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

[handlemecarefully]

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

Actually, though it sounds like it wasn't intended that way, she is probably right. If you are filling your child up with sweet calories, then they probably do not have the appetite for the rest of the nutrients that they need. If someone was feeding their child the equivalent calories in sweets you would be horrified. Just because the sugars are "natural" doesn't mean that they are good for your child in those amounts. The other problem with fruit juice is that it's used as a substitute for fruit and it means the child is not getting the fiber (from the fruit) that they need. Here's a fun link to what 200 calories looks like (unfortunately it doesn't show juice, though).

look at the paltry size of the cheese

I love cheese

I think she may be meaning - so it will be filling up his stomach, therefore he will not be getting enough nutrients from other food

Oh have just seen Sofia thinks so too

It is an odd comment, but HMC that is one heck of a lot of apple juice

wel i think I might agree with friend it is alot of sugary drink and acid .....it would worry me for teeth too

we always dilute juice right down

it is "wasted calories"

My children have only ever gotten meal to drink during meals and water in between meals. Fruit juice is only for special occasions like birthday parties or dinners out. They have been told that they will have to be 18 before they are allowed fizzy drinks.

sorry, make that milk for meals

agree dental issue would worry me most

Only 1 tumbler full of apple juice so far today....(plus a Capri sun blackcurrant juice - urggh - but we went to Billy Smart's circus, I didn't have drinks with me as I had left in a hurry, there were no alternatives and it was a hot day, so needs must!).

Have offered ds water or milk - he accepts the new regime but isn't altogether delighted. Has been sipping at his drinks in desultory fashion - however did seem to have far more appetite for lunch than ever before!

Will allow a second tumbler of (partially diluted) apple juice with dinner.

Feel bad that I didn't tackle this earlier.

However as diet taboos go excessive consumption of apple juice isn't the worst I suppose!

a friend of mine made this comment about a 2 year old and pesto - that she wouldn't give her pesto because it was too fattening. Hmm.

DD has constipation problems and her consultant told me not to give her apple juice ever as it makes it worse.

I find apple juice from cartons makes my younger dcs cough - no idea why. Copella is okay though.

it does mke you shit

and yer teeth rot

we have water

apple juice at breakfast and thats it

1.5l is a shit load

that is a bit graphic now vision of mini digger shovelling shit around bathroiom

DS has drunk juice by default for far too long, and I am taking the pathetic cowardly weakling way out by offering him 'special mountain water' which tastes really special and comes from inside mountains...and he's really enjoying it.
It's costing me a fortune in Evian water, but I'll tackle that next.

Good luck with the transition.

there was an article on this in the Times - apparently we don't register the calories from drink in the same way, so we will tend to consume more calories in liquids than we would if it were in solid form: hope this works which actually for a toddler drinking lots of juice is a plus (as in he won't replace solid food one-for-one with juice). Plus apple juice has some benefits (wasn't there a study that said drinking juice prevented Alzheimers)?

lol Blu, I did the "special mountain water" for a while too - then started refilling evian bottles from the tap - then convinced them that our taps contain "Dartmoor spring water" (which I suppose they do, in a way), they love water now and ask for it instead of juice

Copella is lurvely.

Yes, greeny, I suspect that we will be drinking special local spring water very soon. Filtered for centuries through Streatham Hill....

The addition of a (tap water) ice cube makes water (of any provenance) an attractive alternative, too.

And a bendy straw helps a lot, too.

And if you have lots of money, one of those American style fridge/freezers with the water/ice dispenser in the door is a sure fire way to get children to consume lots and lots of water (and get your floors "washed" frequently).

yes wehen we got ours we binned squash

Blu, people used to flock to Streatham to take the waters. One of the wells was at the Rookery, and another was in Unigate Wood. The latter area still has springs after heavy rain and in winter, which explains why it hasn't been built on. The well house is still there.

I'm not too sure what the waters were supposed to cure, mind...

My approach to the "how do you get your children to drink water" problem was to encourage them to think of it as a universal panacea (I was put on to this idea by SIL telling her children that Vitamin C tablets cured all imaginary ills, which was quite effective, but led to terrible upsets when the children realised that their grandparents didn't have a supply. I thought I'd use something more generally available).