Are smoothies ok for babies-15 MO

Ive just dropped his mid-day bottle so now hes down to 2 bottles a day, hes lactose intolerant so cant substitute with milk. I bought and gave him kids innocent smoothie and the ingredients are fruit only nothing else , is this ok ? He loved it, which was great as the only fruit he will actually feed himself for me is bananna or raisins. I was thinking, some days to give him a smoothie instead of when he would of had his bottle , i was onto his creche this morning she said she would give him a liga instead of having his bottle today, they are also going to substitute his milk bottle for plain water (as i cant give cows milk). Are smoothies ok ? Can i make them up myself and how long do they last ? Are there any smoothie rules ?

YoMammaSo, would you try a dairy alternative to milk? Like Goats milk, Soya milk, Kara Coconut milk, oat milk or almond milk. Most of them say they can be given to babies from 6 months. I'd imagine smoothies would contain more sugar than these but I could be wrong there. You could ask your GP or someone in the health shop. ETA there are also those lactose free milks you can get in most supermarkets too...

Thanks libramoon, goats milk isnt lactose free. and I coconut milk would be extremely fattening. I havnt looked into the others, I do buy soya milk if i want to milk it into a bit of weetabix mixed with water, its very very thick tho and ive never tried him on it. I never looked into those other alternatives, i must do. Would the sugars not be ok as they are naturally occuring and he could do with eating more fruit ?

you could also try a soya yoghurt to make a smoothie? Maybe some banana, strawberry, kiwi, a yoghurt and a drop of orange or apple juice. I'd say they'd keep ok for a day in the fridge, you'd probably just need to give a shake before serving.

Concentrated fruit such as those in a smoothie can be a little harsh on anyones tummy so maybe monitor his nappies if you are giving them to him. Naturally occurring sugars are still sugars so need to be monitored. I'm not a mother though so its just my advice on smoothies in general. I love them too!

I'm only going by what I've read in my two baby care books and online (as I haven't had my baby yet) but I'd say it would come under the same category as fruit juice which is only recommended to be given in diluted form (i.e. mixed half and half with water) and not often. The sugars are naturally occuring all right but too much can still be bad for a child's teeth and can be fattening. Also fruit is very acidic which is also hard on teeth. Could you give him water most of time to quench his thirst? It would be better for his teeth. If I were you I would definitely ask your GP for advice on this one. He needs drink to stay hydrated but you don't want the drink you're giving to cause any other problems like tooth decay and so on. He also needs calcium so you need to find an alternative to dairy products that will give him enough calcium and vitamin D etc. if he's lactose intolerant. Good luck! I hope you find something to give him that will work well.

I've been giving DD those smoothies for ages, easily since she was 15months, and find them great! I've no idea how they would stack up when you're substituting for milk, but for DD I freeze them and she gets them as an icepop for a treat or if she's teething, sick, etc. I've never found them particularly hard on her tummy, but she eats loads of fruit and veg anyway so she's well used to lots of fibre I wouldn't tend to let her have more than 2 in any one day and she wouldn't have them every day. Re the milk though, at that stage DD was drinking only water during the day and then as much milk as she wanted before bed (usually 2 full bottles). She'd get snacks of cheese or yoghurt in the day. I think the guideline for that age is 20oz milk per day to meet calcium requirements, including yoghurt, cheese, etc.

[quote="YoMammaSo":3f9uorpj]Thanks libramoon, goats milk isnt lactose free. and I coconut milk would be extremely fattening.[/quote:3f9uorpj] YoMammaSo, it says on the Kara coconut milk website that its "Cholesterol free and with calcium and fat levels matched to semi-skimmed milk". I had to go dairy free for a while there so drank it all the time. It was the nicest alternative I found anyways and ever DH started to drink it. I like the oats milk too but yeah sure check them out and see if he likes them. I didn't realise goats milk had lactose sorry! As for the sugar levels in the shop bought smooties I'm pretty sure I read something recently on how they can have more sugar in them than normal soft drinks. Maybe the suggestion to make your own in the way to go. http://www.karadairyfree.com/

Thanks for the replies guys, I was thinking of doing that exactly ciaraella he loves his alpro soya yoghurts , so i think 2 or 3 days a week i can make him up one of those, I get what you are all saying and ill keep going with the water and maybe send in a smoothie the odd day into creche. Its prob not a great idea to give him too many and I really didnt mean every single day anyways, but his nappies are atrocious at the minute with teething so prob best not to give him too many at the moment . ohh that sounds good actually libra i must check that out, if the calcium levels are up and the fat is about the same i dont see why not ! Thanks girls

we give smoothies but as a treat coz they would be high in sugar. yes it's natural sugar but that doesn't make it any better and they are far better off eating fruit whole. you'd be better off to just keep offering different types of fruit and eventually he'll start eating them. DS was lactose intolerant for 10 months last year and it seems he is again at the moment so we give soy milk and yoghurts to ensure he's getting calcium and i don't find the soy milk thick at all, it's the same as normal milk. we use the alpro soy one. once they are 2 you can use the lactose free milk too (the one in the green packet, avonmore i think). getting rid of bottles though we just switched to a drink of water or heavily diluted juice, no need to replace it with a snack like liga/smoothie so long as they are eating plenty for the rest of the day.