Gatorade a NO! NO!

[Leigh]

Hi, everyone! How is everyone doing? Earlier this week I went to a staff meeting at the center where I work and I found out something that I did not know. We had a guest speaker and she was talking about keeping kids safe. She said that you are not supposed to give children gatorade or any drink with electrolytes unless they have had vomiting and diarreah(sp?). She said that sports drinks have too many electrolytes for children to process. I did not know that and many of the other caregivers did not either, so I thought that I would let all of you know. I hope everyone has a great day. :)

[Diane]

I also had never heard of this. Thanks for letting us know! :)

[beth c]

Leigh-is this toddler age or even older than that? I have 2 boys-6 & 8 yo. Would this apply to them? I let them have Powerade, especially when they are competing in tae kwon do tournaments.

[KarlaB]

Interesting info -I had never heard that before either. Thanks for passing it on!!

[Leigh]

I am not sure of the exact ages of this. The speaker said it was okay for older children and teenagers who sweat more, and I would think that if they are competing they are just replacing the electrolytes that they are losing through sweating. I do believe that the speaker was refering to serving the sports drinks on a daily basis,but I would also ask my doctor as a second opinion because she only mentioned this at the end of ur staff meeting and did not give us enough time to really ask questions about it ourselves. If you ask your doctor, let me know what you find out.



[Edited by Leigh on 02-20-2001 at 02:20 PM]

[TXmom]

I remember a cross-country coach in high school telling us to mix it half and half with water - said it has too much salt in it.

[Linda/NE]

I had heard that you weren't supposed to give those to kids that WERE vomiting and having diarrhea. I never heard that they shouldn't have them at all.

We don't usually get stuff like that anyway, but it's nice to know. Thanks!!