On May 22, 2017, the American Academy of Pediatrics issued a new guideline for drinking fruit juice, as follows:
For children under 1 year of age, no fruit juice is allowed;
For children between 1 and 3 years of age, not more than 4 ounces (about 120 ml) per day;
For children between 4 and 6 years of age, not more than 6 ounces (about 180 ml) per day;
For children between 7 and 18 years of age, not more than 8 ounces (about 240 ml) per day;
Many people don't really know that, compared to fresh fruits, freshly squeezed fruit juices have many other disadvantages in addition to high sugar content and lack of dietary fiber:
Long-term use of feeding bottles and sippy cups to drink fruit juice is more likely to cause childhood caries;
If a child drinks juice in large quantities, excessive sugar will ferment in the colon continuously, producing gases, which in turn can induce diarrhea.
Both homemade juices and bought freshly squeezed juices are prone to breed bacteria such as E. coli and salmonella.
When children are able to eat fruit on their own, there is really no need to make fresh fruit into juice for them. In addition, for children under one year of age, pure milk and pure milk products are not recommended, but yogurt is an exception. You can consider adding yogurt after the baby is 6 months of age. Do not add additional sugar, fruit is allowed to be used as flavoring.
