When can a baby have juice and water

When Can Babies Drink Juice? Fruit Juice Guidelines for Babies – Happiest Baby

By Dr. Harvey Karp, MD, FAAP

Juice has traditionally been a widely accepted drink for babies and toddlers. However, the American Academy of Pediatrics (AAP) has released information and details on when your baby can drink juice. Due to the higher sugar levels and lack of nutritional contents of fruit juice (apple, orange, prune, etc), it’s best to follow the guidelines set forth by the AAP.

When can babies drink juice?

When can babies drink juice? The American Academy of Pediatrics (AAP) says it's best to wait until after your baby is 1 year old before giving them juice unless your doctor recommends it earlier for managing constipation. Growing concerns about increased rates of obesity and tooth decay prompted the change of when you could give babies juice from the previous recommendation of 6 months.

Apple Juice for Babies and Infants

When I was a young doctor, we thought apple juice was a great first drink for babies, but it turned out to be a bad idea. ..resulting in the early introduction of sugar addiction.

It turns out that fruit drinks and fruit juice (including apple juice) are the food equivalent of an "alternative fact." Actually, the "fruit" (the pulp and most nutritious parts of the fruit) is thrown away, leaving "juice" (pretty much just sugar and water). This includes apple juice, orange juice, and even prune juice.

Your baby is better off without juice in the early days!

What can babies drink if juice is out?

For the first 6 months, babies should only have breast milk or formula (it’s even better if you can breastfeed for a full year, per the AAP). But after you do wean, formula and water are the preferred drinks, until your baby’s first birthday. I also recommend offering non-caffeinated mint or chamomile sunshine tea. Just drop the tea bags in a pitcher of room temperature water and let it sit in the sun and self-brew for an hour. They are naturally sweet without sugar…and kids love them!

How much juice can toddlers and big kids drink?

After 1 year of age, pure 100% juice is OK as a special treat. Don’t think of it as a daily beverage for your little one to sip throughout the day. But that said, when you do give juice, AAP recommends you stay under the following daily limits:

• 4 oz. a day for 1 to 3-year-olds
• 4-6 oz. a day for 4 to 6-year-olds
• 8 oz. a day or 7-year-olds & up

So, if you were asking yourself the question “When can I give my baby juice?” Now you know! However, don’t let these juice restrictions confuse you about fruit—whole fruit is full of vitamins, minerals and dietary fiber. When you introduce solids to your baby, pureed and mashed fruit should be part of the mix.

About Dr. Harvey Karp

Dr. Harvey Karp, one of America’s most trusted pediatricians, is the founder of Happiest Baby and the inventor of the groundbreaking SNOO Smart Sleeper. After years of treating patients in Los Angeles, Dr. Karp vaulted to global prominence with the release of the bestselling Happiest Baby on the Block and Happiest Toddler on the Block. His celebrated books and videos have since become standard pediatric practice, translated into more than 20 languages and have helped millions of parents. Dr. Karp’s landmark methods, including the 5 S’s for soothing babies, guide parents to understand and nurture their children and relieve stressful issues, like new-parent exhaustion, infant crying, and toddler tantrums.

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Disclaimer: The information on our site is NOT medical advice for any specific person or condition. It is only meant as general information. If you have any medical questions and concerns about your child or yourself, please contact your health provider.

How To Introduce Juice To Your Baby (Guidelines & Tips)

Giving juice to babies can be a controversial subject, and you may be wondering if it’s OK. And if it is OK for your baby to drink it, when are they old enough, and how do you introduce it?

We’ve talked to doctors, dentists, and parents and have heard all sides of the debate.

In this article, we’ll talk about whether juice is safe for babies and what kind of juice is best, when it’s safest to introduce juice, and how you can go about doing it. We’ll also discuss what to avoid when introducing juice to your baby.

Table of Contents

• When Can a Baby Have Juice?
• Tricks to Introducing Juice
• Homemade vs. Store-Bought
• What Should I Watch For?

When Can a Baby Have Juice?

Up until the age of 6 months, your baby’s diet should consist of only breast milk or formula. So, if your baby is younger than 6 months old, they are too young for juice — or water or solid foods, for that matter.

The AAP recommends that children under 12 months avoid juice altogether ⁽¹⁾.

There are many reasons for this, including the fact that breast milk and formula provide babies with all the vitamins and nutrients they need. Your baby’s digestive system needs time to mature, and your baby will have a lower obesity risk if you avoid introducing solid food and other drinks at an early age ⁽²⁾. Exclusively breastfed babies will also have higher immunity.

