More Water, Less Juice?

Hi M.! I only allow one cup of juice a day for my kids and have just made this a rule. .. it took awhile, but they know the rules and are fine with it. To get my kids to drink water I have been buying Minute Maid WaterFalls...I buy this in place of the Capri Sun Roaring Waters because Minute Maid is all water and a splash of REAL fruit juice and no additives.. .whereas, the Capri Sun is actually sweetened with Splenda...I figure the less additives the better:)

Also, this may work for your three year old (your 1 year old is probably still too young for this), but there is a website called handcharts.com. It is a website that has a chart that can record your childs accomplishments (some of those being drinking milk and water) and then there are games on the site, they have a cat that they can buy clothes for and dress up and they can earn points through good behavior (drinking water) and use those points to buy more clothes for their pet, or 5 minute cartoons. My kids love it and have been so much better about their milk AND water.

One other thought is what your kids see you do, they will do. Go to Walmart and buy all of you a cheap water bottle and always keep it handy for them to drink out of and if they see you doing the same they will do this too. I drink water all day and this has helped with my kids doing the same.

Sorry for the long response, hope this helps!!

2 moms found this helpful

My pediatrician told me that too much milk or juice keeps their little bodies from absorbing nutrients from other foods, so I limit my milk intake for meals only and actually, no juice. My kids love water. Always asking for it. You could try to wean them off the juice, or, only serve it at say, snack, so they know when to expect it. Some of those juice boxes are like salt licks, makes them thirsty for more. And the sugar in them is not good.

dilute! they won't know the difference if you do it right! fooled my son for 3 years (he only prefers water or milk now)
you can divvy up their 1 cup allowance/day into 3 servings by just adding water.

We buy the Capri Sun flavored water and my daughter thinks it is juice or we dilute regular juice to keep the flavor but it is mostly water.

Until recently, my son would have nothing to do with water. I don't like the sugar in juice, so I gave him flavored
Propell water instead. It only has a handfull of calories and only a couple of grams of sugar. Plus it has electrolytes that are good for them when they have diarrhea. You can buy it by the case or individually. Now when I give him regular water, he has no problem drinking it down. Good luck.

M.,

Like everyone else, I agree that limiting juice and diluting when you do offer it to the kids is necessar. One thing that might be fun for the kids is to freeze juice in an icecube tray, then when they want juice they have to have water with juice cubes in it, if they suck down the water too fast, they just get mildly flavored water and then you can keep filling up the cup with water as the juice melts. Might be a fun game, you guys can work out a system for how many cubes they get or something like that. Plus, I've found that my daughter likes to rattle her sippy cup with the ice cubes, she thinks that fun and the water stays colder longer so she's more likely to be interested in it longer. Also, I bought an expensive bottle of pure cranberry or pomegranate juice that we just didn't use up fast enough because it was so potent, that's what caused me to freeze it in the first place. The more pure juice you get, the more flavor, less sugar you give your kids anyway.

I agree with alot of people here...my son is 4 and he still gets his juice diluted! He even lets people know when they get him something to drink that he gets half juice half water.He also loves to drink his Grandma's flavored water.Then he has milk at breakfast and supper and once it starts getting late all he is allowed to have is water..he knows that if he is thirsty enough it is water or nothing.Best of Luck to you!

My son opts for milk which my Pediatrician said is good for him. He has it at meals. My little girl will only drink the milk if there is Ovaltine in it. I myself don't like white milk either so I don't fuss about it. At least Ovaltine has good stuff in it. She would drink juice all day if I let her though. They are 3 and $). I bought little bottles with pull top on them and keep water in them in the fridge. They think they are big kids if they can get into the fridge and get their own drink so they drink more water. His cap is orange and hers is blue so they have "mine". Worked for me.

I do what Mi R suggested. I also babysit for a little girl that if she sees me dilute the juice, she won't drink it. So, I buy the bottle of juice & dilute it so that it winds up making about 3 bottles of juice with water. I use the juice bottle to fill her cup. The kids see this & think that they are getting juice. They are happy & so am I.

Try watering down the juice and doing it gradually so that eventually it is like 10-25% juice, with the rest being water.

I have the same problem, if my sons could, they would polish off a whole jug of apple juice a day if I let them!
I usually water down their juice, they still get the apple juice taste, and have no clue. Just watch while you are at the sink, sneak the water. Mine will catch me adding the water and freak out..so i have to be sneaky about it. but if I get the water in there, they have no clue! Ha Ha!
also, i have been getting those raging waters flavored water juice bags...they "think" its juice or kool aid, and dont know its flavored water. They can be expensive if not on sale, but usually giant eagle has them 2 for $4 or Sam's Club has the pack of 40 for less than 8 bucks, can't beat that.

I have always dilluted my daughters juice. Just dillute it really well (like 3/4 wanter). My daughter LOVES flavored water, so you could always try that once in a while.

My son is a big water drinker, but if there is juice in the house we have the same struggles. Even at the ages of 1&3 if the cups are being thrown down, they need to be the ones cleaning it up. We went through it all, and I simply made him clean it up every single time. And before I would even get him a glass of water I would tell him that it's water or nothing. Even though he's four he still wants to cry about it. And in the end sometimes he opts for nothing.I also threatened to throw the sippy's away when he got into throwing cups. They get over it. :) Ah, it's just one of the many blessings of mother-hood.lol. Good Luck.

dilute all the juice. My 8 year old still dilutes her juices. milk is at meal times only. another thing is crystal light will help get more water in your child. They have many different flavors and I think they taste great so do my children.

Good luck and remember you make the rules not the children. They need to learn to follow those rules and as a parent you will need to learn to stand tall and not give in.

Maybe you could try flavored water. Something I did for a long time is dilute the juice. I did half water and half juice. I was just in the last year or so that I stopped for my oldest and she just turned 6 in Dec. She also drank juice a lot(diluted of course:)) and we later found out that she had very large tonsils and adnoids which made it harder for her to eat so she drank more--a good side to that was the fact she really didn't have constipation issues. Not the same with my 3 yr. old and she doesn't drink as much juice.

I split my girl's one cup into two by putting water in with it. She doesnt seem to mind! Motts has a product called Motts for Totts and its 54% juice and water-in little juice boxes (at least it real juice). I agree it shouldnt be a power struggle, I would try some of the other suggestions a reward chart, and I love the water bottle idea for all of you! good luck

I have a rule of one cup of juice a day, the rest of the time they drink water, along with 2 glasses of milk a day. If he throws his water on the floor again, give him a towel and tell him that he needs to clean it up. Sure, he won't get it all, but let him clean it and when he's finished and heading towards time out (which he should be with that kind of behavior), then you can go out and clean up the rest of what he misses. If it gets really bad, just don't buy it, like you said. Remember, they're YOUR rules, NOT the kids' rules, and rules are not negotiable, they just are what they are.

How about flavoring the water with a slice of fruit or a little fruit juice?