Drinks for a 2 Yr Old

I water down my 5 year old's juice. Even 100% juices have lots of sugar. I also water down my own juice

I have NEVER given my child artificial sweeteners. Wouldn't give it to any friend or relative either. The Air Force will not allow their pilots to fly within 72 hrs of having anything with Aspartame in it. It affects the synapses in the brain. That is just one piece.
When my son was little, we watered down his juice for many yrs. Now he prefers either plain water or lime or lemon in his water. Children will model what they see adults drink. If the sugary drinks are not served, they do not develop a taste for them.
L. M

I don't like my kids to have products that contain artificial sweetners like aspartame, etc. However, if he gets some at your mom's house, I don't think that for a few days it would be a big deal (that's why grandmas are always more fun - you get to do stuff that mom won't let you!).

To be honest, I still water down alot of my kids' juices - especially OJ. Not alot, just a little to thin it out and cut the acid down for both tummies and teeth, and my kids that are still at home are 12, 12, 10 and 9. In fact, if they pour themselves a glass of juice, they almost always add a little cold filtered water to it.

Good luck!

Hi there,

Honestly kids don't need and shouldn't be drinking juice every day. It's so much sugar - have you looked at the back? It's more sugar then letting your child drink a coke. My son ended up with terrible cavities (he's only 5) and I learned a hard lesson from my pediatrician. Water for kids. It's everything they need. If you want them to have the nutrients of juice - give them the actual fruit. It's better for them anyway. So this is how we do it -- Breakfast with Orange juice or Apple -- SMALL cup, 6oz., Lunch is water, snacks get water, Dinner - cup of milk. Some days we skipped the juice at breakfast entirely, but you get the idea.

With the flavored waters and Crystal light - I personally don't let my kids have artificial sweeteners, but thats a personal choice.

I hope this doesn't come across wrong, we seriously put out like $1600 in dental bills for our mistake. (His front teeth ended up with cavaties between the teeth from sucking the juice through them in a sippy cup when he was younger) Hoping someone else learns from our experience :)

A little of the drinks aren't going to hurt him. It would be best if you explained to him that he needs to drink out of his OWN cup and not Grandma's or anybody else's. Get him a special cup and go ON AND ON about how SPECIAL it is. If you see him reaching for someone's cup say "no, no, we only drink out of our SPECIAL cup."
My daughter is 3 and I stopped watering her juice down when she was about 2. She gets one cup a day with her snack and she only gets 100% juice. Our pediatrician said that was fine. If he only drinks juice, then I'd just put a teeny bit in a cup and add water. Just enough to flavor the water a little bit.

my toddler drank crystal light. the dentist mentioned that the only thing to watch for was the acid in it. just make sure she brushes her teeth that day and possibly drink it with a straw so that it doesnt even hit the teeth. you never have to dilute kids juices it is just a preferance many have. if you can keep doing it i would because it gives them more water less sugar and your juice last longer sense they get less than a glass full at a time.

I would steer clear of any artifical sweeteners (crystal light) and we water our juice - all of it - even the Motts 40% juice to 1/3 juice 2/3 water.

I absolutely water down my son's juice. I feel it makes sure he is getting some water intake as well as the good stuff from 100% juice. I also think it helps cut down on the sweet tooth they will naturally develope. I can't drink juice without adding water( just too sweet for me). As far as the Crystal Light & Fizzy drinks go, I am not sure of the benifits of these, besides having little to no sugar in them, but they are way better than soda or kool aide. Maybe give him his own fizzy drink with half carbonated water and a little juice. That might make him feel like a big boy drinking his own special drink like Grandma.

Children are not supposed to ingest faux sugars of any variety. I would make sure your mom is careful where she places her cups and not allow your son to drink from her cup.

I water down my 14 year old's juice and when I drink juice, I cut it by about 1/3 water. Juice has a lot of sugar and calories which no one needs.

Crystal light may have some artificial sugar. Not sure if that's ok for kids. I still water down 100% juice, the less sugar they get the better

I still water down my 8 year old's juice (along with my two younger ones). My dentist and dr both recommend using a straw with juice to cut down on the amount of contact that the sugar has on the teeth. I let my kids have fizzy water but not artificial sweeteners.

I still water my 5 1/2 year old's juice down most of the time. The exception would be the rare times he gets a juice box that I pack when we go to the zoo, beach, etc.

I avoid anything with artificial sweeteners for my kids. I don't think it has any place in their diet or mine for that matter. :) Not something kids need to be exposed to in my opinion. My hubby is one of those that gets tummy upset from artificial sweeteners. If your son has never been exposed to them you probably don't want to start when you are out of town in case he is reactive to them.

If it were me, I'd just bring a bottle of juice or stop once you get to where your mom lives and grab some juice and the kind of milk your son drinks so you'll have what he is used to for your stay.

