When can babies have juice? Babies drinking juice guide

We know that fruits and vegetables supply lots of vitamins, dietary fibers, irons and much other nutrition. And also, we learned that at least we should have 2-3 fruits and vegetables with our daily meals for a balanced diet. Lots of young mothers confuse about ‘when can babies have juice’. 

American Academy of Pediatrics has deeply researched about when babies can have juices. According to their findings, there are pros and cons of giving fruit juices for babies.

Therefore, we hope to provide you with a comprehensive guide of all the information regarding juices, amounts, risks and tips.

Let’s get started!

Can babies drink juice?

There are several vitamins, and minerals need to maintain body balance. And also, that nutrition does a considerable part of the mental and physical growth.

However, babies get the all necessary nutrition for their early development from breast milk and the formulas. Therefore, juices are an extra supplement for babies.

However, babies should not have juices until they started to drink water. You can find our previous post of “When can babies have water?” from here.

After you began to give juices for your baby, keep in mind to provide only several sips and then give some sips of water.

When can babies have juice?

The American Academy of Pediatrics has mentioned explicitly about when can babies have juices. According to the findings, they strictly advise not to give juices for babies less than one year old. 

And also, they have mentioned if some exceptional circumstances you can give a very small amount of juices with the instruction of your general physician.

Therefore, we advise you to wait until the baby turns 12 months to give juices. And also, we strictly advise you, don’t give manufactured ready-made juices and instant juice powders.

What type of juices can babies have?

As we mentioned earlier, don’t give readymade juices or instant juice powder for your baby. Those include a massive amount of sugar, colours and other artificial chemicals. 

Therefore, we advise you to make juices yourself. You have to put extra attention when you make juices from fruits.  Mostly, you give any fruit juices for your baby.

However, don’t go for fruits like pineapple and lemon, which has chemical value. You can go for apple, papaya, banana, orange, etc.

What are the Risks when babies have juice before 12 months old or younger?

Juices include a considerable amount of water and sugar. This combination will fill the tummy of the baby, and it will cause some risks for the baby.

• It will affect the teeth – Babies start to generate teeth in between 6 to 12 months. Those teeth are not healthy enough to tolerate sugar. Juices can decay the new teeth of your baby.

• Diarrhea – Babies stomach will not be strong enough to digest juices. And also, when babies have breast milk and juices altogether, that mixture may cause some allergies.

• Bacteria infections – Fruits can contain some bacteria. Babies immune system will not strong enough to fight with those bacteria as same as adult. Therefore, it can make some risk for babies health.

How much juice should a baby have?

According to the American Academy of Pediatrics, you can give juices within the following limits.

• 1 year to 3 year – 4 Ounce / 120 ML per day
• 4 year to 6 year – 4-6 Ounce / 120-180 ML per day
• 7 year & above – 8 Ounce / 240 ML per day

What will be the lousy result when babies have too much juice?

There are several bad results when babies have too much juice than they supposed to be.

• Fill the tummy – Juice is not a meal. When babies have too much juice, they will miss their main meals. It will affect their growth and nutrition level.

• Tooth decay – Juices include a considerable amount of sugar. Having too much juice may cause to decaying the tooth.

• Less nutrition – We recommend to eat fruits than drinking juice. Because, we throw away the fruit pulp which has lots of vitamins, minerals and dietary fibers.

Best tips for giving juices for babies?

• Make it thick – When you make juices from fruits, you throw away the fruit pulp and add some extra water. It’s a waste of actual nutrition. Try to make it thick using the fruit pulp as smoothies.

• Washout mouth after juices – It could remain sugar in the mouth and can harm teeth when babies have juice. Therefore, washout the mouth after giving juices.

We hope this post has addressed most of the problems relating to “when can babies have juice?” If you have any issues, don’t hesitate to write to us. If you think this post will be helpful for someone, you can share this with your friends.

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