If you buy packaged juice for your baby, it should be pasteurized to prevent serious illness. After that, it doesn’t matter if the juice is a brand marketed specifically to babies or one enjoyed by the entire family. I do suggest, however, that you cut the juice with water to reduce the sugar content while still introducing the taste—in fact you might use a cup of water spiked with just a few spoonfuls of juice for a hint of flavor.

And to stay on the green side of juice consumption, minimize juice boxes and juice sold in plastic bottles. The production and waste of these juice containers are often unnecessary: you can buy a large glass jar of your favorite juice and then recycle the glass responsibly.

Even better would be to forego store-bought juice altogether and go natural. This is a good time to introduce vegetable juice made from thoroughly-washed fresh vegetables and perhaps some fruit while your little one is developing a discerning taste for naturally good foods. I learned when I began juicing at home that the taste of fresh juice is unlike anything in a bottle. (I also found out that while it is fresh, apple juice is not brown—it is white, with a hint of the color of the apple peel!) My whole family has come to prefer fresh juices for maximum nutrition and taste. And I’ve come to like the many ways this choice is kind to the environment. It eliminates the energy consumption, pollution, packaging, transportation, and bottle disposal of store-brand juice.