Depends on how you feel about artificial sweeteners--the new ones haven't really been around long enough to know the effects on kids, and studies so far haven't seen anything obviously wrong (and there's some question even about studies of saccharin having a connection with cancer). We've made a choice in our house not to have artificial sweeteners. We generally drink our juices as half water, half juice, and if your son finds a liking for "fizzy" drinks, we've found that replacing the water with seltzer water (with natural fruit flavors like lime, lemon, etc.) makes a great fizzy juice drink that we really like too!

I think CL is ok in moderation or on rare visits - like a special treat. This may sound funny, but hubby and I still water down our own juice and soda on the rare occasions we drink that, so I'll probably always water down our kids' 100% juice. It's also economical, because it stretches it out longer.

I don't believe in Crystal Light because I'm not sure about artificial chemical sweeteners - honestly I'd rather give my kids or myself straight sugar. Same with the flavored waters. I'd water down his juice just as long as he will let you. Why not, it saves you money, is less sugar for him, and gets more water into his little body. My kids just turned three and unless we are out and they are drinking a juice box - I usually use 30% juice to 60% water. Less sugar is better for the teeth.

By "fizzy water", do you mean flavored seltzer, which is just basically carbonated water with a little flavoring. A little bit of this won't hurt him.

Stay away from the Crystal Light, it has lots of artifical sweetner and other products, NOT good for a child.

The only type of juice you should be giving your toddler is 100% juice, which is usually just apple juice or orange juice. I watered down the 100% juice until they were around 4, and they discovered other people didn't water down their juice. I also drank the juice watered down and now the girls are in their teens and I still water down my juice. Read the labels carefully, Juicy Juice and Capri Sun are all sugar and artifical this and that.

Hello J.,
I briefly went over some of the posts here so I wouldn't duplicate anyone's post. I agree with all of them btw - except I'm not big on sugary drinks regardly of its natural properties.

However, the bottled water issue didn't come up - as I would have hoped (or at least not in the posts I read thru - so if you did address btl'd water sorry for the repeat)

My daughter is now 9 years old - when she was young we lived in an area that didn't have good drinking water - it tasted bad and I was afraid for her helath - so we gave her bottled water and didn't think anything of it.

However, now we are faced with an extremely expensive procedure to fix her teeth. The dentist blames this mostly on bottled water because it's NOT flourinated. (granted there are other issues, including heritage and a possible illness she may or may not have had during gestation) Children need the flouride when their teeth are developing. So, in spite of what I think about sugary drinks for children.. Please please give your children flouride if your tap water dosen't provide the flouride required or your children wont drink it because it tastes bad - this will help to build healthy strong teeth .. talk to your dentist about harmful drinks as well, they are the experts on teeth and will be able to guid you to the proper nourishment and "fun" healthy drinks for your child(ren)
Thank you for hearing me out.
Aloha to all
E. C

My concern would not be that he is drinking Crystal Light. My concern is that he is taking other people's drinks and drinking them. You have no idea what people drink these days - what looks to you like a carbonated beverage can have alcohol in it... Do NOT let your child drink out of any cup but his. This is a very important lesson to learn NOW.
YMMV
LBC

As a Mom of six now grown and none overweight children, and grandmother of 28, I'd suggest that you be sure to use 100% juice because the high fructose corn syrup is the culprit in so many of the juicy drinks. However, fructose is also a sugar, so be sure the kids only consume a reasonable amount of real juice and allow them to develop a taste for water. You can gauge how much by how much equals a serving of fruit. I didn't allow mine to have sugary drinks like Koolaid type drinks or mixes or soda pop. Just real juice, milk and water. If the child says they are thirsty, try water. Save the juice for snack time.

I was raised to believe that everything is okay in moderation. So if he wants to have some special fizzy water or crystal light from time to time, there's nothing wrong with that. And yes, the occasional sip of soda is fine also.

I also believe if you leave a child too sheltered, as soon as they are at a friends house or old enough to choose their own food or drinks, they are going to go crazy for all the "good" stuff they weren't allowed to have.

My son gets milk with breakfast and dinner. I give him 1 cup of 1/2 water, 1/2 juice in the morning, and throughout the day I just continue to add water to it as he needs a refill. After dinner, its only straight water.

Hi J.,
This is a very good opportunity to teach your little one about no taking others' cups or drinks and let him know that is not always good for him to drink what others are drinking. Keep an eye on him and do it nicely but firmly.
Most of the juices you get at the groceries stores are not 100% juice ever! They look healthy and "natural" but they are not, unless you find them at Trader'Joes or Whole Foods; however, I still think that water, skim milk or 1% milk, and natural juice is far the best. It is not easy, but it is the best. Once in a while a juice is fine, and you may want to add some water to more than half of the cup. My kid used to like a lot juices, and little by little I started give him natural juice like orange juice, apple juice, orange and carrot. (blender or the Juicer are fantastic tools for this purpose!)