On top of waiting 6 months to a year to introduce juice, you should also make sure your child is already eating solid foods. If you introduce juice before your baby gets vitamins and nutrients from solid foods, you risk them getting full from the juice and refusing formula and breast milk.

Remember, liquids like water and juice can fill a baby up without giving them any vital nutrients they need to grow and develop. If they do not get the nutrition they need, the risk of malnutrition, failure to thrive, and anemia goes up. These conditions can cause severe health and development issues.

Tricks to Introducing Juice

So, your baby is old enough to have juice. You’ve started them on solids and are confident your baby is getting enough vitamins and nutrients even if you introduce juice throughout the day. Great, we’re so excited for you!

But before you toss some orange juice in a cup and have at it, make sure to read through the following points to prepare yourself. Trust us, your sanity and your baby’s tummy will thank you.

1. Talk to Your Doctor

It’s always a good idea to check in and see what your doctor thinks to make a fully informed decision about when to introduce juice.

They might know something about your family’s history or your baby’s medical history that could make them want you to hold off a bit longer.

2. Treat It Just Like Food

Just as you introduce one new food at a time, you should also try one juice at a time as well. Start with single vegetable or fruit juices and work your way up to combinations.

New recommendations state that it’s no longer necessary to wait two to three days after introducing a food before trying another. However, introducing one item at a time will make recognizing adverse reactions easier for you ⁽³⁾.

3. Treat Foods and Juices Separately

Grapes and grape juice are two very different things. The same goes for tomatoes and tomato juice.

Because of this, you should treat them as separates when introducing them to your baby. For example, you can try grapes out this morning and introduce grape juice tomorrow. This is just an extra measure to make sure you can identify any allergies your baby might develop.

4. Offer Juice Only With Meals

Juice can fill babies up, making them less likely to eat the things that will provide them with essential nutrients.

Offering it only at meals makes them less likely to chug it down and get full from the juice alone. Instead, they will get the needed vitamins and nutrients from the food on their plates.

5. Give Juice in a Cup Instead of a Bottle

Liquids from bottles will sit on your baby’s teeth longer than liquids from sippy cups ⁽⁴⁾. That is why dentists say you should avoid putting your child to bed with a bottle because the sugars in the liquid sitting on their teeth are likely to cause tooth decay.

If you are going to give your baby anything in a bottle, make sure it is not juice. The acid from juice is even worse than the sugar in milk, breaking down the enamel and causing decay faster than other liquids.

6. Limit the Amount

You should only give your baby 2 to 4 ounces of juice each day ⁽⁵⁾. Too much juice can not only make your baby feel full, but it can also lead to obesity and short stature in children and has been linked to failure to thrive ⁽⁶⁾. Juice should add a complementary flavor to your child’s diet and not be treated as a substitute for what they need.

7. Don’t Forget To Dilute

Diluting juice is important both because of its sugar content and its acidity. To help prevent tooth decay and tummy issues, dentists and doctors recommended you dilute juice to a 50/50 ratio with water.

Homemade vs. Store-Bought

Homemade is always best for your baby, right? I mean, it’s packed full of vitamins and nutrients, after all. But hold your horses; it’s a little more complicated than that.

While juice made from raw fruits and vegetables does provide vitamins and nutrients, it should not be allowed to touch your baby’s lips. Why, you ask? Because along with the vitamins and nutrients that come with raw produce, there are quite a few bacteria that come with it.

Unless juice is pasteurized properly, something that is hard to do at home, it can be dangerous to your baby.

Pasteurization is the process of killing bacteria by heating it to a specific temperature for a certain amount of time. Unpasteurized juice can contain higher numbers of bacteria, such as E. coli, Cryptosporidium, Salmonella, and Norovirus ⁽⁷⁾.

These bacteria have been known to cause symptoms such as:

• Diarrhea.
• Vomiting.
• Fever.
• Chills.
• Bloody stools.
• Weight loss.
• Dehydration.
• Lack of appetite.

While older children and adults can usually handle the bacteria that lies in raw fruit juices, your baby’s small tummy will have a harder time. Any or all of these symptoms can be harmful to your baby. In severe cases, these bacteria can cause acute kidney failure, seizures, and even death ⁽⁸⁾.

Instead of making juice for your baby at home, where you cannot assure it is pasteurized properly, it’s best to head to the grocery store when choosing juice for your baby. Pick a 100% fruit or vegetable juice with no extra sugar or additives.

