Thread: Mom vs Dad
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misol 01:31 PM 03-31-2010
Originally Posted by MarinaVanessa:
We give juice here sometimes in place of actual fruit but straight juice has a lot of sugar (even when it's made from real juice) so I dilute it half and half also. I'm on the USDA food program and that's what they recommend as well. I'm having a woman from the program today at nine. I'll ask her again and see what she says but I know that the last time they recommended at least half and half. The sugars sometimes pool in the kids mouths and can cause cavities. By diluting it you lower the risk greatly. I agree that juice can be substituted completely with natural fruit but I know that not all kids eat them so I sometimes offer them watered down juice.

Just a quick note on the milk also: My pediatritian has always told me that only baby cows should drink cow's milk. I know that they advertise calcium in milk all of the time but our bodies can only take in so much a day of it anyway anyway before it rejects it and it goes to waste (literally). By serving green leafy veggies like romaine lettuce, broccoli and spinach, beans, calcium fortified orange juice, soy milk (which the children think is delicious and also has lots of potassium, fiber, calcium, Vitamin D, and vitamin A), oatmeal, and almonds and brazilian nuts (be carefull with allergies) are all great ways to get your daily dose of calcium. I've completely replaced dairy milk with soy milk at my daycare and my family uses it too. The balance of Vitamin D and Calcium in it is great since you need the vitamin D to help the absorbtion of the calcium. It takes more dairy milk than soy milk to get your daily calcium and also has more vitamin D. Dairy milk also has way more saturated fat, sodium, cholesterol (soy has none), carbs and sugar.
Milk also has no fiber or iron which soy does have and they both have the same amount of vitamin A. - Sorry here I go with my nutritional facts again lol.
(oh and this based on 2% milk).
2-3 times a week at dinner I give my own kids 100% juice (full strength). I don't offer juice to the daycare kids. They only get milk and water here.

MarinaVanessa - I am totally with you on the cow's milk thing! Human milk is for human babies and cow's milk is for baby cows! You have a fabulous pediatrician if he/she told you that! Most wouldn't dare. I give the daycare kids cow's milk because that's what the food program requires and that's what their parents give them but my own kids drink very little cow's milk (they get it at their grandparents or at a restaurant but not at home). At home we drink rice milk or one of the many delicious nut milks. My family gets its vitamin D from plenty of sunshine in the summer and from fish oil supplements in the winter. We get our calcuim from most of the sources that you mentioned above.
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