Diluted Juice for 2-3 month old

[deeldee]

I have been following the Gina Ford contented baby book, and she now mentions using diluted peach juice - my daughter is definitely not keen on water. I could only find Cow & Gate juice which is from 4 months onwards. I feel slightly reluctant to start giving my daughter juice at such a young age, especially if it says from 4 months onwards. Does anyone know of any sugar free peach juice or other, or have any other ideas of what they use.

I followed Gina Ford and to be honest I ignored her suggestion for diluted juice at this low age. I did offer water in case ds wanted it but he didn't really need it, so just like your ds wasn't that keen (in fact, he really didn't get into the idea of drinking other fluids than milk until he was about 8 months and now he will drink water quite happily).

Would strongly recommend persevering with only offering water rather than juice if you can - it's so much better for their teeth, and it does worry me giving other "foods" (which effectively fruit juice is) at such a young age.

As another thought, I'm also a bit wary of any sugar free products (especially if they're fruit juice which has natural fructose in!!). I'm asthmatic and allergic to aspartame (well, I tend to react to it if I'm already run down or there are other additives present such as certain orange food colourings), so as a result I've been extremely careful not to buy any product which claims to be sugar free as a result. In some ways I'd rather ds had the sugar (in controlled amounts of course!) than be exposed to the artificial sweeteners!

Probably all "paranoid mother" on my part, I'm sure!

I agree - better IMO to have a little of what occurs naturally than more of artificial products.

And I wouldn't give dilute juice - why start the habit? She might not be drinking because she#s not thirsty - if you always have it available as she gets older she'll be able to help herself as and when she needs it. And you won't have to worry about it dripping onto carpets, furniture etc anywhere near as much as you would if it were juice.

If your daughter is breastfed - she doesn't need the juice (or the water)... if you MUST do this, try camomille tea diluted... so you make a cup and you keep a 1/8 of the cup and add water to the rest...

The juice she means is Boots own make suitable from 1 month although Gina recommends it from 8 weeks. It is actually spring water with a hint of peach juice. Personally I found my daughter prefereed the apple one but took so little it was hardly worth buying.

I agree with everyone here ... my DS was a GF baby and I never bothered with juice until he was much older. He just had water once he was on bottles and then I think he was about 12 months when I introduced plain ordinary apple juice ... but always diluted it half and half. I still never give him anything but diluted apple juice or water at 3 years ... I think those 'baby juices' are a rip off, personally ...

I agree with all that's been said and personally I wouldn't offer anything except water.

My DD is 14mths b/f and has only recently wanted to drink water, I've offered it to her from 6mths at the same time as I introduced some solids but she didn't want it until recently. She has lots of fruit and vegetables and they contain water so with the b/m and the solids I guess she was getting enough liquids.

Being an American and having my only exposure to GF be through this board, I must say I am just shocked beyond words that this woman is recommending juice at 8 weeks! Even at 4 months there is absolutely no need for it. Juice is full of sugar, and if you get the alternative and go for sugar free you're substituting chemicals for sugar. I wouldn't even be offering a 2 or 3 month old child water, for that matter. They need all the nutrition they can get from breastmilk or formula and water/juice just fills up their tummies with nothing or empty calories.

As far as I've ever heard, peaches shouldn't even be offered before six months as they are very acidic and can cause digestive problems.

Fill up her tummy with the good stuff and she'll be just fine, I really wouldn't be concerned about a baby that small refusing even water. She's expecting milk or formula and this thin tasteless stuff comes out. "Get rid of that junk and give me MILK!"

Can I just add again that I think everyone is under a misapprehension. It is not actually juice it is spring water with a tiny hint of natural peach flavouring, no sugar, no sweeteners. Rules on baby products are quite strict and Boots would not be able to sell anything labelled as suitable for 1 month that was proper juice.

Also it is only recommended if a baby is thirsty but won't take water. This is not usually a problem in breastfed babies but bottlefed babies can get dehydrated in hot weather. However as it is the middle of winter it probably won't be a problem.

What do people think about a slice of lemon in an 11 month old's water? I much prefer it to plain water, but is it too acidic for baby's teeth?

In the edition I have in front of me, she refers to boiled water with sugar added to it.

I wouldn't do the lemon thing. We think we've narrowed our DD's dental decay problem down to the amount of pickles she eats. She loves tomatoes and cucumber chopped up in balsamic vinegar, then drinks the vinegar. She loves pickled onions too. I'd never even thought about a savoury food being a problem

JulieF: even peach flavouring would have some natural sugars in it (fructose) regardless of whether it's labelled as such. You'll probably find they don't claim "no sugar" but describe it as "no added sugar" which isn't the same thing at all.

