Can you tell I'm a first time mom? I have so many paranoia's...
My ds is 6 mo old and my pediatrician said I can give him 4 oz of juice now...but I'm afraid he'll only want juice and not milk. I'm not sure about sugars, etc.
What's your experience with juice?
How old were they?
Regrets? Affirmations?
Do you really care about this silly question? LOL!

By Pamt on Monday, January 17, 2005 - 07:59 pm:

I started juice at 4-6 months. I always diluted it water, 1 part water to 1 part juice and they only got 4 ounces per day. I nursed and so I gave water and juice in a sippy cup. At 4-6 months they are not really good with the sippy cup, so they don't even got all of the 4 oz. BUT, it is good practice and for me it avoided an attachment to the bottle and weaning from yet another thing. I'm glad I started juice at that age and my boys loved it, but always liked their milk better.

By Melanie on Monday, January 17, 2005 - 08:07 pm:

Ditto Pam on her entire response.

By Colette on Monday, January 17, 2005 - 08:11 pm:

I think I started juice around 4-6 months. I NEVER diluted it with my first. I never even heard of diluting it with her. But I did dilute it with my second two dks.

In the long run...

dd 13, only likes orange juice
ds, 12, only drinks spring water
dd, 7, will drink anything.

no one has any problems with their teeth.

By Mrsheidi on Monday, January 17, 2005 - 08:28 pm:

hhhmmm...this is all good to know! My ped. did mention something about using a sippy cup...am I ready for him to grow up???
aaahhh...no...but I will try it.

By Emdee on Monday, January 17, 2005 - 08:28 pm:

I didn't even start juice until she was over a year old b/c she was having trouble gaining weight and it is just a filler (per ped. advice). My dd is 20 months and I still dilute her juice half and half b/c it gives her really bad diaper rashes.

By Jelygu on Monday, January 17, 2005 - 08:42 pm:

Ditto Pam too. I still dilute Christopher's juice, he spits it out if it is full strength!

By Hlgmom on Monday, January 17, 2005 - 09:08 pm:

I do not give juice at all. It is just another form of extra sugar to me! I just do lots of fresh fruit. My ped is a big advocate of no juice until at least 6 years...I don't know that I will wait that long, but she is 14 months now- I will definetely wait until she is at least 2. She loves water and is still nursing!

By Boxzgrl on Monday, January 17, 2005 - 09:16 pm:

I started juice with DD at about 6 months and ditto to Pams whole post as well. She actually still prefers milk and I still dilute her juice 50/50. She only needs about 16 oz. of milk a day right now so the rest of the day I rotate juice and water.

Oh, and make sure to buy the "No Sugar Added" juices. Fruits already have natural sugars and they dont need any more than that.

By Dawnk777 on Monday, January 17, 2005 - 09:20 pm:

I started juice when I started cereal, at about 5 months, since I usually mixed the cereal with it. Sarah still wanted her bottles or breastmilk.

I'm more sketchy on Emily, since solid food didn't sit well with her for a while. She was about 7 months old before she started eating solid food on a regular basis. Prior to that, I would try and she would throw it all up. She is fine now, though.

By Palmbchprincess on Monday, January 17, 2005 - 09:40 pm:

We started juice at 4 months, only 2 oz a day at that age, and gradually increased it. My kids still wanted milk, because juice is not filling. I usually gave 2 oz juice to 1 oz water, so it wasn't so sweet. We used the frozen cans of 100% juice, no sugar added. Even at 2.5, they only get one small glass of juice a day, maybe 6 oz.

By Trina~moderator on Monday, January 17, 2005 - 09:56 pm:

The first time I gave DS diluted juice (50/50) at 6 mos. he was up all night with gas and stomach cramps. Followed with diarrhea and diaper rash the next few days. We waited and kept trying it every 6 mos. or so, but he couldn't handle it well until he was in Kindergarten. Even now, (currently 8) he rarely drinks juice and prefers milk.

DD had GERD (acid reflux) as an infant and was tiny. Our ped. and GI specialist advised to avoid juice and concentrate on breastfeeding and supplementing with high calorie formula via sippy cup. We didn't start giving her juice (watered down) until she was in preschool.

By My2cuties on Tuesday, January 18, 2005 - 12:49 am:

I started juice around 6 months and my girls didn't take much to it...neither one of them, Katelyn likes it now (diluted) and Hailey will drink it if I dilute it, but it is not her pick...they both really like water and milk. IF we buy juice now, 64 oz. will last until it goes bad, I think it is all in your particular child.

