To think under 5s should not have Diet Coke.

[MagicMary1]

I just think when parents give their children Diet Coke. They must have a lack of understanding regarding the awful ingredients like aspartame. Or they don't care.

I'm sorry who honestly thinks Diet Coke is healthier than fat coke.

I try and avoid cola and soft drinks for my children, but when they have them I make sure they have the sugar ones as I'd rather them have a bit of sugar then cancer causing chemicals.

I'm not even a food snob. I just hate diet drinks let alone dc having them.

[80schild]

Anyone that uses the term fat coke is themselves ignorant of using an incorrect term. I let my kids have a bit now and again. It is personal choice.

[Boogers]

Thank you Everstrong, you took the words out of my mouth. A young child eating Haribo or drinking regular Coke or Lucozade or Ribena is obviously neglected and in dire need of social services intervention, even when said sugar filled crap is saving their life because they're having a hypo!

I no longer care about the looks I get when DD eats or drinks what she does, nor do I care when she's gone the other way and is having a full scale meltdown due to being hyper.

Some parents would have you believe their farts smell of roses and that their precious DC have never even seen the colour red, let alone a Coke bottle. And heavens forbid someone offers them a glass of sugar free dilute cordial!

Rant over. Who's for a cherryade ice cream float?

[Clandestino]

Rant over. Who's for a cherryade ice cream float?

I will join you with my Gino's pistachio, double chocolate and tiramisu ice-cream. With extra toffee sauce on top.

[kali110]

Not this crap again.
aspartame= cancer! How come it's still in our food then
The only studies that showed any link to cancer was in massive massive quantities! The same thing can be said about bacon yet nobody is saying bacon sandwiches are the work of the devil

[kali110]

Clandestino that sounds lovely

[Boogers]

Bacon sandwiches are the work of the devil, that's why they taste soooo good!

[Cheerybigbottom]

Aspartame doesn't bother me, but I wouldn't be giving children of that age caffeinated drink. My boy is 5 and just starting to have zero sugar lemonade or 'fizzy orange' at special occasions, he knows Coke is for grown ups.

I don't think children need caffeine, or maybe it's just my boy who's like a rocket and I'd dread to think what caffeine would do to him.

[Nzou1050]

Sugar is really bad for you and there's almost double a child's daily allowance in a can of coke. I'm reading a book called Fat Chance the hidden truth about Sugar, Obesity & Disease by Dr Robert Lustig and sugar does drastic things to the body. I think YABU for considering sugar better than aspartame as there is now lots of work being published on how dangerous sugar really is.

I wouldn't want to give my 3 year old any version of coke. Do give him no added sugar squash though as I think it's better for his teeth and doesn't have all the effects on the body sugar has like messing up your insulin levels and all the knock on effects.

[Prawnofthepatriarchy]

According to my dentist, one of the worst drinks for children is apple juice, and my DS's dietitian told me that artificial sweeteners are safe, while most people still don't register how much sugar there is in fruit juice. There's a lot of misinformation around about drinks, and some of it is being proposed by OP.

[dementedpixie]

Whoever is giving irn bru to their child instead of coke because they want to avoid caffeine is a bit deluded as irn bru has plenty of caffeine and artificial colours like E110 (linked to hyperactivity in children). Doesn't affect my kids though. I let mine have fizzy diet drinks but dd prefers squash to fizzy

Also milk is not full of fat. Full fat milk is around 4% fat so hardly going to make you pile on the pounds

[SVJAA]

Demented wrong I may well be, deluded? I didn't realise about Irn Bru, will remember that in future. Snotty way of saying so though eh? Charming

[fakenamefornow]

I'll reserve my Judgement for uninformed conspiracy theorists thanks very much. I bet you don't vaccinate either.

[fakenamefornow]

Nzou1050

Re sugar. I remember reading years ago that if we never had refined sugar in our diets and it was just discovered now, it would never be approved for human consumption because of the damage to teeth alone, never mind anything else. Sugar, all natural though eh, so must be good, just like tobacco.

[WhooooAmI24601]

Friends of ours have DCs of a similar age to ours (11 and 5). They're quite strict on sugar intake, and particularly snooty about sweets and drinks. We went out to supper with a few other families we know one night not long ago and their DCs had J2O drinks, at least 5 or 6 each through the night, while she ranted about other DCs being allowed a glass of cola. DH pointed out that J2O's also contain sugar and she muttered about "different types of sugar" and left early after both DCs became absolutely frantic, presumably because of their sugar overload. Ours had one cola then a glass of milk, but she was adamant 6 J2O's contained nowhere near the levels of sugar one glass of cola did.

I tend to find it's the people ranting loudest who need the most education when it comes to other people's food and drink choices.

[dontbesillyhenry]

You're right. They should have full sugar, in a baby bottle. Much better for the teeth. Irn bru is even better.

[NerrSnerr]

I assume the OP is a GF as no one can be that dim to talk about people lacking understanding and then just posing a very generic link from Google which looks like a load of bollocks. I don't think my 2 year old has had Diet Coke at all- if she has would have been a sip but I know she wouldn't like it anyway. I would give her a tiny amount if she wanted but am in the 'everything in moderation' camp.

[LBOCS2]

I'm of the 'everything in moderation' view. DD1 has had coke before - she gets a small glass when we go to the pub. It's her 'treat' and means we can sit and have a meal and a drink without her moaning too much. Taken as a whole it makes up a tiny part of her diet (we go to the pub to eat maybe once every six weeks) and she eats very well the rest of the time. No, it's not great for her - but there are worse things. She's currently telling me that she's 'cold inside' to get a sip of my coffee for example

We don't have diet drinks in the house but that's because I seem to be sensitive to aspartame so I don't buy it.

[dementedpixie]

SVJAA sorry didn't mean to sound snotty. Deluded was the wrong word. But yes, irn bru isn't the best if you want to avoid caffeine. Lemonade and fizzy orange goes down well here if wanting a caffeine free alternative. Both mine like a fresh orange and lemonade if we are at a pub for lunch

[SVJAA]

Thanks Demented, I honestly didn't realise about Irn Bru, it's not something we have often, and I always thought it was just coke that had caffeine. I'll check properly now.

[LagunaBubbles]

I assume you've got s degree in some sort of science field so where did you go your research OP to conclude that aspartame is "dodgy"? Surely not Google!

[Scaffleen]

I'd never give my child fizzy drinks but if I did it would be the diet version. I've seen what a full fat fizzy drink addiction can do to someone. You don't realise you're consuming that many calories because you're drinking it. It can make a child obese very fast even an active child. Not to mention the state of their teeth and the risk of diabetes. In my opinion sugar is one of the most dangerous substances we allow our kids to consume.

[BananaFrittersForTea]

We used to undertake that pilgrimage regularly Clandestino- until we learned that the Dalai Lama. eats meat for health reasons. We had such an ethical Dalai-llemma, as we called it, follow the man's example as he obviously has so much acumen re health and well-being, or repudiate our spiritual leader for his treachery?

We decided that the only option was to do both. So now we ritually slaughter goats (free-range, organic rare Andean goats of course) as part of our family Meth ceremony.