I don't think there is any need to flavour water for a baby. They learn soon enough that there are other drinks out there, unfortunately!

I would endorse the recommendation of persisting with plain water. A thirsty child will drink it. However I don't think it is realistic to expect a baby under 6 months to drink it in any quantity unless it is really hot or the baby is dehydrated(when probably rehydration sachets in icy water would be a better bet). Certainly a breast fed baby should have little call for this.

I only offered water to my kids, until I learnt that iron in cereals was better absorbed if taken with Vitamin C so ds, who was a variable eater at the time,was offered juice with breakfast (the one meal he would always eat)DD now 15 months only has water or milk and ds now 4 1/2 still prefers water or occasionally juice. He won't drink fizzy ones except bizarrely for Iced Tea.
I hope their teeth are in a good condition as a result.

LizS

My DD is 16 YEARS old and we are having a problem getting her to drink anything other than water!! We keep saying . darling would you liike to try this wine, beer, etc. NO, she only drinks water, well, will have hot chocolate at a push!!

It is SO important to get your children to drink water. I think very few people have any idea how good it is for you. I have to drink 8-10 pints a day due to my kidney complaint, and since I started doing that my bowels are regular (sorry!), my skin and hair are wonderful and I have much more energy.
My children only drink water. They have fresh fruit along with their cereal for the vitamin C, and milk first thing/last thing (ds is also still breastfed). Water is wonderful!! We should all drink a lot more of it!

Unfortunately, the only way I can get my 14 month old to drink hardly anything is to give her a cup while she's in the bath! [Ooh, yick....]

I didn't realise GF promoted Boots the Chemist, too.

Yes yes yes plain old water, IF it is hot weather. If bf then just breastmilk is more than sufficient all the time... Juice at 3 or 4 months (or anytime before 12m) seems ridiculous to me - sorry! They don't need it, and it is starting sweet-tooth habits way too early IMHO.

Water with sugar in it - good grief!

Oh, I'm sorry I can't keep my mouth shut on this one! Sugar in boiled water???! Is that a joke? Please say that it is... I have long hated the routines of GF but not anywhere near as much as I hate her for encouraging 1st time mum's into giving their offspring pure white sugar! It sends the body into an insulin crazed nightmare and in a baby I'd imagine the effects to be more pronounced... The blood sugar levels would be sent sky high causing the child's system to be over alert, then in minutes the instant carbohydrate effect would burn out sending out signals that the body needs more of the same sugary solution to keep it burning. The production of insulin would be affected and eventually can lead to diabetes.
Please someone tell me how GF can justify the use of pure sugar in children now we know as much as we do about nutrition?? Juice is bad enough and has similar effects, its not just bad for the teeth. If your child doesn't want to drink water from birth then perhaps she/he isn't thirsty.
OH but how could we possibly let our babies dictate how they are feeling? Surely we, as adults, know best....yeah right. Lets all put baby rice in bottles to make them sleep, dip dummies in whisky for teething and ignore their only way to communicate "cos it does them good to cry it out..."
Somedays I just can't believe I'm living in the 21st century

Someone asked in one of the other GF threads (sorry, I forget where), why all the anti-GFers keep invading the GF threads.

A lot of the time, as Lizzer argues, it's because some of GF's advice is so completely ridiculous.

V true Zebra but it nearly always ends up as a slanging match and I'm sorry for that. I just think its quite indicative of GF's power that we have Deeldee asking the question if there's another sort of peach juice she could use. Peach juice? If GF had written blueberry juice there would have been a question about that. GF can take your power away. Your power is your instinct, your instinct is what keeps you yourself.

Once again - non GF fans invading GF threads when they don't know what they're talking about! (Love ya really Lizzer )

GF advocates sugar in boiled water in only one case, as a cure for colic. She is backed up by medical research on this one. Two seperate studies (and I got this info from my GF hating HV) have shown that for young babies, a couple of ounces of sugar water can have a very positive effect on evening "colic" crying. This is the only reason that GF gives sugar water. She does say that water is best for babies, but will give v. dilute peach juice if they won't take water. Although I'm not going to defend her on that as it was one bit I never followed.

Prufrock, have you got details of the research? I guess if she is backed by it, she'll be quoting it in her book (which I don't have a copy of).

I'd be really interested in reading it. I've just been looking at some Avent info about their bottles reducing colic. In theory Avent plus GF's sugared water could be the perfect solution (no, I'm not seriously advocating this).

Zebra, my dd loves drinking her bath water too! We found this out by accident when squirting her with an old squeezy bottle- she opened her mouth and down it went! I'd never been able to persuade her to drink water before this! Now she will drink it out of the toy boat or turtle, or failing that, suck her flannel. Yeuchh!!