If you insist on making your baby’s juice at home, make it out of fruits and vegetables that have been boiled or steamed before juicing them, to kill off as much bacteria as possible.

The same issues can occur when feeding your baby raw vegetables, and especially fruits, which is why many doctors recommend cooking all fruits until your baby is 8 months old ⁽⁹⁾.

What Should I Watch For?

We hope your baby’s tummy enjoys the flavors of juice without any troubles, but sometimes things can happen.

Here are some signs to look out for when introducing juice to your little one:

1. Loss of Appetite

Juice can make babies feel full without giving them the nutrients they need to grow and thrive. If juice makes your baby feel full, they can start to refuse the breast milk, formula, and food they need to grow and thrive.

2. Diarrhea

If the juice is not diluted correctly, the excess sugar can be tough on your baby’s tummy. One of the symptoms of juice that is too strong is diarrhea.

While making your baby poop can be a good thing in some cases, like when doctors recommend prune or pear juice if a baby is constipated, diarrhea could ultimately lead to dehydration.

3. Tooth Decay

We mentioned earlier in this post that fruit juice contains a lot of acids and sugar. Both of these can be bad for your baby’s teeth. Even if you give your baby their juice in a sippy cup, it can still sit on their teeth and lead to tooth decay.

If left untreated, this can be painful and take extensive treatments to fix, including pulling out your baby’s teeth.

Watch Out For Imposters

Juice “drinks,” such as “apple beverage” or “Tang” are not juice. While they might be sold in the same aisle and look the same in the bottle, juice drinks can be comprised of as little as 10% juice, meaning they have even fewer benefits for your baby.

4. Gas and Stomach Pains

Babies have an immature digestive tract that makes it harder for them to break down sugars. Undiluted fruit juice, or juices that contain high fructose corn syrup, might cause your baby to experience gas and stomach pains when their body tries to break down the sugars.

Any of these problems can cause pain and discomfort for your baby. If your baby starts to experience any of these symptoms, it might be a good idea to hold off on the juice for a while and give your baby’s tummy time to settle down.

If you don’t take this step, the problems can worsen and possibly lead to anemia, malnutrition, failure to thrive, and obesity.

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Water, fruit drink or juice: how to drink a child in the summer heat - tips and recipes

About nutrition

Photo

Eva Katalin Kondoros/Getty Images/E+

It is quite natural that with the onset of heat, all living beings need more moisture. Children are no exception. From six months, with the introduction of complementary foods, anyone - both an infant and a bottle-fed baby, can and should be given water. In addition, his drinking diet can be diversified with vitamin drinks. They will quench your thirst and add health, and will be very seasonable in the summer. How much has already grown in the garden, and how much more will appear! Well, how can you not please the crumbs with your own compotes, fruit drinks and juices! But do not forget about ordinary water, which should remain the main drink that the baby drinks (and the adult too).

What can children drink?

• Water Water, diluted!)

Parents should remember that babies can be given fruit drinks and juices in a very limited amount. The main drink for a child is only pure water. All other drinks should be served as dessert or as part of an afternoon snack.

Photo

Triocean/Getty images/IstockHoto

Water, water-filled boiled water

When you can give a baby: from 0-6 months
Plus: The most thirsty 9000 9000 9000 9000 2. what you can offer a child asking for a drink is ordinary water. For drinking both adults and children, you can use tap water filtered through an ordinary household filter (designed specifically for such water and preventing rust from getting into our kettles). In addition, for the baby, the water after filtering must be boiled and cooled to 20 degrees C.

When it's hot, a baby should not be denied a drink. Excess liquid at such a time will easily come out naturally. However, it is necessary to monitor the amount of liquid drunk by the child even in the heat.

Important!

Both a lack and an overdose of water can lead to undesirable consequences for the child's body. The norms developed by WHO depend on the age of the baby.

How much can a baby drink?

• 6 months to 1 year - 50 ml of water per 1 kg of weight. This also takes into account the volume of fluid entering the body with the rest of the food. The average daily water requirement for children of this age can be calculated using the formula: fluid requirement (child's weight x 50 ml) - water received with food (drinking milk or formula x 0. 75). But these calculations are individual and can be adjusted for different children.

• 1 to 3 years. Virtually no restrictions as the child is actively moving. Normal consumption at this age: within 1-1.2 liters.

• 3 to 7 years. Norm - 1.5-1.7 liters per day.

