Sorbitol/Sugar
What Gerber or any other brand does not have to tell you is how much Sorbitol or natural sugar is in the juice. Fruit naturally has a lot sugar in it. Unfortunately babies can not digest sugar very well especially under a year. Too much sugar can cause gas and pain similar to colic and even vomiting. Gerber weakens the juice so it is suitable for babies. However, you may want to talk to your pediatrician before serving juice within the first year.

What New Parents May Not Know About Juice
Babies (under the age of 1) stomaches can not handle acid which is found in
orange juice, grapefruit juice, or anything citrus. It is also a common
cause of diaper rash. Fruit is also a good source of roughage so if you give
him a big bottle of juice you can expect a big blow-out in the diaper. It is recommended by many studies and pediatricians that 4 oz. a day is all that a child should have.

Allergic Reactions
Fruit especially citrus and strawberries is common for causing allergic reactions. (Children's Dye-free Benadryl on hand for allergic reactions especially during taste tests could save a life--speaking from experience!)

Oddly enough, I know three children that are allergic to dye/food coloring which is in a lot of drinks. Gerber doesn't add the dye and additives so that's one less thing to worry about.

My daughter has eczema (dry itchy skin and rash) and some of Gerber's products had unexpected ingredients in it that really irritated it so I had to read the jars closely. I know that one of the first ones I tried was the yogurt drink and it broke her out really bad.

Fluoride
How much fluoride does your baby need? Fluoride is great for the child's teeth and can reduce cavities by 50%. Fluoride is also a known carcinogen and has been proven to cause cancer in lab rats. Why is there fluoride in the juice? Pesticides and/or mixing the juice with already fluorinated water. Just for your reference, Gerber White Grape juice has 6.80 parts per million fluoride, Minute Maid White Grape has 3.0 ppm fluoride and Welch's White Grape has 1.96 ppm of fluoride. Other Gerber juices such as mixed fruit is only .78 ppm.

The Joys of Introducing Something New
I remember being so excited when my baby was old enough to try foods and new flavors. Everyone gathered around to see if she would like apple juice, pear juice, etc. The face tells a lot. The bottom line was that she wasn't any
more interested in strange flavors than we were.

Taste Test
Juice tastes good, and it's very sweet so sure they're going to like it and
want more of it! They may not like every flavor juice even if they like the
fruit. For instance my baby loves pears but won't touch pear juice. It's
great to find out that they don't like it with a 4oz. jar rather than a 64oz.

Grocery Store Choices
If you go to a grocery store juice section you'll find about 3 flavors of
juice. Then they'll mix those flavor together just to offer you a few more
choices. Any other flavors are extremely overpriced and/or have ingredients
you can't pronounce and probably can't assume to be healthy. So if you want
something different, you'll really need to get the Gerber juices. They do
sell it in cases which is nice if you're buying it to take to daycare or just
need to stalk up on it.

Costs
There are often coupons for Gerber in the Sunday paper, and you can also sign up for Gerber's mailing list at www.gerber.com. They will mail you coupons to fit the age of your child. Boy these cost a lot! If you're on a budget and need somewhere to cut back--start here. You can feed your baby fruit -- it doesn't need to be juice. There are larger serving bottles in traditional
flavors for a fraction of the price per serving. However, if you're going
out to supper, this little jar is great!

Apple Juice
I like to keep apple juice or prune on hand because it's a great relaxer for
the diaper if you know what I mean. You never know when you're going to need and these are easy to store.

The use of juice in my home
I found that you can really overjuice your kids when you buy a large bottle
of it, especially since it doesn't last long once it's open. After searching
for something that compared with Gerber to reduce my price I found that most
juices sold are just a drink. Very few are actually nutricious. They are full of empty calories. I found that once my baby got a taste for juice she didn't want water anymore so I had to water the juice down just to wean her off of it. Since then, I only offer her apple juice or occasionally white grape which can be purchased reasonable and the whole family can drink.

Gerber fortifies their juice with vitamin c which may be a bonus but is certainly not a reason (at least for me) to buy it. Babies get plenty of vitamins from their well-balanced meals.

Travel
Gerber juices are nice for travel especially during the warm season when milk is risky and you want to keep you child hydrated. You can add it to water to get them to drink more water in the heat. If you're going out to eat, it's a nice alternative to a cola.



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