This blog post comes with a horrid photo.
And a parental guilt warning.

Here’s the horrid photo….

This is the mouth of a child with rotten teeth.
Not a pretty sight.
And heartbreaking for the little one having to undergo surgery to have them removed.

And the parental guilt bit?…..

Well, maybe we don’t need to feel guilty. We just need to grab new knowledge and do with it what we will.

Challenge number 1.
Grab new info and use it.

Challenge number 2.
To help keep teeth healthy and avoid them rotting, eat more whole fruit and drink less juice.

What do you think?

As well as making sure drinks (including water), are sipped rather than sucked, experts are recommending eating whole fruits at mealtimes, rather than between meals, and not to give juice to babies and young children.

If a little one has already been given juice, experts suggest breaking the habit by gradually watering it down and that water is the best drink for hydration.

Milk (bf or formula) is also important for babies.

But the word is, avoid juice for children.

It’s pretty clear that this sort of news can trigger terrible feelings of guilt in caring parents who have, with the very best of intentions, been giving their children juice to drink.

So with broad shoulders and new knowledge, let’s not beat ourselves up about anything that’s gone on before.

And just because something has been done for a while, it doesn’t mean it can’t be changed when we learn new information.

It could take some doing – but would you agree keeping a child cavity-free is worth the swap?

A great read is ‘That Sugar Book’ (from That Sugar Film). Here’s one of many thought-provoking quotes from the book, “A glass of juice is not the equivalent of four apples, it is the equivalent to the sugar of four apples.”

The book also explains that whole fruit has many benefits including keeping the fibre present – which helps the body deal with the sugar of the fruit and helps with ‘full up’ signals so is relevant to how much sugar is consumed: pretty smart!

Stay fruity if you fancy, but knowing the facts gives us the power to keep ourselves and our families healthy.

And with a full set of gnashers!!