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Getty images/foodcollection

Special children's drinking water of industrial production

When you can give a baby: from 0-6 months
PLASS: quenches their thirst, adoles the child's body with natural minerals, and adoles safe, does not require boiling

If you are not sure about the quality of tap water in your area and think that the filters do not do their job, it makes sense to buy special bottled water for a child in stores.

How is bottled water different from regular water?

Children's drinking water differs from ordinary water primarily in softness, that is, a lower content of minerals. A product with this composition can only be obtained from deep underground sources. Before getting into the bottles, the water undergoes an additional test, so it does not contain heavy metals and impurities that can harm the health of the crumbs.

Vitamins and microelements are often added to bottled water (including baby water). Are they all useful? Children's water, enriched, for example, with calcium or iodine, is not suitable for everyone. If a child additionally consumes vitamins, then the water supplied with them will lead to an excess of nutrients in the body and will cause the development of diseases. For example, due to too much calcium, deposits of stones in the kidneys and gallbladder occur. If water enriched with this microelement is given with an iodine preparation, disturbances in the functioning of the thyroid gland will appear. So, between healthy and plain water, choose the second one, you can't go wrong!

Also note that among baby water there is water for drinking and water for preparing baby food. It is believed that it is impossible to cook with children's drinking water, because the composition of baby food contains a certain amount of trace elements and minerals, and the enriched composition of drinking water can upset this beneficial balance.

Reading the label of baby water

No matter how difficult it is to read the small print on the bottle label, it is necessary to disassemble it so as not to harm the child's body, so arm yourself with a magnifying glass.

• Bottled baby water must be certified and specifically labeled "0+". The label should also indicate at what age it is recommended to drink this water. If this information is not available, then perhaps you should refrain from buying such a product.

• If the label shows a picture of a baby, but does not state that the water is baby, this is a violation. To obtain a certificate for the highest category, at least a year of strict checks by Rospotrebnadzor is required, and for the category of children's water - all two or three years! Therefore, manufacturers of water of the highest category and children's water must indicate this.

• In addition, the label must contain information about the salinity and hardness of the water. Babies under 3 years old are recommended to drink water that contains 200-400 mg of minerals per 1 liter (this is the usual norm for the highest and children's drinking water categories). Children over 3 years of age, in whom the intestinal microflora has already formed, can switch to products for adults. The main thing is that the hardness of the water does not exceed 1 g / l, otherwise it can provoke a violation of metabolic processes and salt deposition even at a tender age.

• You should not trust the “TU” (“Technical conditions”) sign on the package - this wording does not oblige the manufacturer to use water from deep sources containing the amount of minerals needed for babies, so the bottle may contain ordinary tap water that has passed filtration. Real healthy baby water must be marked with the inscription "GOST" on the label.

• Be sure to follow the storage instructions on the packaging. It is usually recommended to store a started bottle of water for no more than 2 days, and only in the refrigerator and under a closed lid.

• A must-have recommendation for all moms and dads - before you give your child a drink bought in the store, take a sip of it yourself. Rarely, but there have been unfortunate cases when bottles of popular brands with special baby water from a decent supermarket turned out to be something completely different, unsuitable for a child.

Important!

Carbonated mineral water (as well as sweet soda and kvass) should not be drunk by children until at least 3 years of age. It is also impossible to give therapeutic and therapeutic water to babies - it contains too high indicators of mineral salts for a small organism.

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EllenaZ/iStock/Getty Images Plus/Getty Images

Children's tea

When can you give your baby: special children's tea from 6 months, regular black or green tea from 2 years.
Pros: quenches thirst well, is almost always at hand, is stored for a long time - both in the form of granules and in the form of sachets, convenient on the road.

Special children's teas contain different combinations of herbs, natural juice concentrates and fruits. In addition, green or black tea in their composition is devoid of caffeine and will not harm the baby. In addition, granulated children's teas save moms on the road - they are easy to prepare.

Important!

Before the age of 2, WHO pediatricians do not advise giving "adult" tea to babies - it impairs the absorption of useful elements, such as iron.

If the child is already 2 years old, you can drink weak black or green tea. What kind of tea to give the baby - green or black - you and the child decide. Green tea quenches thirst better, but black tea is more fragrant, so the baby can choose it. You can also add berries, fruits or leaves of mint, blackcurrant, raspberry, strawberry, lingonberry to black tea. This amazingly healthy tea should be infused for at least 15 minutes, and then cooled.

