Should I Give My Baby Fruit And Vegetable Juice? How Much?

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1. Baby /
2. First foods

Should I give my baby fruit and vegetable juice? How much?Medically reviewed by Sarah Schenker, Dietitian Written by Polly Logan-BanksIt depends on how old your baby is. Breastmilk or formula is all your baby needs to drink for the first six months of her life. Once you start to give your baby solid foods at about six months, she can have diluted fruit or vegetable juice at mealtimes, although she certainly doesn’t need it. Water is always the best choice as an extra drink alongside your baby's usual milk. Advertisement | page continues below If you do give your baby fruit or vegetable juices, offer them only at mealtimes. Dilute them well, using no more than one part juice to 10 parts water. The NHS recommends that you should keep diluting juice for your baby until she's five years old. When giving your baby diluted juice, limit it to no more than 120ml (4 fl oz) a day. Offering it in an open beaker or cup will help to protect your baby's emerging teeth. Encourage your baby to eat lots of different fruits and vegetables, whether they're mashed, puréed or served as finger foods. This will help her get used to exploring different tastes and textures. If you offer juice with a meal, try different flavour combinations of fruit and vegetable juices. This will help her to get used to new flavours. Watch out for drinks sold as "juice drinks" or "fruit drinks". These often contain little actual fruit juice, and lots of added sugar. So it's best to avoid these completely. It’s also not a good idea to give your baby fruit squashes and cordials, because of their high sugar and/or sweetener content. Sugary drinks can cause tooth decay. Be careful of drinks that claim "no added sugar", as they may be intensely sweetened with the use of artificial sweeteners. They have very little nutritional value and can also encourage your baby to have a sweet tooth. More information:

• Learn which other drinks to avoid giving your baby.
• Find out why breastmilk or formula is still your baby's most important food.
• Get the lowdown on how much milk your baby needs after starting solids.

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Track your pregnancy on our free #1 pregnancy & baby appPolly Logan-BanksPolly Logan-Banks is an experienced editor with a keen interest in producing evidence-based content. Polly is passionate about ensuring that every child gets the best start in life. Opens a new window Opens a new window Opens a new window

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