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Original poster

Is diet coke really bad for small children?

134 replies

AndiPandi · 18/04/2014 22:54

Read all sorts about artificial sweeteners etc, if child really wants coke (as a treat) would it be better to give normal or coke zero?

OP posts:
EhricLovesTheBhrothers · 19/04/2014 08:17

I wouldn't give coke to a child because of the caffeine. I would let DS have lemonade or orangina as a treat. I would avoid sweeteners at all to be honest.

TheNumberfaker · 19/04/2014 08:26

Any cola is bad for small children.

ilovepowerhoop · 19/04/2014 08:30

I let mine have diet coke if they want it. DD (10) doesnt like fizzy drinks so tends to choose something else whereas ds (7) likes most fizzy drinks but also likes water. They only really get fizzy drinks at the weekends.

I have noticed no difference in moods/temperament/anything else when they have drunk diet coke.

WhoKnowsWhereTheChocolateGoes · 19/04/2014 08:31

Everything in moderation. We don't have it at home any more as I thought DH and I were drinking too much of it and the habit might transfer to the DCs, but we both drink it in pubs and restaurants sometimes and let the DCs (8 and 10 now, but been doing it for several years) have some of ours. They normally have fruit juice, appletiser or orangina. Never noticed any adverse effect on any of us from it.

We were banned from coke as children and it did make it very desirable once I was old enough to buy my own.

KayVerinder · 19/04/2014 08:38

I too am addicted to diet coke. Giving up smoking was way easier.

I never let my DC have it, I prefer them to have lemonade instead.

We should have a diet coke detox thread.

LynetteScavo · 19/04/2014 10:00

If it comes down to coke or diet coke I order my DC regular coke because I don't like them having aspartame.

No fruit shoots in lunch boxes here, but I won't start fussing if uncle bob buys them a coke to drink in the pub garden.

2blackcats2 · 19/04/2014 10:05

Me too, kay. I did manage to give up once, at the start of 2013 - it was horrific. The comedown was awful and I felt as if I was coming off heroin, not diet coke!

Sallystyle · 19/04/2014 10:07

There is no proper proof that aspartame is unsafe. Just a lot of scaremongering with no scientific proof to back it up. If you look at the research it has been proven safe time and time again.

Unless you have an intolerance to it you are going to need a shit ton to get over the allowed recommendation. There is no basis for the fear mongering of aspartame and there are tons of scientific studies to back that up. You can google and find a lot of scare stories but there is nothing to back that up.

I allow my children to have some diet coke if we go out to eat as a treat.

I am addicted to pepsi max. I don't drink tea, only have one coffee a day as I don't like it much so it is pepsi max for me.

UriGeller · 19/04/2014 10:08

Why is it a "treat"? You could just as easily say its a "punishment"!

If you have to "treat" a 4yo, treat them to an iced smoothie, or a fucking strawberry or something. Jeeeeeeez

ilovepowerhoop · 19/04/2014 10:09

i get ds diet coke (sometimes) as he has bad enamel on his first adult molars (probably due to chicken pox at 5½ months old) and I prefer not to give him highly sugary drinks

BerylStreep · 19/04/2014 10:12

Coke is dreadful stuff, for both adults and children. If you have an old baby tooth try dropping it into a glass of coke overnight and see what happens. It will completely dissolve.

My DC (8 & 6) have never tasted the stuff, nor do they want to.

SystemIDUnknown · 19/04/2014 10:12

Themockingjay - ds1 is 6, and I have a 14 year old sister.

Occasionally I let the kids (ds1,6 and ds2,4) have a 'cup of tea' - pretty much water, milk and a tea bag dunked once. When we were at my mums the other day, my sister offered to make the drinks. Ds's asked for a cup of tea, fine, my sister has made it before.

