Why Give Babies Juice?

There is nothing wrong with juice if it's given in moderation as atreat. Let's not get crazy. Juice is not liquid poison - this is a little extreme.

There really isn't a reason to give juice but some parents choose to do so. We gave some prune juice to our infant son when he had a bout of constipation and it helped, but other than that we really feel there is no need to give any juice to a baby or a child. At 6-8 months the best form of nutrition is formula or breastmilk. After the age of 1 we decided to avoid juice because we didn't want our kid getting hooked on the sugar and picking it over water or milk for hydration.

My opinion is to delay juice for as long as possible. Breastmilk is definitely best, then water & milk when nursing or formula feeding is done. I think my son started drinking juice VERY occasionally at 2 yrs. old, & that's really just b/c it was offered at playgroups for lunch. My ped. also said it is so much better for him to drink water than juice.

Hi H.,

My pediatrician said there is no reason whatsoever to give kids juice to drink. We stick with water & organic milk and give juice occasionally as a treat.

Best of luck!

M.

Another vote for no juice. Whole fruit has enough sugar and even "no sugar added" juices have alternative substances that are sugar - labels are very deceptive. There's a fantastic book I've been reading called "Eat this not that for kids". I consider myself educated in reading labels and was suprised to find some of my choices were way off due to misleading advertising and what I call word confusion on labels. It has sections comparing all the common kid foods, grocery label reading tips and eat out menus compared...the eating out menus were really shocking...most of the "healthier" sounding menu items are as bad for you if not worse than the one you would tend to want in the first place...very informative book.

By the way, neither of my kids like or drink milk either. I make sure they get the vitamins they need from other sources. They drink water only and soda is a big treat for my older one.

H.- NO ONE should ever drink juice unless you are juicing with your own juicer. That is liquid poison/sugar in a bottle. Breastmilk and water are THE BEST!!! If you have to supplement goat's milk is the closest thing to breastmilk. Personally, I am vegan and I never did give my babies that. I use rice milk, rice protein powder and coconut oil. If what you are doing is working--stick with it!!

T.
Detox Coach

You got some good answers, there is no reason to give them juice at this young of age. I just read that some moms are giving soda in a bottle as early as 7m...yikes! There is really no nutritional value in juice nor V8, it takes about 10 oranges to make a 1c of juice, so you can see how high in sugar it can be. Fruit is full of fiber and needed fiber. And if there is a bout of constipation, diluted prune juice is fine. My daughter gets rice milk or water.

Sounds like you are doing a fine job, if they are not exposed to it, then they'll never crave or ask for it. Start them off right and they'll always return to the good eating habits when they are adults. (the first three years are the most important in instilling good nutritional habits).

Best wishes,
J. W. MPH
Lifestyle and Wellness Consultant

My 3 year old very rarely gets juice. He drinks water or milk and that is it.

Babies for sure do not need it at all. My son only had breastmilk, milk, and water up until around the age of two. Then we started to give him diluted OJ in the mornings only. We did that mainly because he wanted it. We do not have other juices in our house so it isn't an issue. The OJ is sort of an AM juice so the times he does ask for it we just say that we only drink that with breakfast.