We emphasize diet and toothbrushing as the 2 key ingredients for maintaining your child’s oral health.

The American Academy of Pediatrics makes the following recommendation:

“that fruit juice not be given to infants under six months of age since it offers no nutritional benefit to babies in this age group. After six months of age, infants may have limited amounts of juice each day. For youngsters older than six months, fruit juice offers no nutritional benefits over whole fruit. Whole fruits also provide fiber and other nutrients. Infants should not be given fruit juice at bedtime, nor as a treatment of dehydration or management of diarrhea. For children ages one to six years old, limit fruit juice consumption to 4 to 6 ounces (120–180 ml) each day“

As a pediatric dentist, Dr. Jen also recommends that this 4-6 ounces of juice daily be limited to mealtime only and not carried around in a sippy cup for your child to `sip` on all day. In fact, your child`s teeth need at least a 2 hour rest between any drink or food in order for their spit to cleanse and clear the mouth and balance the pH – frequent consumption of sugar containing beverages, natural or additive, can cause tooth decay.

So whether it is `real` fruit juice or not, limit your child`s intake to half a cup daily at most, but water between meals is the best to help maintain healthy teeth for life 🙂