Substitue Sweetners - Are They Bad for Kids?

What about chocolate milk? Juice with or without sugar is bad for them. They are only supposed to get 4 oz a day max of 100% fruit juice. A watchdog group recently found high levels of lead in juice. I'll post link to an article on it at the end of this post; if you google "juice lead", you'll find tons of articles on the topic.

Crystal Light is sweetened with aspertame which has a whole list of possible side effect. Personally, it gives me anxiety. I don't know a lot about Purevia, but the FDA keeps banning and unbanning it - I'll provide another link below.

Try flavoring his water with a fresh squeezed orange or lemon or put a slice of cucumber in it.

Sounds like your son needs to be on a high fat diet. My 26 month old weighs 26 pounds and he is in the bottom half of the growth curve for his age. His nutritionist wants him on a high fat diet. Lots of whole milk, cheese, avocado, high fat yogurt (Trader Joes sells some), coconut milk, etc.... Or, even though it has a lot of sugar, Pediasure could help put some weight (and liquid) on/in him.

Oh, and btw, sugar substitutes are not bad for teeth. Only sugar eats away at teeth. But, they are bad in many other ways.

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/maria-rodale/is-there-lead-...

http://nutritionwonderland.com/2009/02/stevia-controversy/

I caught a minute of Dr. Oz yesterday, and he said that artificial sweetners offer absolutely nothing of any value to your body. they confuse the body in fact! sugar in moderation is not bad! have you tried giving him water flavored with orange? or semi frozen fruit to snack? grapes are yummy when frozen. good luck!

It sounds like he is drinking his calories. I would push water or milk and not offer any alternatives.

As for sugar substitutes, I will not let my children have anything that is sweetened with artificial sweetners. As far as I am concerned, the jury continues to be out on how safe they really are so I will not jeopardize my children's health. While I do consume them, I completely cut them out the whole time I was pregnant or nursing. While I am sure I am not the norm, I sleep better at night knowing my children are not consuming them.

Equal is a great example. When I was pregnant with my first I was told it was a safe sugar substitute. By the time I had my second I heard it was not safe to consume while pregnant. You can not be sure what findings they will come up with next week so I err on the side of caution when it comes to my kids.

Hope this helps a little!

Sugar substitutes are linked to all sorts of digestive issues, especially in kids. I would steer clear. Give him the real thing and only in small amounts. I wouldn't let him have his juice until he eats what you want him to.

i think if i were you i'd start cutting the amount of juice he's drinking. there is nothing better than water. my kids rarely drink juice and because they haven't had much of it they now don't even like it. it's more when kids around them want juice then my kids will ask for it too, otherwise we only drink water.
artificial sweeteners are bad for everyone, especially kids. it is not clear how unsafe they are.
also, i use honey to sweeten my kids' tea or their pancakes and creppes. i am not against sugar at all, we just don't use much of it.

My son was also a big juice drinker, although I don't give him anything with a sweetner in it. I broke the habit by having a rule he needed to drink milk, water, then juice throughout the day. So for example we would start with milk for breakfast, then water if he was thirsty and last juice (diluted). Then milk for lunch, water then juice, then milk for dinner and last water if needed. After a few weeks he never made it to the juice part and just kept on drinking water. If he wanted juice first thing in the am (breakfast) I told him that would be the only juice he would get for the whole day. The rule still holds true today and 9 times out of 10 he will get water instead of juice and he is 6 now. I started this a couple of years ago. Also, I think it helps if the water is cold in the refrigerator. I put a jug with a spigot, so he can get his own water. I think part of it was a control thing and part was the sugar habit of juice, but once the taste buds were redirected it didn't matter anymore. Anyway, cautionary tale, my son had to have 2 cavities filled this year (on molars that he won't loose until 10), I do attribute this to the excess juice drinking as we have been brushing his teeth twice a day since 6 months old. Also, his appetite will increase once you exclude juice, also give him whole fruits ie. oranges instead of orange juice ( or clementines) there is still the juice taste and many more vitamins.