by Claudia Boyd-Barrett posted in Parenting

Don?t give your child fruit juice before her 1st birthday and limit fruit juice to between ½ and 1 cup a day for older children, depending on their age, according to new guidelines from the American Academy of Pediatrics (AAP).
Even better, give your child whole fruit instead of fruit juice, the academy recommended in the journal Pediatrics. Whole fruit has more vitamins, fiber and other nutrients than fruit juice, and leaves the body feeling fuller which makes it less easy to overconsume than fruit juice, the AAP said.
The academy used to tell parents they could give children fruit juice starting at 6 months. Now, because of evidence linking fruit juice consumption to tooth cavities and children putting on either too much or too little weight, the AAP said kids should be given mashed or pureed whole fruit once they start solid food, and no juice until they?re 1 year old. Older kids should also drink less fruit juice than previously recommended. Here are the new guidelines:
? No more than 4 oz (1/2 a cup) of fruit juice per day for toddlers ages 1 through 3. (Children this age need about 1 cup total of fruit per day, so the rest of the fruit should be whole fruit).
? No more than 6 oz (3/4 cup) of fruit juice per day for children 4 to 6 years old (out of 1 to 1 ½ cups total fruit recommended per day).
? No more than 8 oz (1 cup) of fruit juice for children 7 to 18 years old (out of a recommended 2 to 2 ½ cups total of fruit ...