Can I offer my child fruit juice with his meals everyday?


Having juice on a regular basis can interfere with your child's milk or food consumption. Too much of a good thing is not good. When your child overfills on juice the tendency to reject healthy meals (milk and food) is high. Secondly juice being high in sugar and empty calories is bad and once he is accustomed to having juice, he will prefer juice over water any day. Of course you can give your child juice as a treat. However do not offer unpasteurized juice right now as their systems are not equipped to handle the naturally occurring bacteria. It is preferred that the juice be diluted to water down the sugar content. Studies show that babies and children who grew up on diluted juice prefer mildly sweetened beverages as adults.