Sweet Drinks and Children

Sweet drinks include all fruit juices, soft drinks, flavoured mineral waters and sports drinks - whether store-bought or home made. Fruit juices contain sugars that are found naturally in fresh fruits and become very concentrated when made into juice. Soft drinks and flavoured mineral water also contain lots of sugar.

While breast milk, formula and cow's milk contain a sugar called lactose, these are not considered sweet drinks. And milk is important for children as it contains calcium needed for healthy bones and other key nutrients for growth and development.


How much is too much?

Children do not need any sweet drinks to have a well-balanced, healthy diet. If you do include sweet drinks in your child's diet, limit them to one small glass per day.


What about fruit juice?

As juice comes from fresh fruit, it’s easy to believe it’s a natural, healthy food, that is full of vitamins. But children only need half an orange to get their daily vitamin C - and it takes 3 or 4 oranges to make one glass of juice, and all of the beneficial fibre is removed. Encourage your children to eat fresh fruit instead of juice. This will:

What happens when children drink too many sweet drinks?

Tooth decay
Children who have sweet drinks regularly are at a higher risk of tooth decay.

For babies and toddlers, problems start when a bottle is used for comfort at nap time or during the night, or to snack on through the day. If the bottle contains any drink other than water, even milk, the sugar in the fluid sits on the teeth and gums for some time and decay can start, even before the teeth have broken through.

Avoid using a baby's bottle for comfort and encourage your child to drink from a cup from around 6 months of age.

It’s also important to develop a regular tooth cleaning routine as soon as your child's first tooth appears.

Small appetite and picky eating
Sweet drinks are full of energy and can fill children up, making them less hungry for other foods.

Most sweet drinks don't contain the protein , fat , iron or calcium needed for a child's growth, and when taken too often may cause a low intake of nutrients.

Problems such as iron deficiency anemia and failure to thrive may occur in infants and toddlers who replace foods such as breast milk, formula or solids with sweet drinks.

For picky eaters, stopping or limiting sweet drinks helps to encourage hunger so they eat more.

Changes in bowel habits
Young children may have problems digesting some of the sugars in sweet drinks. The result can be loose bowel movements and even diarrhea. This may affect growth if energy and nutrients are lost from the body. When sweet drinks are removed from a child's diet, loose bowel movements may improve.

How do I reduce sweet drinks?

Changing your child's diet can be a challenge, but remember young children can only eat or drink what is given to them. Avoid keeping sweet drinks in the house and try not to drink them yourself.

If your child already has sweet drinks regularly, start to reduce the number of drinks per day. Offer the remaining drinks watered down, until you can stop them. Your child may be upset at first but will get used to it if you continue. Be patient. This may take time, particularly for children in the habit of wanting juice whenever they’re thirsty or hungry.

Important facts and advice about sweet drinks