What to Drink?

We avoid the artificial sweeteners like the plague. And HFCS, as well. At his age, he needs breast milk if nursing and then water and milk. If you choose juice, make sure it is actually juice and then dilute! Herbal teas are great, too.

What did they have 200 years ago to drink? Nothing in a box or powder, to be sure! Use that as a guide for what is natural for us to be drinking.

Of course he will drink more of whatever is sweet. If you are truly worried about his liquid intake, put the healthier diluted juice or tea in a popsicle maker. I guarantee he'll take it without a problem! Good luck!

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Don't feel bad about giving your daughter the artificial sweeteners. My sister is diabetic and They suggested at the hospital to try to use those instead of real sugar for a while with her daughter... just in case. The problem with the artificial stuff, is they don't know what problems it can cause. So far there is no research saying there is a problem, but I agree with your Dr. Why risk it, if you don't need to. I suggest using Milk when you can, but when you are out and about in the heat, and you don't want to risk the milk going sour, I like to use Gatorade and tang. They are really nice because they come in powder form. I just put a Tupperware container in my diaper bag, and then it's there when I need it. It adds flavor to the other wise boring water. (my daughter refused just water for a very long time). Hope this helps!

I give my son (who is almost a year old) vitamin water diluted with distilled water. The doctor says it's great but do dilute it because it has sugar (not nearly as much as juice though) and it contains lots of daily vitamins and they have A LOT of different flavors. Jasic's favorite happens to be "defense" which is high in antioxidants (apple rasberry flavor). Try it - my son loves it.

When my 17 mos old son wakes up I nurse him then give him a sippy cup of water. I give him 1/2 apple juice, cranberry juice, orange juice or white grape juice with 1/2 water or V8 with lunch. He'll have another sippy cup of water during the afternoon. I serve him milk with dinner. Sometimes I will make him a smoothie with milk, yogurt, ice, wheat germ and fruit. You may also want to try infusing some fruit flavors into your water or buy flavored water.

D.,
My son was diagnosed with Type 1 diabetes (insulin dependent) when he was 3yrs old. He is now 5 and doing great. When he was diagnosed it was difficult finding things for him to drink. Fruit Juices that are even 100% juice have a ton of sugar them. Natural sugars play a large role in diabetes control. Most people think natural sugar is ok, but it sends his blood sugar through the roof.
His endocrinologist told us he was fine to drink crystal light. Most of her patients do. That is what he has day in and out. We also give him Propel (by Gatorade) flavored water. He loves it. Propel has a small amount of sugar, but nothing like juice or soda. We also give him diet sodas. You could also try Country Time Lemonade, they have a full strength version as well as a 1/2 sugar version. Water down his juices and dont forget to brush his teeth before bed. If you son goes to bed with milk or some form of juice, brush his teeth each night once he has finished drinking. I work for a prosthodontist. And we see too many kids with rotten teeth. Most of the parents say they brush before bed, but send the kid to bed with a drink of some sort.
My son is healthy and seems to be growing just fine, artificial sweetners and all!!
Good luck.

If you look at like trader joes or any organic store they carry juices with a very low amount of sugar and what I do for my son since he drinks a ton of liquids I water his juice down so it's really only about half juice.

A nutritionist told me about 12-16 oz. of whole milk a day & about 4-8 oz. of juice a day (too much juice lead to soft stools). I ALWAYS dilute the juice AT LEAST 1/2 & 1/2. And I too, give teas & sometimes dilute them too. Flavored water (even those with the sweetners) dilute them too then you can get more out of them. There's a few flavored waters out there that don't have the artificial sweetners (I think Vitamin Water is one of them). Good Luck!

D.,
I rarely give my son (16 months) full strength juice. Just fill his cup 3/4 with water and then 1/4 with any type of 100% juice (like Juicey Juice- no added sugar). Then it's mostly water with just a bit of flavor to entice him. If he's used to full strength taste, you could start out with more juice than water and as he gets used to it, use less juice. Good luck! M.

