find the thread I referred to.

There tend to be a lot of artificial sweetners in a lot of squash drinks etc.

My children will drink water,milk,juice etc but do occasionally have squash drinks.
Although on another thread today I read that squash drinks are'nt a good idea ethier

GeorginaA- Can relate to the timing.My two will sometimes have a squash drink with their dinner and half an hour later they are running around like wildfire.

Going to get some different fruit juices in and dilute with water and see what the response is.

I suspose it has to be pure fruit juices,anyone know any good brands to try?

They also contain chemicals that can irritate the bladder so definately no good for bed wetters. The only squashes that seem ok to me are the 50% high juice ones and then only highly dilute and in moderation. Aspartame is a real nasty! Give my sugar any day (moderately)

Fruit Shoots do have a legendary status on MN - partly because they have come to represent 'high sugar high colour high additives' food and drink in general.

I am not a particular fan of FS - my own personal reasons are:
Big companies playing a marketing trick on customers who may not read labels - i think the name and packaging is designed to make you think that you are somehow giving your children a shot of something as good as fresh fruit.
Plastic bottles...the waste, and the chemicals they have in them are not good for you.
FSs are very, very sweet. I don't want my DS to develop a taste for something so over-poweringly sickly that tastes of sickly air-freshener - it makes 'real' juice less tempting.
They are expensive, compared to 'pure' juice diluted.

But, they are passed for human consumption and monitored by the Food Standards Agency, so hardly akin to feeding your child a Fly Agaric mushroom!

Holidaymum-I do tend to buy the high juice squashes,but still wonder if they are a good thing.

Blu- Some very good points I had'nt considered.

It did make me smile though when MIL said "oh I've got the children some drinks they might like. I am sure if I 'd have said "oh no not fruit shoots,they are really bad for them"
She would have gone into a major discussion about how kids are so fussy these days,it was'nt like that in my day"

Ahhhhh right I have all this to come to then Delightful..

A friend of mine gives it to her dd (5) and thinks because it says fruit it must be healthy, yeah right! - I've just been to their website to check out the ingredients to be met with their latest campaign 'get good skill skool' - healthy and teaching our children proper english as well!

I thought they counted as your one a day fruit portion, the same as a glass of wine does

LOL about the wine mrsfio. Just wondered if any adults had actually tried them - truly disgusting IMO, mainly because of the artifial sweetener which i try to avoid at all costs. A better alternative (which my SIL got in for my DC at a party) is Tropicana GO - similar style bottle but (i think) just diluted juice.

maent to say have adults tried fruitshoots?

Undiluted fruit juice sends my ds into orbit. Fruit shoots don't. Go figure!

if you'r egoing to have squash then rocks organic is the best i think.fruit shoots are the devils food!!

Am glad I read this, I usually just give mine well diluted squash. Am now going to check additives listed on that. Anything else to be avoided? Smarties are a particular no no of mine.

They aren't that bad to drink ... although I don't think I could get away with drinking them on the occasions LO tends to have them, such as when we're out to dinner.

We keep the bottles & re-use them as they seem to be handy for the car & trips but it doesn't matter if they just get lost or thrown away.

multitasker - smarties now claim they have no artificial colours or flavouring

If you compare the ingredients-Sunny D is far "better"....
Best of all has to be water/milk followed hotly by fruit juice diluted with water.

Tiptoes-look for anything which says "pure" fruit juice and you will be fine.

Thanks everyone.
Will take on board your suggestions.

I think a lot of people buckle under the Fruit Shoots pester power campaign because they are little bottles that children can manage for themselves (environmental impact apart blu)
I totally second foxtrot's recommendations for a better-ingredient alternative, the Tropicana Go! little bottles of dilute fruit juide.
I got some for ds and dd today and they both loved them.