Host: What is the role of juice or milk in creating picky eaters?

Rene Hackney: There is a role of juice or milk here in creating picky eaters. The juice guideline for children two to ten years old is four to six ounces per day. Four ounces is the tiny juice box, six ounces is that medium juice box and that is per day. If children are getting significantly more juice than that, they are likely filling up on the sugars that are in that juice and not eating as wider variety in their diet as they would otherwise. If parents are watering it down 50-50, water in juice that would be the eight to twelve ounces because the water is not seen as being problematic. But if kids are drinking 24 ounces of juice in a day or more, they are likely having a much more narrow variety in their diet than they would otherwise.

The milk rule, it is the same type of guideline, but it is about 20 to 24 ounces of milk for the toddler in pre-school years, that if kids are getting significantly more milk than that in their diet, they are likely eating a more narrow variety than they would otherwise. If you think your child is drinking much more than that, the first thing I would do is talk to your Pediatrician and talk to them about these guidelines and what is suggested, but for parents who want to lessen the intake, let s say they are drinking 48 ounces of milk in a day and not eating much food, the idea would be to measure out that 20 ounces and put it in the refrigerator in the morning and then when the child is done with that, he will move on to water or that little juice and then water and milk.