I have yet to meet a toddler who does not like juice. Juice tastes sweet and it is refreshing when one is thirsty from playing hard. Toddlers often ask for juice, and many parents are happy to provide it. After all it’s juice, and juice comes from fruit, right?
It turns out that juice is not as great of a beverage option for your toddler as many of us thought. Many drinks that are labeled as juice contain added sugar and artificial coloring, and those are not good things for toddlers to be consuming. While a cup of diluted, 100 percent fruit juice is okay once in a while, most toddlers drink much more than that. When toddlers drink too much juice, they can experience dental problems, excessive weight gain, and gastrointestinal issues.
How much juice is too much? According to the American Academy of Pediatrics, children ages one to six should have no more than four to six ounces of one hundred percent fruit juice each day. That’s not a lot of juice, if you think about it.
What is the easiest way to prevent your toddler from drinking too much juice? Keeping juice out of sippy cups is a good idea. Let your toddler carry a sippy cup or sports bottle of water around so that he can drink it whenever he is thirsty. Put the juice in a regular cup at meal time or snack time. Diluting the juice can help to spread the total amount of ounces over the course of the day if you wish. Don’t worry if you skip the juice altogether on some days, too. Your toddler does not need it. Whole fruit like apples and bananas provide more fiber than juice, along with plenty of vitamins and minerals.
Luckily, while Dylan does like juice, he has not really noticed that he has not been getting as much of it lately. My mom gave him a child – sized stainless steel water bottle which he uses throughout the day, and he usually asks for milk with his meals and before bed. Sometimes he goes a couple of days in between having a cup of juice. I am relieved that he does not miss it, and that he prefers to eat his daily requirements of fruit instead.
Photo by orchid on morguefile.com.