Dilute your Juice
My kids have always loved juice. Almost all of the time, they prefer juice to water or milk. I buy 100% fruit juice because I don’t want my kids filled up with extra sugar, but I still worried about the potential problems associated with drinking too much juice. I envisioned my babies growing into adults with an affinity toward juice, unable to simply enjoy a glass of water. I pictured my kids with teeth and weight problems – which if you listen to all the advice offered by people far smarter than I am is inevitable when kids drink too much juice – and it would be all my fault since I gave them juice to drink when they were thirsty.
Here is the solution I came up with: I diluted their juice by making a half-juice/half-water combination. This made me feel a little better because they were getting more water than before, and it also watered down the flavor of the juice a little so that they didn’t grow up only wanting to drink super-sweet liquids. On a frugal level, it saved me some money too because a jug of juice lasted twice as long. I’m no mathematician, but I’m pretty sure that’s a good deal.
I’ve noticed some companies coming out with this same idea, so I can’t be the only one doing this. I like to buy the Motts for Tots juice boxes because they are diluted with water instead of being straight juice, but the juice portion doesn’t have added sugar. I’m sure there are much more important things to worry about than how much juice your kids drink, but this is one particular solution that has always worked well for me.
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Lauren says...
I went through the exact same inner conflict with juice with my kids and, just like you, settled on watering down their juice as well.
I’ve tried Motts for Tots, which I liked, but I just found a better one called First Juice. I like it better for three reasons:
1. It comes in spill-proof sippy bottles that I can reuse.
2. Even though it is half water, they add vitamins back in so it has all the original vitamins.
3. They have really fun flavors like peach+purple carrot
When I first found First Juice, it was a bit hard to find, but now I have seen it popping up in a lot of places, even Babies R Us.