Sport Drinks or Vitamin Water Safe for Kids?

I always add ice to my little guys water... he thinks thats really cool and he'll drink it right up!

I use the Hawaiian Punch sugar free packets and they only have 5 calories. They come in the fruit punch, orange, grape, and strawberry lemonade. My son loves them. He loves to drink out of the water bottles with the squeeze tops on them. So he thinks he is drinking juice and I know he is getting more water.

How about 1 part juice to 3 parts water? 100% juice. Then brush his teeth, because all juice has sugar in it (fructose) which is completely natural.

Hi L.,
Get him a few special sippy cups, and some with straws, and his favorite characters or colors. Add ice or fruit to the water for fun! Get him involved in filling up the cup. I wouldn't cater to his dislike of water- we all need to drink lots of water to be healthy. If you keep giving him juice- he won't need to drink water and kids definitely shouldn't have artificial sweeteners. We stick with just milk or water, maybe juice a couple times a week. He will drink the water because he will get thirsty. I know how stubborn toddlers can be so best of luck to you! Stick to your guns!

I agree with the advice to just add more and more water every day to the juice, until you're giving him just water. Although not drinking any juice is ideal, going "cold turkey" would definitely be more of a battle than I would be up for. I also agree with not having it in the house, so it's not available. Hopefully by the time you get to mostly water in the cup, you're out of juice. Makes the debate easier for your kids.

Also, make sure you check Vitamin water for caffeine. I was shocked to see that one of the flavors that I was drinking once had caffeine in it.

We have lots of drinks in our house that our kids are not allowed to drink (from pop to beer). We just tell them that they can't have those. I think that's fine, as long as you stick to it, they'll stop asking.

Tell him NO. He will drink water if there is nothing else available. I am against artificial sweeteners, I feel that my body is all natural and not a toxic waste dump. I do not like the idea of constantly putting chemicals in my body. Okay off my soapbox now. You may have to thin out the juice with water and progressivly adding more water until it is all water. Or you can give him juice with meals and water in betewwn meals. I have never been in favor of juice over water. I feel that juice is not good for a person. For example a 4 oz glass of orange juice is 80 calories and a whole medium orange is 40 calories. Also juice is SUGAR the human body breaks down the sugar in fruit and in carbs (bread, pasta, rice etc) to simple sugar, the same thing you have in the sugar bowl.
Oh and sports drinks are BAD unless you are really working out such as training for a marathon, or doing alot of gardening without a break. Or it is a very hot day and you are severly dehydrated. Sports drinks are mostly salt and sugar with a few electrolites. Gator-aide will relieve a headache though, if I have a headache that won't go away I will drink a small bottle of gator-aide.

He won't dehydrate by being stubborn! Keep watering the juice down more and more every day, and when its gone serve plain water and thats all. Show him the juice is gone, we don't have it anymore, its not very good for you.... he will get it. You just have to stick with it and don't give in. Sports drinks are not appropriate for kids, well not appropriate for most people. He should be drinking water, so just cut out the juice and go with it.

I totally agree with the opinion of sports drinks, even ones that are designed for kids. Artificial sweeteners, acidity, huge amounts of dye...not good.
I do feel for you and I did go thru the same thing. I ended up just having to cut out all juice when we found my 3 yr old had several cavaties and I knew juice, even watered down, was to blame. But in order to not have to deal with the whining and refusing to drink water I just had to stop buying it COMPLETELY. If there's a little juice in the house than its a war. It took about 3 days for him to figure out that there's nothing else to drink. I know it feels like you are depriving him but trust me, you're not. He'll come around in a matter of hours if he's thirsty. In the mean time feed him lots of fruits and veggies with high water content so you'll know he is getting enough...celery, watermelon, oranges...etc. The exception goes for if he has a fever...you have to watch closely for dehydration when kids are sick...but if he is healthy I'd detox from the juice asap...it'll be easier than you think. Kids teeth just can't handle all the sugar that's thrown their way these days, you're doing his mouth and the rest of him a huge favor if you nip this in the bed sooner rather than later.
Best of luck
K.

I have a 2 year old who went through the same thing. He outgrew it and does drink water now, so just keep giving it to him. What we liked was V8 Fusion with it's mix of fruit and veggie juice. That was about the only "juice" that our pediatrician was ok with. And not V8 Splash- that only has 10% juice. V8 Fusion has 100% juice. I had also been letting our 8 year old have some sports drinks after hockey and such until I read that unless your kids are basically running a marathon, they are totally unnecessary and not very healthy. Now he just gets water for sports!!! Try the V8, they taste pretty good for having a full serving of fruits and veggies in one 8oz glass, but I'm sure your son will come back to water eventually.

I guess, in my opinion, if all you offer him is milk and plain water- he will eventually drink it.

I would stop buying juice and if you can show him there is NONE there, he won't keep bugging you for it.

The only time our kids get juice is at parties (NOT at our house) and at our house if they are sick. They don't even know what pop is and they are 4 1/2 and 2 1/2. They LOVE water. Our 4 1/2 year old will sit there and sip her water and tell us how yummy her water is. If that is all you give him, that is what he will drink.

Good luck.

