H doesn't have juice or many sweet things really unless it's fruit etc. Now Lewis doesn't really like water so was thinking of a bit of juice in it. Now I know a lot of people use sugar free juice for their kids, but is it any better than say a little fresh fruit juice mixed with water. Sweetners are chemicals some say that they are bad for you and can cause allergic reactions other say can cause cancer. I have also read that they can cause a sweet tooth as they are so much sweeter than sugar.Now I think I would rather give my child a bit of fruit juice which has natural occurring sugars than a chemical and make sure they clean their teeth etc. What do you think??

That's makes perfect sense to me. I would rather use natural sugar in a really small amount than sweetners because they're not good for you either xxx

Thats true actually, i tasted Lilly's sugar free juice and its horrid! Too sweet

I do give Caitlin sugar free fruitshoots etc occassionally, however I know HV recommended just buying fresh apple juice and diluting it with water. I used to do it but then got out of the habit, usually Caitlin just takes plain water. x

i dont think sugar free does any harm really and my kids have low sugar fruit shoots now and againa nd low sugar robinsons but if they would drink it i would deffinately give pure juice diluted over the sugar free drinks.
my children wont drink it diluted but i sometimes give them pure fruit juice undiluted anyway =o|
x

The low sugar ones are full of chemical sweeteners - aspartame is one of the worst. Sainsburys and Waitrose put less chemical sweeteners in their own brand drinks so I tend to buy those.

Natural sugars have got to be better really just because they are natural. Wil has fresh orange juice diluted with loads of water a lot of the time.

we just get tescos own apple and blac currant juice she has less than a capful in her drinks and 3ltrs last her 4/5 months sometimes we have to throw it out as i am worried about it going funny.

she has not got a sweet tooth as such well no more than any other child she prefers to snack on grapes, banannas and yogurts x

hmmm i didnt know this
callum has highjuice sugar free orange he wont drink anything else he has a beaker a day xx

I let c have sugar free juice and dont think too much on it, its a tiny amount to a LOT of water. I wudnt always say somethings better cos its natural.Arsenic is natural

I agree Mario...fruit juice can be really bad to baby teeth

Izzy has Robinsons Sugar Free but its diluted about 1/8 and tastes nice still...personally I wouldn't give anything to Izzy that tastes awful to me and pure fruit juice diluted is disgusting!

Izzy seems to drink way more than others, I know C used to drink loads and Izzy seems to have gone up...just reading that Callum has 1 beaker a day...Izzy drinks a beaker before her breakfast! Then another 1 at least during the day, I think now she has at least 16oz a day

Gracie drinks shed loads she has a beaker when she gets up then roughly 4 during the day milk at bedtime then when we go to bed i pop in and swap milk beaker for juice which she has if she wakes.

Its the middle tommee tippe beaker not the one with handles but nit the massive one with a rubber top does that make sense

I give Tayla tesco sugar free squash bit only a tiny bit, 10% juice the rest water. She'd never been a big drinker and will only have a beaker a day as well as two cups of milk. No doubt i will worry again come summer that she doesnt drink enough! Last summer i ended up buying fruit shoots (or tesco ones have less sugar) just to get her drink, but she would drink half then id fill it up with water.

i think that when elijah gets tired of plain water i will really avoid sugar free/no added sugar juices, if i can give him fresh not from concentrate juice i will. aspartame is nasty stuff and really not good for your insides, so i hope that a bit of diluted fresh orange etc and a good tooth brushing routine will be fine but thats just my personal feelings! (here i am with and aspartame filled diet pepsi of course...ho hum)

I wouldnt say im even 1 in 10. I make up an eight ounce beaker with a dribble in bottom of cup-enough to cover base of beaker and the rest is water. 1 in 15 maybe?

Like Izzy she drinks 15-20oz a day of juice/water and 14-18 of milk. Thats a LOT of sugar if i were to use fruit juice! One of her beakers in a day will be fruit juice cos she gets bunged up easily but i do that one half and half cos i actually want her to have the fruit juice.