water and juice?

HI, i have a 5 month old daughter who is have 2-3 solid meals a day. i was wondering when and how often should i be giving her water or juice?

Hi Tania,

I have heard the following about water and juice: Meal times can be a good time to introduce cool water in a cup. Baby should not drink flavoured milk, fruit juice or flavoured drinks due to the sugar content. Breastmilk or formula are still important as a drink for the 1st year of life. It doesn't really hurt to try water any time of the day, and if you really want to try juice maybe water it right down so there is just a hint of flavour. Hope this helps.

yeah - i've heard not to give fruit juice either. But if you do decide to you need to water down the juice big time! Have you seen those 'junior' poppers (tetra packs) which are 50 % juice (or something like that)

As for water - if you breastfeed they say it isn't necessary (if you've ever expressed you'll know how watery breast milk is), but with formula you do need to give water on hot days.

I would think its entirely up to you with water! If you think your baby is hot and needs water then just do it. The worst it can do is make her puke - which I bet a lot of things are doing now anyway!

Hi TaniaH,

It depends on if you are still feeding her breast or bottle milk. I give my son pear juice - very watered down mid morning, lunch and afternoon tea, and now that it's getting hotter, I offer it to him more during the day. The Heinz juice made for babies is also good. Or if you make your own fruit up, the juice off that watered down. You don't need to water the Heinz juice down. You can offer the drink during meals too - personal preference.

Hope this helps.
Amanda

Hi TaniaH
I too was told not to give fruit juice (even watered down) as some babies will prefer this over water and you will then have a hard time getting her to drink plain water.
Thankfully Ella hates fruit juice and loves water, I've tried fruit juice in Junior Poppers twice but she still hates it, so no more of that.
The best time to introduce water is in between feeds. Say an hour after she has had breakfast, give her some water and see how she goes.
Hope this helps!

Okay - went to a thing on dental care for babies today and was completely shocked to find out that the use of bottles actually can cause tooth decay. (the point of this is coming...)

You can use a bottle to feed your baby no worries, but they should really be off the bottle by 12 months. The problem is the baby using the bottle as a comforter. By having a bottle in the mouth the acid which attacks your teeth keeps washing over the baby's teeth and therefore makes them decay.

To that end, we were advised today not to give fruit juice (or in fact, anything at all which is not formula or breastmilk) in a bottle because it promotes dental decay.

So in short - if you're going to give juice, give it in a cup (which will be an exciting adventure all by itself!!) and don't give it in a bottle.

Thanks alot for your replys. ill let you know how it goes.