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Original poster

Drinks - non alcholic - not for me

28 replies

charliesmummy · 25/01/2002 03:42

Now that the day has arrived that we have dropped formula an have happily gone on to Full Fat Cows Milk after a gentle build up. What other suggestions have any of you for general drinks for a 13 month old. I took the advice from the suggestions on Desserts and they have worked so look forward to your advice!

OP posts:
Enid · 25/01/2002 10:16

I think if you were the perfect mummy from la-la land it would be water water and only water. But dd had weak ribena from that age, and watered down orange and apple juice. She also likes herb teas. I gave her normal ribena, not toothkind as I personally hate sweeteners and would rather she had sugar.

Just to add that juices and ribena etc ARE pretty addictive though. She went through a stage when she would drink gallons of the stuff and then not eat anything. So I went cold turkey on the ribena (apparently you can't buy it anymore!) and her appetite improved enormously.

Marina · 25/01/2002 11:24

Enid, glad to hear of another mum who would sooner use sugar in moderation than aspartame etc!
Charliesmummy, our son likes dilute fruit juice with meals and has a cup of water on the go at other times. For a treat at tea-time he has chocolate milk (made with Nesquik), otherwise plain milk, and sometimes if he has squash we look out for the Hugh Rock organic lemon and orange varieties which are very fruity and additive-free.

Ems · 25/01/2002 13:08

With ds1, we had ribena. But later on it caused problems as it had to be 'real' ribena. Couldnt be fobbed off with Robinsons blackcurrant or Tescos own or whatever, which was a pain at peoples houses. Plus he was so used to a sweetened drink he wouldnt have water.

So ds2, now has water, water and water. And he is absolutely fine with that, and wherever we go it is dead easy to get him a drink.

Now ds1 is fine and will drink anything, its during that terrible twos wilful stage that its a real pain.

Pupuce · 25/01/2002 13:25

Enid- I must be from la-la-land.... I don't give anything other than water. He gets a bit of diluted fruit juice at nursery... what I am concerned about is Ribena... have looked at the list of ingredients ???? I am sorry I do not mean to be mean to anyone when I say this but why start giving Ribena to a child ??? what about regular pure juice diluted 1/4 + 3/4 water ? If you don't start they won't know what they are missing.... I would like to quote an interesting article on sugar by Suzannah Olivier :

"Apart from damaging yourrteeth there are other serious problems with sugar. You may have heard that sugar provides empty calories, it means that sugar is devoided of any vitamins and minerals that would help the body utilize it. For instance, we need a mineral, chromium, in order to metabolize sugar and yet not only does it not provide this mineral, it causes a net loss of chromium from the body in the urine. So over the years, people who consume sugar develop a serious deficiency of this nutrient. The calories that are provided have no vitamins or minerals to metabolize it, meaning that the body must draw on existing reserves."

Lindy · 25/01/2002 16:23

Just to reiterate what a few others have said - I only give my DS water (he is 10months) and cow's milk now - don't want to start on any sort of juice as it seems that once they know about juice you can never get them off it.

Does like a sip of his Dad's beer now & again though!

Enid · 25/01/2002 21:10

Pupuce, each to their own. But I don't really care about sugar.

Original poster
charliesmummy · 26/01/2002 00:21

Thanks for the advice - now for the bit that I am a bit confused on - Please tell me I don't have to keep boiling a kettle for cool boiled water to add to anything. Can I just use tap water, and when you say jiuce, do you all mean like Smooth Tropicana plus the water, I got the ribena thing, but what about apple juice, pineapple juice that I already have in the fridge for us? I know - I can't beleive that i have started a thread on this either!! Ds already does water, and really weak baby cordial with cool boiled etc ...

OP posts:
CAM · 26/01/2002 00:26

It is very important that children get Vitamin C at mealtimes in order to help with iron absorption. All the advice I have been given by HV's and read about is to give diluted fruit juice with meals and water in between. My 2 daughters both have perfect teeth with no fillings (one is just 5 years old and one is in her twenties).I also gave/give full fat cow's milk (organic this time around) whenever asked for or a couple of times a day.

robinw · 26/01/2002 05:53

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Pupuce · 26/01/2002 15:19

Robinw.... I completely agree with you. A fruit after a meal or vitamin c rich vegetables are better with a meal than fruit juice (Sorry Cam).

I do not want to start a war on this but I can't understand why we have such an urge to give yopung children juice or tea (and I know 1 mum who gave her less than 1 yo weak tea!). If they haven't tried it, they won't ask for it. DS keeps asking to taste my decaf coffee or my glass of wine - and I can say no to that so I can also not start juice.

As others have said, I find that kids fill their tummies with juice before they even start their meal. So what has been achieved ?