L. , I would continue to try and give him water. If he gets thirsty enough he will drink it. As a former dental assistant I cannot tell you how many young kids came into our office with decay and they swore they were brushing and eating healthy when asked what they had been drinking the answer was usually some sports drink because mom and dad thought is was healthier. Sports drinks are full of carbohydrates which turn into sugar and wind up causing decay . Maybe if you put some ice in his sippy cup with the water he may like it more. Some kids like their drinks to be cold I know my do. Good luck.

L. - I would definitely check the ingredients for the different products. As you mentioned it has sucralose in them. For this reason, I won't let my teenager drink them. Artificial sweetners are controversial and some link them to many different diseases. I've told my teenager if you have a choice at someone's home of diet pop or regular pop, chose the regular pop. We don't have it in our home at all.

The best option is clean, filtered water! I have a filtered system in my kitchen and use it for everything (washing fruit, cooking, drinking) except washing dishes.

Good luck,

Make the water fun. Put cut up fruit slices in it. Frozen berries. Ice cubes. Put a drop of food coloring in the water before freezing the ice cubes and he has colored ice. Use crazy straws. A special sports bottle. There are many ways to make water fun.
S.

I use Target brand "Market Pantry - sugar free on-the-go packets" that have 0 calories and (obviously) no sugar. I use them myself daily because I don't like water and when I am giving them to my daughter she thinks it's juice.

Good luck!

How little is your little guy?

I wouldn't give him anything with added sugar or with artificial sugar. Shaklee's "erformance" (like Gatorade, but better) has natural sugar from fruit - no added or artificial sugar. I would still water it down.

I would still offer plain water most of the day, too. Most kids will drink it if there is no juice or sweet stuff offered in its place.

Good luck!

K.
http://K..myshaklee.com to order online

Hi L.,

Not sure how good the sports drinks or those vitamin drinks are on a regular basis. but if you must give him juice, I do know that Honest Kids a drink found in juice pouches does have a substantially lower amount of sugar found in any other of those juice boxes or pouches, usually about 50% less sugar. For instance, a 6.75 oz of Apple & Eve Fruit Punch Juice Box has 25mg of sodium and 21g of sugar; the Honest Kids Goodness Grapeness is organic and has 5mg of sodium and 10g of sugar. A little more $$ but totally worth it. My daughter loves them. They have Goodness Grapeness, Tropical Tango Punch, and Berry Berry Good Lemonade. Hope this helps. and just remember....."This too shall pass..........." Good luck!

I serve my kids white milk with all their meals; they drink water in between, and occasionally, they drink juicy juice- rarely do they even want that. They get enough fruits from what I serve them during their meals and the following:
* I make big batches of fruit salad to keep in the fridge, and offer them that with crackers or other snacks.
* I buy 100% fruit bars, instead of regular popsicles and offer them that in between meals.

I also got some colored cubes from pottery barn kids-not sure they still have them; I freeze the cubes and use them for ice and I even throw some in their cold lunch packs for school, the kids love having those in their water;

Eventually, kids take whatever is available to them; just let your kid know what you have on hand, show him the fridge or where you would keep the juice so he knows it's not there any longer. By the way, from my experience, it takes 3 days consistently, to get a kid on board with a new idea.

The only time my kids have had cavities is after the winter I let them bring Gatorade to sports practices. My dentist told me that sugared sports drinks are the worst thing for your teeth because of the combination of sugar and acidity. I also limit their consumption of artificial sweeteners. This may be an extreme opinion, but a chiropractor I've seen thinks artificial sweeteners are toxic and linked to neurological problems. At the very least, they do cause headaches in many people. I am an "all things in moderation" person so I haven't eliminated artificial sweetners, but I've significantly cut back on them and limit my kids' consumption also. It's best to keep working on getting him to drink water using some of the other posters' ideas. My kids like their water with LOTS of ice and in a canteen or straw cup. Good luck.

My sons Doctor says its fine as long as you water it down. My one year old son drinks watered down juice, gatorade, and powerade. I don't give him anything with caffeine or high in sugar and i water it down pretty good and don't replace milk for sports drinks. There are also vitamins you can give your little guy if you are woried he is't getting all he needs. My sons doctor said to use Poly-Vi-Sol it cost like 9 dollars a bottle to me it's alot but his worth and I'm sure if you ask around there's a knock of somewhere.

I am grandmother now so I don't understand how parents can allow their children to dictate what they are going to eat or drink. If you want your son to drink water.. give him water when he is thirsty enough he will drink it. Be strict so no juice you are going to drink your water. The more you give into him the more difficulty you are going to have introducing other foods into his diet. Sometimes loving your child means being strict and doing what is good for them and not just what they want. Initially they might have temper tantrums etc.. Hang in there.. It will be worth it in the long run.

Get him a special cup that he thinks is really cool that will only be used for water. Use fun straws, let him add ice cubes to the water. Something that makes it fun for him.

Hi, I would ask your PED about the sports drinks but I would say it is not a good idea. The chemical makeup for the drink is for adults. Maybe if you add water depending on his weight it would be .25 of the drink. Which may not taste very good.
We have the same issue and have found a couple of things. Juicy Juice makes a no sugar added all natural vegtable and fruit drink in several varieties. We still split this with water. Our local organic stores carry a lot of options like carrot and mango juice. No sugar and 100% natural. We add it to other drinks and split with water.
Hope this helps.