When giving juice to a baby, you should always dilute it with an equal amount of water, at first. You should always use 100% juice, not fruit drinks which are mostly sugar. Never use unpasteurized juice in an infant.
It's best to wait until after a baby is 12 months old before offering juice. But even then, pediatricians don't recommend giving toddlers juice often. That's because it adds extra calories without the balanced nutrition in formula and breast milk.
Always dilute any juice that is offered to babies and toddlers. We recommend diluting 75% water to 25% juice. Keep diluting for as long as possible. Juice should never ever be offered in a baby bottle.
At first, you're only allowed to give them formula or breast milk, and as they get older, you are allowed to graduate your tots to regular milk, water, and juices. But because they sometimes contain high concentrations of sugar, pediatricians recommend diluting fruit juices with water.
If you do give your baby fruit or vegetable juices, offer them only at mealtimes. Dilute them well, using no more than one part juice to 10 parts water. The NHS recommends that you should keep diluting juice for your baby until she's five years old.
Is it safer to dilute fruit juice with water? Not necessarily. Even diluted juice can increase the risk of cavities and decrease the chance of drinking other beneficial liquids.
Diluting the juice with water obviously lessens the amount of sugar in the serving and thus helps to better protect your child's teeth.
Watering down the juice can help to reduce the sugar and calorie content. Improved hydration: Watering down juice with water can increase the overall fluid content, helping to improve hydration and support overall health.
A solution of half water/half juice is just as flavorful, has half the sugar and makes your juice last twice as long.
Any fruit juice can be a good base flavor for water, but tart juices, like cranberry, pomegranate, grape, and apple, are especially delicious. Go for juices that are all natural, with no added sugars.
Diluted fruit juice (one part juice to 10 parts water) can be given to children with their meals after six months.”
The American Academy of Pediatrics (AAP) is changing its stance on fruit juice for children. The statement says fruit juice doesn't offer any nutritional benefits to children under the age of 1 and should not be included in their diet.
Diluted fruit juice as a treatment for constipation is not recommended for babies less than 3 months old. It is not recommended to offer fruit juice on a regular basis to babies less than 3 months.
6 months old:.
You can offer 2 ounces of 100% prune, pear or apple juice mixed with water twice a day or 4 ounces of water twice a day.
Puree from fruit such as pear, banana, apricots and mangoes needs to be diluted with water or other juice to give it drinkable consistency. These thick fruit nectars are often used in smoothies, cocktails, ice creams and other value-added products.
Adding water to a sugary drink dilutes the drink and lowers its calorie content, as long as your portion size remains the same. However, if you dilute your sugary drink but still drink the whole drink, you're not really consuming fewer calories.
Limit your baby's juice intake to 2-4 ounces a day, dilute it with water (50/50 ratio), and serve it in a cup instead of a bottle to prevent tooth decay.
FRUIT JUICE & FRUIT JUICE DRINKS
Fruit juices for toddlers should be diluted with water, taken only once a day, and are best kept to mealtimes, with water as the main drink in between meals8.
Children 9 years old and below should not consume more than 1 serving a day.
Drinking 100 percent fruit may juice sound like a healthy option, but it's a far cry from eating the real deal—whole, fresh fruit. In fact, new research finds that drinking just one glass of 100 percent fruit juice every day leads to gaining close to half a pound over three years.