Can I Give My Eight-month-old Baby Flavored Water

By: Natalie D. Muth, Physician, MPH, RDN, FAAP

What yous offer your child to drink in the showtime 5 years of life can shape taste preferences for a lifetime. But from plant-based and toddler milks to 100% juice, stevia-sweetened fruit drinks and flavored milk, the options and the marketing can be overwhelming.

Thankfully, the best-option beverages are actually simple: water and plainly milk.

Obviously water provides the hydration all of usa need to live. Milk provides calcium, vitamin D, protein, vitamin A, and zinc―all essential for good for you growth and evolution.

Suggested Daily Water & Milk Intake for Infants & Immature Children​ ​ ​
	6-12 months	12-24 months	2-5 years
Water	4-8 oz/solar day 0.5-1 cup/day	viii-32 oz/day ane-iv cups/day	viii-40oz/day 1-5 cups/twenty-four hours
Milk*	None	xvi-24 oz/twenty-four hour period two-three cups/solar day	16-20oz/day 2-ii.5 cups/twenty-four hour period

* Children ages 12-24 months are brash to drink whole milk and children 2 and older nonfat (skim) or low-fat (1%) milk.

How do young children develop unhealthy beverage preferences?

We know children who drink by and large water and plainly milk from a immature age tend to continue drinking them as they age. Simply nosotros also know, bad habits grade early on. Young children who are introduced to sweet drinks at a immature age develop a strong preference for them―making h2o and plain milk a harder sell. PS: The same goes for nutrient preferences.

When tin can I requite my baby h2o? How much is ok?

Effectually 6 months, yous tin get-go offering your infant a lilliputian bit of water (four-8 oz/mean solar day, 0.five-1 cup/mean solar day) in an open, sippy, or strawed cup. This helps develop loving cup drinking skills and familiarity with h2o. If y'all alive in an area where the water is fluoridated, drinking water will as well help prevent future tooth decay. Annotation that the actual water intake is unlikely to replace much chest milk or formula at this point. Remember, the American Academy of Pediatrics (AAP) recommends breastfeeding as the sole source of nutrition for your baby for about half dozen months. When you lot add solid foods to your baby's nutrition, continue breastfeeding until at least 12 months. Besides see How to Safely Set up Formula with Water .

At 12 months, you tin can transition your baby from breastmilk or formula to whole or reduced-fat milk. You tin go along to breastfeed afterwards 12 months if you and your baby want. For formula-fed babies 12 months and under, see Why Formula Instead of Cow'due south Milk? .

What about all of the other types of drinks?

While drinking but water and patently milk is the ideal, we know young children may exist exposed to whatever number of other drinks at some betoken.

Here'south why most of these other drinks should exist avoided,

• 100% juice: it'southward very sweetness tasting and lacks fiber, an important nutrient establish in whole fruit. Once children are exposed to juice, information technology may be hard to limit portions or get them to adopt plain water. In some cases where whole fruit is not available, giving your child a minor amount of 100% juice (no more than iv ounces per day in ii-3 year-olds and no more than 4 to 6 ounces in 4-five year-olds) can provide some nutritional benefit. However, infants less than 1 twelvemonth of age should non drink juice. Eating fruit is always preferred to drinking juice.

• Flavored milk. Chocolate, strawberry, and other flavored milks contain added sugars. Added sugars should exist avoided in children less than two years of age. Children anile 2-v likewise should avoid flavored milk to minimize added sugars intake and avoid developing a preference for sugariness tastes. An early preference for flavored milk may get in more than difficult to get them to have regular milk.

• Plant-based 'milk.' For some children, a dairy allergy or milk intolerance may make it difficult to drink moo-cow'south milk. Just keep in mind, most plant-based milks are non nutritionally-equivalent to cow's milk and may exist lacking in important nutrients such as protein, vitamin D, and calcium. Other than soy milk, establish-based milks are non recommended for children to potable in place of dairy milk. Soy milk is nutritionally equivalent to cow'south milk and is an adequate alternative.

• Stevia- or artificially-sweetened drinks. The health risks of stevia or artificial sweeteners to children are non well understood. For this reason, it is best to avert sweetened drinks, even if they are low-cal. When children have a strong preference for sweet drinks, it tin pb them to dislike or refuse plain water.

• Toddler milk. Toddler milks, often marketed by formula companies as "transitional" to wean from breast milk or formula, are unnecessary and potentially harmful to immature children. These products comprise added sugars and may fill a baby'south stomach up so he or she is not hungry for healthier foods.

• Sugary drinks. Sugary drinks like sodas, sports drinks, fruit drinks, lemonade, sweetened water, and other drinks containing added sugars are harmful to a child's health. They increase the gamble of excess weight gain, dental cavities, heart illness, diabetes, and fatty liver disease.

• Caffeinated drinks. Caffeine in immature children increases the risk of poor sleep, irritability, nervousness, headaches, and difficulty concentrating. All caffeine-containing beverages are best avoided.

Editor's note: These early on beverage recommendations are fatigued from a report published by Healthy Eating Enquiry, a national program of the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation, and supported by the American Academy of Pediatrics along with the American Heart Association, the Academy of Diet and Dietetics, and the American Academy of Pediatric Dentistry.

Additional Information:

• Fruit Juice and Your Kid'due south Diet

• How to Reduce Added Sugar in Your Child's Nutrition

• Beyond Craven Nuggets: Protein-Rich Alternatives for Picky Eaters

• Sports Nutrition for Decorated Families and Busy Lifestyles

Near Dr. Muth:

Natalie D. Muth, MD, MPH, RDN, FAAP, is a pediatrician and registered dietitian who practices general pediatrics and is the director of the W.East.L.Fifty. good for you living clinic at Children's Main Care Medical Group in Carlsbad, CA.  She is author of the Family Fit Plan and co-author of Picky Eater Projection, both published by the American Academy of Pediatrics (AAP). Dr. Muth is also a current executive committee fellow member of the AAP Section on Obesity and atomic number 82 author of the joint AAP/AHA statement on public policies to reduce sugary drinks consumption in children and adolescents. She is also the AAP representative to the expert console that developed the above beverage recommendations for children ages 0-5. Follow Dr. Muth on Twitter @drnataliemuth, Instagram @physiciannataliemuth, Facebook @howtoraisehealthyeaters, and visit her website drnataliemuth.com.

The data contained on this Web site should not be used as a substitute for the medical care and advice of your pediatrician. There may be variations in treatment that your pediatrician may recommend based on individual facts and circumstances.

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Source: https://www.healthychildren.org/English/healthy-living/nutrition/Pages/Recommended-Drinks-for-Young-Children-Ages-0-5.aspx

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