About 10 minutes later I noticed ds1 was looking shifty about something...went to investigate and he was nearly finished on a full size (fairly strong) cup of coffee, instead of the tea i'd thought he was drinking. I asked my sister what the hell she was doing and she said ds1 had told her that I'd said it was OK for him to have coffee, as long as she didn't give it to ds2 as he was too little!

As far as i'm aware he's never tasted coffee before, he said he loved it though, weird child.

UriGeller · 19/04/2014 10:12

Its the citric acid in fizzy drinks not just the sugar that will kill teeth. Better off giving him water.

ParkingFred · 19/04/2014 10:15

I don't get why you would give a 4 year old coke? And make it a treat, wtf?

Way too young to be drinking this crap.

Hissy · 19/04/2014 10:18

Why would anyone give a child a coke? Why not an espresso?

There are plenty of 'fizzy' drinks that don't have highly addictive qualities.

Why not juice with carbonated water? Anything but coke/pepsi etc

Pimpf · 19/04/2014 10:19

A 4 year old can have many things as a treat. Wtf woul you give them coke? It'll send them drool ally and hyper, then they get told off for being hyper.

Some people are so stupid.

Itsfab · 19/04/2014 10:19

Why would you give your child crap as a "treat?" So many other things your child could have that is healthy and still tasty and nice. I make my children a drink that is alien green - so looks fun - but is full of good stuff and they love it.

Preciousbane · 19/04/2014 10:21

This reply has been deleted

Message withdrawn at poster's request.

Pumpkinette · 19/04/2014 10:25

Don't do it. I'm a fully fledged Pepsi max addict and I wouldn't recommend it, it has more sweeteners than diet drinks. My mum let us have fizzy drinks as children and I never really stopped (did quit for a couple of years and the withdrawal headaches were awful). There is no way I would let my DD drink this stuff, she gets squash or water for a drink.

My DD is 4 and has had a sip before (once) but didn't like it. For a 'treat' drink she gets fizzy flavoured water once a fortnight. PIL have it in the table with Sunday dinner and I allow her a small glass. Not as evil as fizzy drinks like coke / diet coke but still not a good idea to drink all the time. Could you perhaps get away with something like that OP. Most supermarkets do flavoured fizzy water (lemon and lime, strawberry etc)

ilovepowerhoop · 19/04/2014 10:26

I dont regard it as a treat, just another thing to drink. DS mainly drinks water/squash but at weekends can have fizzy with his dinner whether that is lemonade, coke, irn bru, etc (we have the diet versions)

None of the drinks make my children doo lally and hyper so no problems with giving them

ilovepowerhoop · 19/04/2014 10:27

pepsi max is a diet drink (maximum taste, no sugar is the tagline)

2blackcats2 · 19/04/2014 10:30

Ok - I can answer the 'why would you!' questions.

I've never been permitted full sugar drinks and usually the only diet drink widely available is diet coke or Pepsi. In supermarkets there is more of a choice but the no calorie options are coke as a rule.

If you are out for a meal and your child wants a drink that isn't water - and fair enough you might say 'tough!' but children like something different too - then something like J20 might be better but is expensive and in any case is more full of sugar than coke, probably. If avoiding sugar is your aim you're stuck with water or diet coke, usually. That's how I got addicted though to be honest - it was given to me in copious amounts as a kid Blush

ilovepowerhoop · 19/04/2014 10:34

dd likes fresh orange and lemonade if we are out or in the past dd/ds have had lime cordial with water as an alternative to fizzy.

gamerwidow · 19/04/2014 10:37

The caffeine makes it less than ideal and it is essentially an "empty" food. However as samu2 said up thread the idea that aspartame is bad for you has been comprehensively debunked by numerous scientific studies.
I think fine as occasional drink. My 3yo dd will sometimes have a bit of my can of diet coke because she likes to be like mum.

Pagwatch · 19/04/2014 10:41

I've brought up three children saying 'nope, you are not having coke. It's full of shite and really bad for you'
They don't drink it. Shocking eh?