My experience on food is different I guess. I enjoy cooking and we only buy organic so I guess I have a different perspective. But don't get me wrong I don't think I have it completely right, my son gets diarrohea when he goes to nursery (see other discussion topic)... so who knows ????'

robinw · 26/01/2002 18:54

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Eulalia · 26/01/2002 19:01

I am also from la-la land as my son likes water. I also give diluted fresh fruit juices and a little weak ribena. He only drinks about 1/2 a cup of milk a day - isn't that keen on it. Generally he is not a big drinker anyway so I don't have the prob of him filling up on liquid. It does seem that people are constantly pressing drinks onto young children - some of these drink beakers are huge - large enough for an adult. BTW the tap water is lovely here but not everyone lives in the North of Scotland.

Sometimes giving a change of container can help with a child taking a drink. When they are older (2+) they will often drink anything from an 'adult' glass.

jasper · 26/01/2002 22:07

I do my best to live in lala land but not being the main carer of my kidders I don't always get my way. it was particularly difficult when dh took him to toddlers club and they all had juice midmorning. Once he got to the walking, foraging age he would just go round drinking everyone's juice dregs as he had been given water .
The other mums thought my dh was being incredibly hard on him not letting him have juice at first.
Dh got them to switch to Ribena tooth kind, being more concerned about sugar than aspartame, and to exchange their midmorning biscuits for toast and butter.
I'm south of you Eulalia in the west coast ( just below Glasgow ) and the water here is lovely too.

jasper · 26/01/2002 22:15

By the way Pupuce I could not agree more about kids filling up with Juice. On the odd occasion when my ds has unrestricted access to juice (Granny's house!) he will drink PINTS of it and eat very little.I don't think this is just because he is making up for lost time, I have observed this in loads of babies and toddlers who seem permanently attached to their sippy cup of juice. And the mothers often claim they will ONLY drink juice, coke or whatever.By which they mean if offered water they will scream and shout till given juice, which they WILL be given....I do love to play devil's advocate and ask if they think the child would die of thirst if only water was available!

I have never had problems with him being constipated with drinking mainly water, as he gets plenty fresh fruit.
Isn't it great to be such a perfect parent?
Just kidding. Nearly wrung dd's neck today but that's a different story.

Ailsa · 26/01/2002 22:29

I found that dd and ds were filling themselves with drinks and not eating much of their meals. Now, they're not allowed a drink of any sort until they've nearly finished their meals.

dd loves water as long as it's bottled, tap water in Worcester is horrible! ds won't touch it.

As for the taste of water, I think the further north you go, the better it tastes. When I lived in Northumberland I drank tap water by the gallon.

robinw · 27/01/2002 08:01

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jasper · 27/01/2002 19:23

If suddenly constipated with no change in his diet, take him to the doctor.
If dehydrated, give flat coke. But that is an exception to normal rules as is currently being discussed on another thread.

Lizzer · 27/01/2002 23:46

Charliesmummy, I know this sounds a weird one but dd loves what we call her 'special milk' this is essentially a 'power shake' of sorts. I combine Full fat milk and strawberry bio-yoghurt drink (also sneak her vit drops and echinacea in for extra health benefits!) shake it up in a beaker and she loves it and has loved it for months. She has one a day in the morning and its better than giving plain milk (though she drinks that too). I was a bit worried at the amount of cordial that dd was drinking after being a water baby for ages, it suddenly creeps up on you how much they have in a day (BTW again, I'm for sugar over sweeteners anyday). So went back to mainly water and she's fine with it.

Original poster
charliesmummy · 28/01/2002 00:55

Lizzer - I have had one of those - Oh my God moments, you have just reminded me that what you call 'special milk' MY mother used to give to me, I can remember it so it must have continued for sometime. As an old bird, it was Ski Yoghurt, malt and Full Fat Cows milk (never a choice) from the farm up the road and a special sweet - Haliborange. Thank you for the memory and advice.

To all of you and your advice on my original question, ds has had tap water today, and drank it, but he was thirsty today - we live in Wiltshire, the water is a bit hard, but I am off to waitrose to have a look at options tomorrow. One of which is to get the water filter jug out of the fridge and clean it and use it properly!. Or look for low sodium bottled water. Get Nesquick (yummy), and some juices that I can dilute, as well as drink myself. I have bought all these PJ fruit smoothies just to try and get some fruit down me so I might start making fruit smoothies with milk - more work! nothing is too much for ds (SAD COW).

OP posts:
robinw · 28/01/2002 08:08

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Enid · 28/01/2002 14:00

charliesmummy, I think Evian is very low sodium mineral water. But filtered works out cheaper if you can be bothered to clean your jug! Our Brita jug has a useful thing that flashes when the filter needs changing - otherwise I'm sure I'd never remember!

jasper · 28/01/2002 22:48

RobinW, I have no idea what your last post directed at me is on about. Please elaborate.
How do you know what I say to mothers?

robinw · 29/01/2002 07:55

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SueDonim · 29/01/2002 18:45

Due to allergies and sensitivities my children have generally had just milk or water, with fresh fruit juice at breakfast. I'm not keen on squash or fizz, so we don't have them in the house and the children seem happy with that.

jasper · 30/01/2002 00:03

RobinW I will put your eroneous extrapolations regards my helpfulness in advice giving down to your recent flu!
I am mrs. helpful, honest!
Hope you are feeling better )

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