Among physicians, juice is a hot-button issue! Some physicians are morally opposed to giving kids juice; other physicians feel there is a place in a child's diet for some juice.

The American Academy of Pediatrics has such strong feelings about juice that it published a paper dedicated just to it: "The Use and Misuse of Fruit Juice in Pediatrics." (You can probably guess where this is going!) The AAP says: "Fruit juice offers no nutritional advantage over whole fruit. In fact, fruit juice lacks the fiber of whole fruit." It recommends that children ages 1 to 6 years old drink no more than 4 to 6 ounces of juice each day.

Experts agree that breast milk or formula should be your baby's primary beverage for her first year. You could introduce a little water after your baby is 4 months old. Experts urge parents to wait to give babies juice until 6 months. If you do give your baby juice, choose 100% fruit juice with no added sugars; limit it to 4 to 6 ounces of pasteurized fruit juice a day; and dilute it with water. Your baby will never know the difference!

Here's what our mommy M.D.s — doctors who are also mothers — have to say about juice and their own babies.

"I think juice is evil, and we rarely have it in our house," says Amy Baxter, M.D., a mom of three, CEO of PainCareLabs.com and a National Institutes of Health researcher based in Atlanta, Georgia. "My kids can buy it themselves when they're old enough to want cocktail mixers."

"I was not a juice mom. Juice comes with many risks — from promoting tooth decay to cultivating a love of sweet beverages, which can be a disaster," says Ann Kulze, MD, a mom of four grown children, a nationally recognized nutrition expert and author of the "Eat Right for Life" book series. "The more calories a baby drinks, the less food she's likely to eat. Drinking sugary beverages is not a good way to go. I never put juice in my babies' bottles. They drank breast milk, formula, and water."

"After I weaned my kids from breast milk, I gave them water and milk to drink, not juice," says Ayala Laufer-Cahana, M.D., a mom, pediatrician and founder of Herbal Water Inc. in Wynnewood, Pennsylvania. "On occasion, if I wanted them to have fruit juice, I squeezed fresh juice myself and served it in a cup. I believe that a sweet drink in a baby bottle leads to poor nutrition habits and craving sweets, and it ruins those brand-new teeth. Sugary drinks don't register in the brain as food, and drinking them leads to overconsumption and weight gain."

"My babies got juice at day care, and the only stipulations I had were that it must be 100 percent juice and the day care teachers must mix it with an equal amount of water, so that it's half water and half juice," says Michelle Davis-Dash, M.D., a mom of two and a pediatrician in Baltimore, Maryland. "My babies didn't know the difference because they always drank their juice diluted. It gives the water a little flavor."

Dr. Rallie's Tips

"Drinking nothing but orange juice or apple juice can cause some problems for babies and toddlers, including an increased risk for obesity, tooth decay, diarrhea and other gastrointestinal problems, such as excessive gas and abdominal discomfort. Instead of drinking more juice, children should be encouraged to eat whole fruits. When children are thirsty, it's usually best to offer them water to drink.

"Juice is extremely sweet, and as a result, most children love the taste of it. But when kids drink too much juice, their stomachs get filled up, and they might not have a good appetite for other nutritious foods.

"While babies and toddlers might be getting plenty of calories from orange juice or apple juice, these calories come from sugars, rather than from fat and protein, which are critical for your toddler's good health and for her proper growth and development.

"My middle son didn't care for the taste of milk, and he always asked for a cup of juice when he was thirsty. I'd tell him that he could have some juice if he was still thirsty after he drank some water." — Rallie McAllister, M.D., M.P.H., mom of three, co-author of "The Mommy MD Guide to Your Baby's First Year," nationally recognized health expert and family physician in Lexington, Kentucky

Jennifer Bright is a mom of four sons, co-founder and CEO of family- and veteran- owned custom publisher Momosa Publishing, co-founder of the Mommy MD Guides team of 150+ mommy M.D.s, and co-author of "The Mommy MD Guide to Losing Weight and Feeling Great." She lives in Hellertown, Pennsylvania. To find out more about Jennifer Bright and read features by other Creators Syndicate writers and cartoonists, visit the Creators Syndicate website at www.creators.com.