Photo

Getty Images/PhotoAlto

Fruit drinks, compotes

When can you give your baby: from 6 months old
Pros: improve digestion, preserve most of the useful substances, fruits and increase appetite.

These drinks can be prepared from almost any fruit. What is the difference between fruit drinks and compotes? Mors is an unboiled (or partially boiled) drink, prepared only from fresh berries, served chilled. Compote can be cooked both from fresh fruits and berries, and from dried or frozen ones, they drink it both cold and hot.

However, even such healthy drinks have contraindications . They can cause allergies, indigestion, and become a source of extra calories.

Important!

For babies with food allergies, berries, fruits, vegetables and drinks based on them are excluded: strawberries, strawberries, raspberries, sea buckthorn, cherries, peaches, apricots, red apples, pumpkins, tomatoes, carrots.

• Limited to: blueberries, lingonberries, cranberries, black and red currants, blackberries.

• Allowed: white cherries, gooseberries, white currants, green apples, green pears, plums, marrows, cucumbers.

How to preserve vitamins

In the process of cooking fruits and berries, a significant part of vitamins, especially vitamin C, is lost, but mineral salts, organic acids and b-carotene are preserved. By the way, reducing the amount of dietary fiber after cooking is even useful for children with unstable stools. And so that the vitamins do not fly away, you need to cook the fruits under a closed lid. Use enameled glassware.

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Hero Images/Getty Images

Sea Makers Rules

1. Before boiling, the berries must be washed under running water and scalded with hot water.

2. To maximize the preservation of vitamins in the fruit drink, the juice is first squeezed out of the berries. If there are no special household appliances at hand (for example, in the country) and taking into account the small small amount of drink needed by the baby, you can use a pusher and gauze in several layers.

1st version of fruit drink. Pound the berries through a sieve into a bowl, throw the pulp into a small amount of boiling water and, depending on the hardness of the fruit, cook for 2 to 6 minutes. Strain the broth, add (or better not add) a little sugar, remembering that the unspoiled taste of a child does not need as much sweetness as an adult. Pour the juice squeezed from gauze into the resulting broth. Cool down.

2nd version of fruit drink. Gather berries in the garden, wash them, give the baby an unbreakable bowl, crush, ask them to crush a few berries. Pour the puree into a cup, pour warm water over it, cover, when cooled to room temperature, serve. Sugarless!

Blueberry juice
For 1 glass of berries 1 liter of water, sugar or honey to taste. Squeeze juice from blueberries. This can be done by crushing the berries with a blender, then squeezing through cheesecloth. Put the resulting juice in the refrigerator for 1 hour, and pour the pomace from the berries with hot water and boil for 10 minutes, dissolving sugar or honey in the water. Strain the broth and mix with juice. Serve chilled.

Various berry juice
Put 400-500 g of red currant, raspberry, cherry, blackberry into a saucepan, crush with a crush (or crush with a blender), pour a liter of boiling water, boil for 5 minutes. Strain through cheesecloth. The resulting juice to taste can be further diluted with boiled water and sweetened with sugar or honey. Drink chilled.

Rules for compotes

1. Before cooking, the berries must be washed with running water.

2. The maximum amount of vitamins in compote is preserved if fruits are added to boiling water or syrup and removed from heat after 5 minutes. Such delicate berries as strawberries, raspberries, blueberries, blackcurrants can not be boiled, but poured over not too hot syrup and drunk immediately after cooling.

There are several ways to cook compote:

• fruits are dipped into water and boiled for another 5-10 minutes after boiling;

• fruits are dipped into boiled syrup;

• fruits are poured with boiling water and infused.

Quick apple compote
6 small sweet apples cut into quarters, remove the insides, leave the skin on. Boil half a liter of water in a saucepan, pour apples into it, immediately remove from heat. Crush with a crush, let it brew. If the drink is too sour, add sugar.

Pear compote with caramel and mint
For 6 small hard pears half a liter of water, 3 tbsp. spoons of sugar, fresh mint leaves. Bring the sugar in a saucepan to a slightly golden color, pour boiling water into it, stir, boil. Pears cut into quarters, without the insides, throw into the pan, cover with a lid. After 10 minutes, remove from heat, throw mint. Let it brew under the lid, cool.

Mint, cinnamon, currant leaves, lemon can be used as spices in compotes and fruit drinks.

Photo

Getty Images/Blend Images

Juices

When to give your baby: from 6 months, but only mixed with water
time for mom, they have a wide range of beneficial effects (read about this below)