Children’s drinks

When selecting your child’s diet it is important to factor in what your child drinks as well.

When choosing the best drink for your child it’s imperative to think about the healthy balance of their whole diet.

A question to ask yourself is – “Are they getting enough of the essential nutrients that they need to grow and stay healthy?”

The main purpose of offering a child a drink is to hydrate.

Children should drink regularly to remain hydrated.

When deciding on the drink of choice consider the nutrition and nutrients that the drink offers.

Some drinks, such as juice, hold little or no nutritional value for your child. Instead they are loaded with sugar.

These drinks have what is considered ‘empty’ kilo-joules. That is a drink that provides a lot of kilo-joules (calories), but few nutrients.

These types of drinks, such as soft drinks, fruit juice, flavoured mineral waters, sport and energy drinks and cordials provide unnecessary kilo-joules and should be avoided.

The Australian Dietary Guidelines, Australian childhood obesity experts and dentists recommend milk and water as the best drinks for children.

Breast or formula milk is all a baby requires for the first 6 months. These milks provide all the liquid a baby needs to prevent dehydration.

From 6 months the baby’s primary form of liquid is still milk, however, you can add small amounts of purified (boiled and cooled) water as well.

From 12 months provided it is good tap water the water you offer it no longer needs to be boiled or purified.

It is best to research the area you are in to make sure it is safe to give straight from the tap as some areas may or may not have high levels of calcium for example.

After they turn 12 months + you can introduce pasteurized cow’s milk while still giving water as well. Full fat cow’s milk provides not only calcium but Vitamin B12, protein and riboflavin. Low fat milk is not recommended before your child is 2 years and it is not recommended to ever offer skim milk to an under 5 year old as it has no fat or nutritional value.

Water is a necessity for life. Water provides fluid without adding any additional kilo-joules to your child’s daily diet.

Our body constantly loses water and yet it is essential for many of the body’s processes.

It is vital to replenish the fluid lost with water throughout the day. An active child may become more easily dehydrated than an adult.

Water should be the drink of choice to be offered.

Water is always the best option.

If a child is introduced to water as their main drink then you will generally find that they have no or little desire to have the sugary alternatives.

It is fine to offer them as a treat but best to limit the consumption of anything other than milk and water to a minimum.

Milk being another drink of choice along with water.

Considering milk is 90% water not only does milk help to rehydrate children it is considered a good choice for children. Milk contains many essential nutrients necessary for a growing child.

Milk is an important food and part of the food group. Milk, yoghurt, cheese and/or their alternatives are required for children’s growth and development.

Milk is the largest calcium contributor to ones diet which is important for building stronger bones in children through boosting the development of a child’s bone density.

Milk contains:

• protein
• carbohydrate
• vitamins (A, B12 and riboflavin)
• minerals (calcium, phosphorus, magnesium, potassium and zinc)
• fat- which in childhood is a great source of energy.

Allowing a child to drink too much milk per day can fill a child’s stomach and lead to poor appetite.

Whilst flavoured milk will have the same nutrients and minerals as milk it also has added sugars.

It is argued that while there are sugars in flavoured milk there is less than in comparison to soft drinks and some juices. That may be the case but milk in its pure form, unflavoured it a better option.

Flavoured milk also has the same problem as sugary drinks in having unnecessary added empty kilo-joules.

Children don’t need fruit or vegetable juice as part of their balanced diet.

Although some fruit juice does contain nutrients like vitamin C, folate and some antioxidants, most types of fruit juice contain sugar and kilo-joules.

A child can obtain nutrients they need from the actual fruit or vegetable rather than from juice itself.

It takes 3 or 4 oranges to make a small glass of juice whereas a child will not sit down to 3 or 4 oranges in one sitting.

By comparison for a child to get their daily Vitamin C intake a child only needs half an orange.

Eating the fruit in its natural form over having a fruit juice has many benefits. Actually eating the fruit promotes the supply of fibre in their diet which helps to prevent constipation.

Having a piece of fruit helps with chewing skills, teaches a child about colours, flavours, textures and is a healthy and nourishing snack.

Dietary fibre is removed from fruit juice. Fruit juice is linked to attributing to tooth decay.

It really is no surprise that these type of drinks provide kilo-joules yet few nutrients. These type of drinks do not contribute to a balanced diet.

Weight gain, poor dental health such as erosion from the acidity and tooth decay and behaviour issues have all been contributed to a large intake of sugary drinks.

Sugary drinks have also been linked to changes in bowel movements and small appetite and picky eaters.

As sugary drinks have empty kilo-joules children feel fuller therefore they will often display a small appetite.

This can lead to picky eating and/or they are less hungry. In the long term this can pose potential health issues such as iron deficiency or poor growth.

Children may have problems digesting some of the sugars in sweet drinks which can lead to loose bowel actions or diarrhea.

This has a knock on effect to your child’s overall health and may cause slow growth if energy and nutrients are regularly lost from the body. The effect of removing the sugary drinks from the diet means the loose bowel may improve.

There really is no needed place for sugary drinks in a child’s diet.

• Juice if at all possible. If after 12 months you feel you do need to introduce fruit juice choose a 100% juice as it has less additives and dilute it by mixing it 50:50 with water.
• Soft drinks. These contain high amounts of sugar and NO nutrients.
• Herbal teas.
• Mineral water as this can contain minerals which have may adversely affect a child’s kidneys.
• Soy milk for under 12 months.
• Low fat milk for a child under 2 years.
• Adding to drinks. Adding flavours to milk for example have no (or very limited) nutritional value and only encourage the child to need/want flavour and sweetness to their drink.
• Allowing a child to fall asleep with a bottle.

If your child is used to fruit juice, flavoured milk or sugary drinks it will take time to reduce their intake.

Be patient as this will be a process as your child is used to the flavour of the drink.

Reduce their intake slowly until you are able to move on to water and/or milk only.

Role model. By not consuming the types of drinks your child should not be drinking will be a positive role model to your child and promote the healthy choice within the whole family unit.