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Am i the only one who thinks that constantly giving babies apple juice instead of water when they are thirsty is absolutely insane and cruel to the thirsty baby? (especially when the poor kid is sick!)
Nothing quenches like water and besides, juices are full of sugar!
I don’t think it’s cruel but it is terrible for their teeth. In England we are recommended not to give juice of any kind before a year old, but some people do give juice to their kids cause they think “my baby won’t drink water” the first time they try to give it. NEWSFLASH: it takes a little while for babies to get used to the taste of water, since until then they have been drinking milk, which is naturally sweet. All it takes is a little perseverance. My eight month old doesn’t drink so much water yet, but I would never dream of giving her anything else just to make her drink.
Is water a better choice than apple juice? Yes. Is it insane and cruel to give apple juice? No.
Apple juice does have a lot of sugar, but at least it is natural fruit based sugar (assuming 100% apple juice is given), which is not as bad as processed sugars or high fructose corn syrup. It’s probably not a good idea to give it “constantly”, but sometimes is fine.
I would argue that apple juice would be a good thing to give to a sick child (assuming it doesn’t bother his/her stomach), since sick kids often eat little, and the juice can provide extra energy and electrolytes.
One suggestion would be to mix the apple juice with water – this makes the juice less sugary and irritating.
Agreed with notasheep that juice really shouldn’t be given to an infant under a year. I was thinking toddlers in my post.
You’re not supposed to give apple juice as a drink, but it’s okay to give it occasionally as candy.
Babies don’t have teeth, remember? 😛 But, truly, babies, like children older than they, are susceptible to sugar-highs leading to extreme hyperactivity; therefore, they should be given water.
Truthfully, water rehydrates the body and quenches thirst with no strings attached or fine print. Juices, while occasionally containing some vitamins and minerals (orange juice is good for when you have a cold), have other side-effects, and while it tastes pretty good, I can’t say I feel any less thirsty afterwards. In fact, it makes me thirstier.
Parents, do you want your babies to KEEP CRYING because they’re STILL THIRSTY after you’ve fed them fruit juice?
Believe me, I speak with experience. I was both a baby and a child older than a baby once (but not necessarily at the same time).
Babies do have teeth between the time they start getting them till they aren’t babies.
Fructose in the sugar found in fruit and also high fructose corn syrup.
I don’t think the sugar content in apple juice is high enough to make the body diurese.
If I give babies and small children fruit juice, I dilute with water. Babies need milk or formula, not water, anyhow. Their stomachs shouldn’t be filled with water so they will want to eat later.
hudi, it really depends. If a baby is still nursing and the mother doesn’t drink enough during hot weather then the baby does need extra water. Once a baby starts solids they definitely need water as a drink otherwise they get constipated.
Bookworm, even when the teeth haven’t cut yet, they are still in the gums and giving juice can still be bad for them since it stays on the gums.
RisingSun – whether or not you are correct about the water being better for the baby, your post is filled with you making up things that you think the baby was thinking/feeling. You KNOW that the baby needed that cleansing feeling the water gives you when you are sick? Seriously? You sound like you are repeating something your mom used to tell you. Do you really think that these moms are just idiots who don’t know how to tend to their babies, and if only Hashem would have blessed them with the knowledge you have their children would be happy and smiley sick children? I find it offensive (as you can tell) that you would SNEAK anything to a baby, let alone a sick baby, behind the mother’s back. You may mean well, you may (or may not) be correct about the benefits of water, but you are incorrect about your role as a babysitter.
Syag, you are right to tell RisingSun that a babysitter has no right to judge, I would just like to point out that there are some mothers who really can be idiots about what is good for the child, and just never give their child water. And to go off on a tangent, there are some mothers who can be idiots about what is bad for the child as well. I was once asked by a mother if my two and a half year old was ok eating whole parve sausages. I said to the mother “she’s two and half, why should I cut them up for her?” and she said to me that kids can choke on stuff, even at that age and older! I told her that the sausages were soft, she has all her teeth and she knows how to eat – it’s only hard stuff like hard sweets that even older children can choke on. And she still looked at me as if I shouldn’t be giving my child whole sausages. And I remember thinking, does she still cut up her two year old’s food into small pieces the whole time? Like I said, there are mothers who are idiots.
I’m not sure why you think that’s funny. If you are directing your sarcasm at me, I find it hurtful.
I was not being sarcastic. I am genuinely bemused and sometimes shocked at what some mothers think or do when it comes to their kids, and was merely trying to use this incident as an example. Another example I can mention is the growing number of parents who do not give milk as a drink once their child stops feeding/formula. As a kindergarten teacher I have had so many children who tell me at snack time that they don’t like milk, and yet when I ask them if they have milk in their cereal they tell me yes. So I get them to try a little and by the end of the year most of the class drink full cups of milk. And like I said in an earlier post, mothers think their child doesn’t like the water the first time they try it, so they put juice in instead. And continue giving their kids juice bottle until they are 4 or 5 years old. A child of 2 shouldn’t even be drinking from a bottle any more! And a 5 year old should not be walking around with a dummy in his mouth! And some mothers just don’t seem to be bothered…
I’m sorry if what I said came across as sarcastic. It was never meant to be. I read over my post and I cannot find anything that I might have thought was funny.
wow – I am really oversensitive today. Must be 8 days with fever has made me weak.
You are so right about all that, and I can’t stand seeing kids walk around with pacifiers or bottles well past the age they should. Regarding milk, guilty as charged. Many of my kids are lactose intolerant so I don’t even bother offering it as a drink to the others. We will put it in cereal though.
The reason I was so sure you were being sarcastic is because in the other thread I was “knocking” being too protective (I’m the one who WOULD have put my baby in that cart) and I included spoon feeding those who are too old. So when you mentioned cutting up sausages, I assumed you were sarcastically pointing out that tho I put down doing things for a child, it is clear that it is sometimes a safety issue. I honestly thought that if someone like ME would not give sausages to a two and a half year old, than certainly you (who appears to be more careful than I, though not overdone) wouldn’t either, and you were just saying it as a dig to my comments.
If that makes no sense, don’t lose sleep over it. I just need a few tylenol and some rest 🙂
Refua shelema Syag. Hope the paracetamol help. I’m not overprotective, just practical…
thanks.
And you sound like a wonderful mother, they are certainly lucky to have someone so loving, caring and conscientious overseeing them!
I have my moments as well, I’m not perfect and my two year old certainly knows how to try my patience! But thanks for the compliments. Feeling any better?
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