Starting Solids / Other foods and drinks

When Can Babies Have Juice? From 12 Months, and How to Serve It

Babies can have juice from 12 months, not before. Why: no fruit juice before 12 months; breast milk or formula stays the main drink. At 12 months: two or three sips with a meal, pasteurized 100% fruit juice only, mixed with water if you like, in a lidless cup.

Other names and forms
fruit juice, 100% juice and apple juice
Start
12 months, not before
Common allergen
Not one of the nine major allergens
Before you serve: Choose pasteurized 100% fruit juice with no added sugar.

How to offer juice by age

12 to 23 months

Juice, 12 to 23 months: Two or three sips, in a lidless cup

Two or three sips with a meal, pasteurized 100% fruit juice only, mixed with water if you like, in a lidless cup.

Age 2 and up

Juice, age 2 and up: A small open cup, with a meal

A small open cup of pasteurized 100% fruit juice with a meal, no more than 4 ounces a day.

Sito shows this card at your baby's exact age, for 583 foods.

Nutrients

USDA figures per 100 g (Apple juice, canned or bottled, unsweetened, with added ascorbic acid): iron 0.12 mg, zinc 0.02 mg, calcium 8.0 mg and vitamin C 39 mg. Household measures from USDA: 1 fluid ounce is about 31 g.

Stay with your baby at every meal, sitting upright. This is general information from public health sources, not medical advice. Your child's doctor has the final word.

Starting Solids in the Sito app

Sito is our app. From 4 months, the home screen is Starting Solids: the signs of readiness, how to serve each of 583 foods at your baby's age, and a quick log for every taste. Spears to grip or mashed on a spoon, each food's card shows the shapes that fit your baby's age, and swipes ahead to how it changes as they grow.

The Allergen Ladder takes 9 common allergens, one at a time, with a check-in after each. At 12 months the full app opens on its own: meals from a photo, 18 nutrients, and how to cut every food until age 4.

Every first food, served right

Add your baby and Starting Solids opens at 4 months.

Sito's first-food card for avocado at 6 months: thick finger-length spears to grip, or mashed on a preloaded spoon, with a reminder to stay with Sofia at every meal, sitting upright. Sito's Allergen Ladder for Sofia: 5 of 9 allergens introduced, with egg, milk and wheat kept up and soy, sesame and tree nut not started yet.

FAQ

When can babies have juice?

From 12 months, not before. Why: no fruit juice before 12 months; breast milk or formula stays the main drink.

How do you give juice to a 12-month-old?

Two or three sips with a meal, pasteurized 100% fruit juice only, mixed with water if you like, in a lidless cup.

Sources

  1. AAP HealthyChildren: When Can Babies Start Solid Foods?
  2. AAP HealthyChildren: Cow's Milk Alternatives: Parent FAQs
  3. USDA FoodData Central: Apple juice, canned or bottled, unsweetened, with added ascorbic acid
  4. AAP HealthyChildren: Recommended Drinks for Children Age 5 and Younger