Squash for 17 month old

[Anon18948473627]

My DS loves his water so I've never given him squash/juice. When I'm at baby groups and there are drinks available I always ask for water and he guzzles it down. My family always comment and say things like when are you going to give him squash? What age? They are also OBSESSED with giving him a cup of tea too and make me feel quilty for just giving DS plain old water. I plan to keep him off the squash/juice as long as possible really. He has other treats such as chocolate, jelly, ice cream, cake etc in moderation. When did your LO have squash and other drinks? and am i being a precious first time mum here?

Mine’s 3 and drinks water and a bit of herbal tea. She’s had the very occasional try of squash but doesn’t like it. There’s no need for them to have anything other than water. His teeth are your responsibility not theirs so stand your ground.

I kept dd off squash until she was over 2 and now at 4 she will have it if other childten are but would always prefer water. I hate squash, and always wanted to try and ensure DD would like to drink plain water. We introduced DD to different fruit juices instead as at least they hqve some actual fruit etc in them

It wasn't a conscious decision, they had watered down apple juice (home and preschool) then at some point they were given squash at an event. I would suggest having "what we do at home" food and drink policies then go with the flow more out as you enter the 2's ... eg I have never bought fizzy drinks for our house except for parties and Christmas, not even now the kids are at university! (of course they are free to buy their own) but once they were old enough to ask they could have lemonade out in restaurants, crisps on picnics and grandparents gave them chocolate, in the house lunch didn't contain these.

My MiL was obsessed with this with DD - 'she's old enough to have a bit of colour in her water!' was a frequent phrase. I agree with you - it's an odd thing to care about, isn't it? I let her have some at their house, just made sure it was very watered down, and kept giving her water at home. She is 8 now and still loves water and drinks lots of it, but will have squash sometimes.

I gave my daughter very weak squash when she was 1 because it was really hot and I was concerned she wasn't drinking enough.

She's now 5 and will choose water over juice a lot of the time, doesn't really like the fresh juices as they are too strong and won't touch fizzy drinks at all.

Your family are being weird, it’s not a developmental milestone. Mine is 4YO and has never had squash. I’m not precious, she has fruit juice or those smoothie pouches fairly often if we’re out, but squash just isn’t on our radar. We don’t drink it, neither do any of the kids we know and I’m not sure DD even knows what it is. Juice she’s had from about 2, but only as a treat in restaurants, never at home.

Mine has just turned 3 and we've only recently started giving him squash as he started asking for it, previously he got a choice of water or milk. I know others had it from a lot younger though but now he's seen other kids drink it when he's been with them he wants it too which is natural. I generally only drink water (rather than squash) though too. If he's happy with milk or water then stick with those until he asks for something else, don't over think it.

There's no way I'd give hot liquid to a child younger than 5/6, and even then I'd have to trust them to be mature enough to know that it is hot etc. I think I started drinking tea with my mum in the upper years of primary.

Dc is 3 and has water or milk at home, or very occasionally watered down juice if I think they’ve not drunk enough and it’s very hot.
They do have squash at parties and if we’re out at a cafe I’ll let them have a juice as a treat. They seem to understand that there is a difference between home and out.
My mum and sister are the same re squash and it’s weird and strangely judgemental in a back to front way

There was a thread on here recently about “little things your parents got wrong”

Loads of posters said parents never gave them any water only squash.

It seems to be a British thing from the 70s and 80s to only give kids squash. My parents are immigrants and we never had it in the house but I remember being offered it at friends houses a lot.

There’s absolutely no need for a 17 month old to drink anything other than water. Squash has zero nutritional value. Keep a jug of chilled water in the fridge for warm weather.

I don't let my 7 year old drink squash or fizzy drinks yet. I might allow them as a treat soon. She has had it at parties when we've not been there but usually asks for water She drinks water most the time. She doesn't like milk. She sometimes has one glass of orange or apple juice (real juice not "juice drink" or squash. We served the juice well diluted with water till she was 5.

The dentist told me to hold off as long as I can because once you give juice or squash they're likely to want it more than water or milk. You're not being weird, they are.

@Madmaxxy

The dentist told me to hold off as long as I can because once you give juice or squash they're likely to want it more than water or milk. You're not being weird, they are.

This. I hate that kids are given squash by default here. Why do we have to set them up to believe that everything they eat or drink must be sweet, salty or fatty? It's difficult to reverse or moderate these sorts of preferences.

Mine are 8 and 5 and 90% of what they drink is water. They will have a glass of milk with supper but other than that they have water.

When out we will sometimes buy them a juice to drink but we usually take their water bottles with us. At parties they can have whatever.