Around six or seven months of age is a good time to introduce dilated, mild
fruit juice. We suggest asking your pediatrician who may advise giving fruit
juices several months earlier or later.
We recommend starting with mild juices, such as apple, apricot, grape, pear,
peach, and prune, remembering to wait a few days between introducing a different
juice. Most experts recommend waiting until 12 months before giving orange
juice, especially if allergy to citrus runs in the family.
Apple juice seems to be the most popular because of the low chance of allergy.
If you buy commercial baby juices, they do not need dilution. Again, you
are paying a lot for water, ask your pediatrician if it is okay to use regular
adult juice and then dilute it yourself. Buy those juices that are
only 100% juice and make sure they are pasteurized. Do not feed your baby
juice drinks, which have added sugar.
To keep your baby's breast milk/formula intake up, limit your baby's juice
intake to 3-4 ounces of juice per day. Babies who drink too much juice may
not be drinking enough breast milk or formula to obtain calories they need
for proper development. Use a baby cup instead of the bottle to feed
your baby juice in order to minimize the time the juice remains in his mouth.
