How safe is stevia for a 3yo?

[amberskyfire]

It's almost impossible to get DD to drink anything. Sometimes she will drink milk and rarely water. She will drink juice, but only full juice, not watered down. She won't drink any kind of herbal tea.

Recently, my husband let her try some of his Sobe Lifewater which is natural and sweetened with stevia. DD LOVES it, so I let her have some. Lately, it seems like that's the only thing she will drink when she won't drink anything else and she will drink lots of it.

How safe is stevia for little kids? I keep getting conflicting info and all of it for adults. DD is very prone to bladder infections and gets super constipated, so I need to figure something out. Should I just bite the bullet and give her juice to drink most of the time? I'm worried about the sugar content and whether it will cause her to get even more infections.

[lifeguard]

What happens if you just flat out refuse the juice altogether. Water, milk or nothing. We just do not offer juice, ever so it's not a fight, but as she is already drinking juice regularly it would probably take a few days for her to accept the new rule.

As for the stevia - not sure. Imo it's still creating a habit of only drinking sweetened things which long term just is not ideal. We really try to avoid drinking calories here.

[mkksmom]

I was able to bring my dd down from half juice to 1/4 to 1/6 juice gradually. If you do it slowly, she won't notice. Also, I used to put yobaby or yobaby smoothies (just a dash) in my dd's milk to get her to drink. She is similar with not drinking. At 7, I still have to remind her to drink. I gradually weaned her off of the yogurt in milk as well because I didn't want her used to sweet drinks. She now sees juice as a treat and is the only 7 YO i know who drinks it with 3/4 water. I personally wouldn't allow the stevia until I was sure it was safe. I'd just shoot for 2 cups of milk and a max of 4 oz of juice until you can gradually get her down to less and less water. Once she has had enough to be hydrated, I might go to straight water and nothing else.

[amberskyfire]

She won't drink, that's just it. I usually refuse her other things. She barely drinks anything at all - maybe 2 cups of fluid a day at the most. It's crazy. I'm really worried about her. The only way to get her to drink more is to give her the stuff she really wants. Otherwise, she just goes without. I've tried sippy cups, straws - everything. The novelty of the thing only lasts about a day and then she doesn't care anymore. I used to not offer anything but water and she never drank. That's why I began introducing juice several months ago. She's allowed 2 of the tiny juice boxes a week which I don't think is that much.
 

Originally Posted by lifeguard 

What happens if you just flat out refuse the juice altogether. Water, milk or nothing. We just do not offer juice, ever so it's not a fight, but as she is already drinking juice regularly it would probably take a few days for her to accept the new rule.

As for the stevia - not sure. Imo it's still creating a habit of only drinking sweetened things which long term just is not ideal. We really try to avoid drinking calories here.

[amberskyfire]

I can't bring her down from it because I never started her on full juice. I started her on 1/2 juice and she wouldn't touch it then. Over the months, I upped it, trying to get her to drink something. She will take apple juice, but never with any water in it now. She will take milk, but it's expensive, so we can't always afford it. I guess it's better than nothing. I'll just have to cut back on something else to afford it. It's really frustrating!
 

Originally Posted by mkksmom 

I was able to bring my dd down from half juice to 1/4 to 1/6 juice gradually. If you do it slowly, she won't notice. Also, I used to put yobaby or yobaby smoothies (just a dash) in my dd's milk to get her to drink. She is similar with not drinking. At 7, I still have to remind her to drink. I gradually weaned her off of the yogurt in milk as well because I didn't want her used to sweet drinks. She now sees juice as a treat and is the only 7 YO i know who drinks it with 3/4 water. I personally wouldn't allow the stevia until I was sure it was safe. I'd just shoot for 2 cups of milk and a max of 4 oz of juice until you can gradually get her down to less and less water. Once she has had enough to be hydrated, I might go to straight water and nothing else.

[Wolfcat]

Stevia is fine for kids. It is an herb with a sweet taste, so it's like sugar without the calories or cavities.

[mkksmom]

My dd weighs 24 pounds, and really she only needs 12 oz of liquid per day. Once I read and was told by my chiropractor that the amount of ounces they need is their weight divided by 2, I stopped worrying. Once my dd has had 2 cups, I know she's good.