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Original poster

Daft remark (imo) about apple juice in context of children

52 replies

handlemecarefully · 11/04/2007 23:42

Was musing aloud in company of some friends and acquaintances about my (almost) 3 year old's excessive consumption of undiluted apple juice and whether this was likely to be causing his rather runny poo (which he experiences regularly)...I suspect it does btw.

Anyway...this acquaintance asked how much and I said around 1 - 1.5 litres daily and her reaction was "Do you realise how many calories are in that?" (in shocked tones)

Que? Now I can imagine somebody commenting on the acidity of it possibly upsetting his stomach (this is my concern and hence I plan to reduce consumption and introduce more water)...or possibly dental decay from the (natural) sugars in fruit juice, but calories ??? (non plussed)

Good lord I felt like a pedaller of fruit shoots

OP posts:
custy · 11/04/2007 23:43

beezarre

Carmenere · 11/04/2007 23:43

Oh ignore her fgs, although it is a lot, it's hardly like you are counting ww points.

colditz · 11/04/2007 23:44

She's a wierdo freak!

I personally would not dish out that much juice ... because it's expensive, mainly, but wtf have calories got to do with 3 year olds?

moondog · 11/04/2007 23:46

It is a weird comment (but sheesh,that is a hell of a lot to be drinking!)

brimfull · 11/04/2007 23:46

is she a calorie obsessed anorexic?

Original poster
handlemecarefully · 11/04/2007 23:47

Well that was my attitude - calories and 3 year olds. Not a good message!

Good I'm glad you agree it was odd, you know how it is when you start thinking perhaps you have got it wrong rather than the other person!

OP posts:
colditz · 11/04/2007 23:48

It is almost certainly causing the runny poo, btw

Janh · 11/04/2007 23:49

Am equally nonplussed at calorie consideration, hmc, but 1-1.5l is a huge amount for a 3-yr-old in terms of acidity etc and probably is connected to the poo thing.

If you hand it to him (rather than him helping himself) do try diluting it with water as much as poss - the fluid is great but yes, the acid is a bit much.

(I gave DD2 undiluted apple in a bottle when she was about 2 months on the uneducated assumption that juice is good for everybody - it didn't do her digestion any good at all )

Original poster
handlemecarefully · 11/04/2007 23:49

Moondog - do you think it is a hell of a lot to be drinking per se or just a hell of a lot of apple juice?

I ask because occasionally I worry that he might be borderline diabetic (I'm a hypocondriac by proxy, lol)

It is too much apple juice for his poor little gut I think and I will introduce more water. I am guilty of being a little lazy on this one I know!

OP posts:
brimfull · 11/04/2007 23:50

well my ds 4.5 has always had poos that are on the runny ,leave a huge skid mark side and he drinks a small amount of juice.
Although agree 1 litre of juice would cause the runs imo.

moondog · 11/04/2007 23:51

My kids love apple juice too-especially my 2 year old ds.
Volume is fine (at least my kids drink that amount) but it is pretty sugary.
I take out half of the carton and add water.
Then leave it in the fridge for them to help themselves.Less tedious that trips to the tap to dilute.

Original poster
handlemecarefully · 11/04/2007 23:52

JanH - he and I had a little chat tonight before bed. I told him that I thought that the apple juice was causing his "funny poo" and that he should cut down to a tumbler full with breakfast and one with dinner and just water in between. He seemed to take this on board quite well - wish me luck!

OP posts:
2cheekymonkeys · 11/04/2007 23:53

3 year olds need lots of calories, surely.

VeniVidiVickiQV · 11/04/2007 23:55

they do need lots of calories. But, really ought not to be counting them at all.

Hilllary · 11/04/2007 23:55

rather an odd remark...

ggirl 'is she a calorie obsessed anorexic?' is not a nice thing to say.

Soapbox · 11/04/2007 23:58

It is a lot of juice though for a 2-3 year old!

Probably around 500-700 calories (which isn;t that much), how many calories do they recommend for a 2-3 year old these days?

I think it might be worth starting to dilute the juice, make it strong at first then gradually up the water until it becomes weaker. If there is any propensity to diabetes the high sugar content of the apple juice won't help matters - so it would be worth slowly reducing the amout he has.

2cheekymonkeys · 11/04/2007 23:58

It does seem a lot though. I would dilute gradually until he's on plain water

Janh · 12/04/2007 00:01

Juice at breakfast and dinner and then water the rest of the time sounds like a fine arrangement if he's OK with sticking to that, hmc (If he starts hankering afer juice all day though then dilution is the way to go!)

Original poster
handlemecarefully · 12/04/2007 00:05

Yes I'll keep 'dilution' as a back up in my arsenal of tactics to get him off the juice!

OP posts:
brimfull · 12/04/2007 00:11

Well it does sound like a remark from someone slightly obsessed with calories,which an anorexic person usually is ime.
Or could be a calorie obsessed yo-yo dieter aswell I suppose.
Wasn't meant to upset anyone.

Original poster
handlemecarefully · 12/04/2007 00:18

Actually, I found the comment slightly ironic actually because her own child is a little plump (a bit more than the usual round toddler tum and cute chubbyness) whereas ds has a very average and unremarkable build.

I suppose she might be privately concerned about her own dd and hence this preoccupation spilling over into this remark.

Anyway - it's not biggie I suppose. Not like I'm mortally offended or anything...just thought it a strange observation.

OP posts:
welliemum · 12/04/2007 01:04

I think it is a bit worrying, because if she's trying to influence her dd's plumpness by limiting her calories, that is a really terrible idea.

She might not be of course, and just said a daft thing off the top of her head (which I do all the time).

dejags · 12/04/2007 06:26

My DS2 was similar and quite fussy about drinking juice only. I now limit diluted juice to mealtimes only. He gets half a proper cup of juice with breakfast, lunch and dinner.

I found that the biggest culprit in excessive juicing was the spillproof sippy cup. It holds 500mls (or thereabouts) of juice and we were constantly refilling it without thinking.

So now DS knows that juice is for mealtimes and water is available at all other times (he rarely complains).

Pruni · 12/04/2007 07:08

Message withdrawn

Twiglett · 12/04/2007 07:24

when did you switch to undiluted then? I only ask because since having children we all now dilute our juice and find real juice rather too sickly sweet .. so both mine still drink it diluted

I agree that that's an awful lot of juice and will certainly be responsible for digestive problems

I have to tell you that my children stayed with my sister and her dentist husband for 3 days and they made it fairly clear that they shouldn't be drinking juice on the go .. ok at mealtimes but constant drinking of juice is very bad for their teeth because its just a constant wash of decay-inducing sugars and acid