And my girls' pediatrician said no juice in a bottle, but you can talk to your doc about that, just a side note.

By Jackie on Tuesday, January 18, 2005 - 09:30 am:

Faith is now 5 months old. We have introduced a sippy cup to her this past week. We first put water in it, she "Kind of" figured it out. Then a few days later, I put about a 1/2 teaspoon of juice in the cup with a couple of ounces of water, and she could taste the juice and made a face. She drank a couple times from the cup and had enough.
When I use to be on WIC with my first. They always suggested putting juice in a sippy cup ONLY. There theory was to make them want to drink out of a cup if it was something sweet in there.

By Kaye on Tuesday, January 18, 2005 - 09:31 am:

My first two started juice full strength at 3 months, both because of constipation issues. We used the baby apple and we mostly put in a sippy cup. You have to use a regular sippy cup, the no spill type have to be sucked on and they are too hard for babies.

My kids now, 11, hates all juice, like some milk, mostly drinks water and iced tea. My 9 year old, will drink anything, my 6 year old prefers white milk, but will drink juices if we are at someones house.

By Kayleesmommy on Monday, January 24, 2005 - 04:18 pm:

There are some juices out there that have hardly any sugar. I forgot which brand it is but I have found some that are really low in sugar. I know Gerber makes juices but I have never checked how much sugar is in it. I also wanted to try to give Kaylee some juice but I have tried the sippy cup with water last week and she doesn't understand that she has to suck on it. I tried finding one that is not spill proof and try to help her obviously but even the cheap $1.00 ones at Wal Mart are spill proof. Since I breast feed her she won't suck on anything else. Anything that is not the boob just gets chewed on. I think I will have a hard time weaning her.

By Heaventree on Monday, January 24, 2005 - 04:57 pm:

Kayleesmommy, I'm not sure if they are available in your area (they are from the UK), but you may want to try Avent sippy cups, they have a rubber tip or nipple, my little had trouble figuring out the hard plastic sippy cup tips. Here's their number 1-800-542-8368 or www.aventamerica.com. All nipples for the sippy cups and bottles are interchangeable. They worked well for us.

By Trina~moderator on Monday, January 24, 2005 - 05:10 pm:

Kayleesmommy, your DD is still young yet. A lot of babies haven't mastered a sippy cup at 7 mos.. Keep trying and she'll eventually get the hang of it. Try different styles. Different kids like different styles and types of cups.

By Tink on Tuesday, January 25, 2005 - 07:05 pm:

My youngest was exclusively breast-fed and had a hard time "getting" a sippycup. We found some with a straw type top that was really easy for her to figure out. The straw went all the way to the bottom so she didn't have to tilt the cup up and she knew how to drink out of a straw from sipping out of our glasses. They are from Luv'n Care and we found them at Walmart.

By Rayanne on Tuesday, January 25, 2005 - 09:18 pm:

I started juice around 9 months I think. I dilute it though, a lot. It's mostly water. She only gets it about 4 times a week, and only once a day.

By Lauram on Thursday, January 27, 2005 - 03:06 pm:

I started it (diluted) at 9 mo. I ONLY gave them juice in a sippy cup (NEVER a bottle). It is how I weaned them off the bottle. Eventually I put milk in the sippy cup at 12 mo. They were both off bottles completely by 12 mo.

By Mrsheidi on Thursday, January 27, 2005 - 03:38 pm:

Well, I started him on some white grape juice diluted 50/50 with water. I used a non-spill sippy but he couldn't figure it out...he just started to chew on it. So, I put him in the cradle position (so he was expecting a bottle) and he decided to suck on it and VOILA! HE DID IT!
Thanks for all your input ladies!

By Reds9298 on Wednesday, February 2, 2005 - 09:57 pm:

I'm a 1st timer too with a 7mth old. I tried her with the sippy at 5 mths with water but she just didn't get it at all. The last couple of weeks I have just put something in the cup and let it sit amongst her toys. She's always excited to see it now...holds the handles well and sometimes sucks, but still mostly chews on it. She has made a face with every juice I've tried, but I've never diluted it. I'm going to try that and see if she's more receptive! Her biggest issue with the cup is that she just hasn't figured out that she has to hold it up to get the liquid out. She had 2 oz. of prune juice a day from 2-3 mths. because she had lots of trouble with bowel movements, but now she doesn't seem to like the prune juice at all!