Iced tea

[littleone]

I have a 11 month old who one day had a little taste of Daddy's Iced Tea and loved it and ever since then he wants a drink every time he sees your glass. I told my husband that I preferred that he didn't drink it b/c of the caffeine and sugar that is in it. Because when he drinks tea, he doesn't care too much for juice and I know the juice has the sugar in it and I don't give him too much of that. But my husband still thinks that there is nothing wrong with it b/c the tea is dilluted and it shouldn't be as harmful to him. So he wanted me to do some research and ask a couple of opinions on this matter.

[VenusGoddess]

Even in diluted tea, for a little, tiny growing body caffeine can wreak havoc on him. Your husband may not feel the effects of caffeine on his own body as if he drinks it often enough, he will become more "immune" to the effects of caffeine. Trace amounts of caffeine on a little one is not good. Which is why they advise nursing moms to only drink things that have no caffeine in them (the caffeine is passed through the breast milk). It will also interfere with your little one's sleep. It will cause learning/motor skills setbacks (the caffeine will speed up his body, but he is in a learning stage and thus won't be able to concentrate/focus). There are many other factors involved as well...such as what is his/her sensitivity level to caffeine?

I would say that you should stress the importance of your little one only drinking water. I know how you feel, though, because my daughter got introduced to fruit juices at a younger age and its been a hassle to get her to drink water. But, if you find having juices around makes it hard for your little one to drink water...get rid of all the juices, pop, etc and only have water. They will follow your lead and if you drink only water, so will they.

Now that Makayla is older and I can reason with her more, I allow her to have 1 glass of straight (no water added) juice with dinner only as long as she has drank her daily req's of water during the day. I should add that we only give her juices that are organic and have NO sugar added (if you read the label, there should just be a list of the fruits used...if it has corn syrup, fructose--added, sucrose, artificial sweetners...pass them by).

I cannot stress how important it is for you to tell your husband to refrain from giving the tea to your child. If your child really likes tea, maybe make him/her some organic chammomile tea before bed...and that will be the bedtime "treat". Chammomile calms the body and the mind and, obviously, has no caffeine. However, make sure that you do not use honey as a sweetner (children under 18-24 months should not consume honey) and also do not use refined sugar (this will counteract the calming effects of the chammomile). The best sweetner is just a few drops of Agave nectar.

Good luck!!

[sashimore]

This is certainly not done! I have seen the ill effects of caffeine in children. Hope by now your kid has already grown a lot and by the grace of god let him be healthy and stout but let me tell this to all those who have toddlers, never appreciate the introduction of caffeine to them even if they demand. Be strict and do not let sympathy take over as this is for the well being of the child only. When the elders are not spared with the ill effects of the same just think what affect it can have on kiddies.