FrUiT rOlLuPs - DoN't BeLiEvE tHe HyPe

They seem innocent enough, made with real fruit. If you have kids chances are you've bought them or their counterparts, Fruit By The Foot or Fruit Snacks. You think "Hey, they're REAL fruit! Great snack alternative to candy." Well, I'm going to tell you that after yesterday's dental check up with Maddie, that these things are far from good for your children. In fact they are far worse than candy! Yes, they may be made from real fruit but they are very high in corn fructose. What does that mean? When your child eats these, they lay in the teeth longer causing they're precious baby teeth to decay at a faster rate. After discovering that my almost 6 year old needs almost $5000.00 worth of dental work done, these thing will never again be brought into our home.
Our dentist was wonderful in explaining all of these things to us. She gave us as much time as we needed to learn some valuable (but unfortunately a little too late) advise. Below are some of the things that she recommended.

~ Your children can never brush too much. In fact at young ages they should brush after everything they eat.

~ Change their snacking habits NOW. Doing so will last them well into adulthood.

~ Teach them to make healthy snack choices. Let them choose but present them with healthy alternatives.

~ Don't even bring the bad stuff into your home.

~ Be aware of what your children drink also. Soda, Kool-Aid, orange drinks and even some of the box juices are all high in cavity causing sugars.

Finally, she presented us with a list of healthy alternatives for Madison's snack times. I've listed a few for you below.

~ Flavored waters, (children may resist these at first but eventually they will prefer them).

~ Fresh fruits and veggies. Be creative. Strawberries with whipped cream for example. The dentist actually explained that although the whipped cream is sweet, it melts from the mouth quickly and doesn't stay stuck to the teeth for a long period of time.

~ Ice cream, frozen fruit pops, frozen yogurt. These all all good alternative as they too melt quickly and do not stay stuck to the teeth.

~ An occasional Hershey Kiss. She explained the occasional treat of chocolate can't hurt. It too melts and doesn't stay sitting on those precious baby teeth.

So from one mom to all you parents out there, take this advice to heart. You won't want to be in our situation, looking at $5000.00 in dental bills and no insurance to cover any of the costs!

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