Yes, we set limits. Juice does not appear in our household. Occasions on which my son has had juice–at a kid-friendly wedding recently he had a juice box, when we go to Trader Joe’s about once a week, he generally gets the little sample cup of whatever beverage they are sampling (cider, tea, etc.). I give him maybe an ounce and it keeps him happy while I shop. My grandma freaks out that I am depriving him of something (what? I don’t know), but he doesn’t know what he is missing and thinks the occasional bit of juice is a big treat.

Same here – we’re a strictly milk-and-water house with the occasional treat of juice (I like my sugar in cookie form, thank you). If you save it as a treat, you can use it as something to drink when they’re sick, when they might not want to drink otherwise. My daughter will happily drink (watered down) juice when she’s under the weather.

My FIL claims that he doesn’t ingest sugar because he wants to stay healthy, yet he eats granola bars every day and drinks juice like it was going out of style.

I only give my kids milk and water at home, but I have let them have juice at a few birthday parties and other situations. They would rather have milk anyway.
My husband and I both love to have OJ with breakfast, but I don’t drink it very often b/c of the extra calories.

I hate to break this to Dr. Robert Lustig, but “juice is bad” is hardly new information. I’ve been reading studies linking juice to obesity for well over a decade now.

Something about this article smells kind of fishy. No mention at all about how while juice is full of nice vitamins, soda includes no nutritional value whatsoever? Juice is not “just as bad” as soda – it’s just less good than fresh fruit.

I get that it’s sweet and not as good as water. But do we have villify juice?

Because juicing concentrates the fructose, which is bad for your liver and heart and it removes the fiber, which is good for you.

When I started giving my son juice (at six months) I was doing 50/50 with water but once I told my pediatrician he told me to do just a splash. That is what I have been doing ever since and he drinks it like there is no tomorrow. So when I started my daugther on juice (at six months as well) she also gets water with a splash of juice. That is what they know and I do not see the need to give them juice alone.

I think it is good to have this information to remind us of our daily choices…. the last few times I’ve been to Costco I’ve purposely “forgotten” to buy apple juice because I want my kids to drink more water. They will when the juice is not there as a deterrant. Being a parent is hard work. It is hard to say no. Much easier to just not have it in the house to begin with as many of these parents posted. My dentist also says it is a big culprit for cavities. Any new parents reading this who start giving their 6 month old a splash of juice in their water, I warn you, it is a way to train them to drink something for the SWEETNESS rather than for the hydration…. I wish I had not given in that first time at a birthday party when I saw my husband hand my daughter a juice box. When I semi over reacted and told him to take it away and the party host said, it’s all natural, just like in that infamous commercial before that commercial existed, I just gave my husband the eye and felt like I was looking like the mena parent at the party. Stick to your guns mamas! If you don’t want your 22 month old drinking straight from a juice box that is your decision. I call juice the gateway to bad eating choices….