Hi! My name is L. and I am 25 yrs. old. I have been married for 3 yrs. now and have three children, soon to be 1 yr. old, 2 1/2 yr., and a 5 yr. old. I understand your situations about sweetners and I found that if you mix the juice and water both half and half then it is actually better for them. The only thing that you want to watch out for, you know for the children's teeth is if he sleeps with a bottle. Of course there is going to be sugar in almost everything but the baby juices are good for them. Any other juice I like to mix with half water so the sugar content is not that high. I hope this helped. Bye!

I would give my kids milk.

But, also another thing that I am dissappointed in with doctors is that they focus on sugar but not on the toxic chemicals in the household products we are using. I have two kids with medical issues, one having severe birth defects. Sugar intake or aspartame (sp?) discussions at the doctor were the least of the problems. There are no testing being done on the long term effects of toxins in our homes. Every 13 seconds a family calls the poison control centers around the county regarding a poisoning at home. In 2002 over 2 million poison exposures were reported to local poison control centers. This seems to be a more important issue for doctors to talk about but they don't.

Household cleaning products are among the most toxic substances we encounter daily. Women who worked at home have a 54% higher death rate from cancer than women who had jobs outside the home. This astonished me when I first heard about the study done on this. And, then I got to thinking about my kids, who spend most of their young lives at home during their developmental years!

I don't mean to get on my soapbox about it, but I have a real passion for seeing everyone's homes safer and healthier. That is why I decided to work with a company who provides the alternatives that are less expensive. Sorry. I got on a roll.

To get back to your question: I would offer the juice you are offering Jesse along with water and milk.

Thanks everyone!
J. Lanz

If you dilute the one cup of juice with water then you will get two glasses of juice a day out of the one and at meals offer only plain water or milk. They recomend two glasses of milk a day for growing children anyway and that should be plenty fluids.

Hi D.,

My daughter sometimes doesn't drink just water. I was worry during summer time when she needs to drink more. So I came with the idea to give her water (3/4 cup) and 100% apple juice (1/4 cup)every time. So she drinks at least 3 cups of water and 1 cup of juice. You can also mix in the blender fruit (watermelon, pineaple, etc) and water (without sugar), they love that too. Ice tea (chamomile) has a soft but different taste and doesn't have caffeine.

Good luck!

Have a nice day

Sylvia

when you give him juice- make sure it is 100% juice- so that he is getting juice and not a bunch or artificial stuff.. what if you give him mostly water with a little bit of juice in it- that works for my daughter.. that way she doesn't realize she is drinking mostly water..

I didn't see you mention milk - but that's important. We give our kids: water, sugar-free juices, milk, V8 juice, fruit smoothies, and you can even "flavor" water with some orange, lemon, or lime slices ;)

Good luck!

My daughter is 14mo, and she drinks 4 servings of milk a day and tons of water. She has juice occasionally. She drinks water because that is what I give her, and that is what is healthiest. I am sure if your son is thirsty, he will drink. After a short while he will get used to drinking water. Think about it....there's water and there are sweet beverages (besides milk and V8) There is nothing else purely for quenching thirst besides water. You will not be neglecting your kid if he doesnt drink something tastey all day.
You can mix little bits of juice with water, but then you are teaching your child to always crave something sweet to drink. Tricking our children does not help to create healthy habits.
The important thing is not to make sure that our children are getting enough, but to make sure they form good habits. The same goes for pediasure (sure it has vitamins, but it is full of sugar. Tricking our children into believing that sweet junky stuff is healthy)

Is your doctor a pediatrician? My daughter's ped dr, and WIC also, told her that her now 2 yr old should have about four 8 oz cups of juice each day. Since he will not drink water and should have some in addition to his milk and juice, the dr said to mix half water and half juice. That, he added, means that he can have eight cups of juice and water each day. Sounds like a lot but most babies drink a lot, especially in the summer. Good luck!