What juice is?

Question

ok to give my 1 yr old?

Answer 1

Argh, please don't fall into the "no sugar is good" trap!

Nearly every "No sugar" product in the market has a sweetener in it called aspartame in it, which is a source of phenylanaline and very bad for children. Their kidney's find it hard to flush out basically, and it can cause many side-effects such as hyper-activity, or strange rashes and flu-like symptoms. My little boy is really reactive to it because he has a small amount of reflux in one of his kidneys, and his consultant told me that even children with no problems should avoid it where possible, so I would imagine for young babies with tiny kidneys it isn't the greatest chemical to put in them!

If you can get them to have milk, water or fruit juice then that's probably best, but if you are out or at grandma's, or they just want to be like your older kids etc., you are actually better off giving them normal juice. At least you know exactly what is in that - sugar! - and you can just make sure they don't have too much other sugar, and brush their teeth well. These days there is so much pressure not to have sugar, fat etc, that our kids are just getting filled full of chemicals instead, and then people wonder why there are more illnesses around?

Answer 2

I agree with previous answer about artificial sweeteners. Avoid them, if at all possible. They are just chemicals, not good for little bodies (or adult bodies, for that matter!) to cope with. I avoid them if at all possible - after having none for ages, my son had some juice that had them in it and he was a little monster! It didn't last long (long enough though!) and I reckon that was the only answer.

I would stick with water, milk or fruit juices (can be diluted if you like) or just the good old normal dilutes with natural sugar in them.