sugar free drinks at bedtime?

Not to really get into whether or not toddlers should be drinking sugar free stuff, but I was wondering about cavities. The other night I was babysitting my neice & my sil was telling me about her bedtimes & said that she's been giving her hot chocolate to take to bed. I was a bit shocked, but said something about that causing cavities.....she said, "Oh, no it's ok; it's sugar free." I'd always heard to give nothing but water at bedtime, so I was wondering is that true about sugar-free drinks?

 

I wouldn't want my kids getting sugar free drinks at bedtime. I understood that the point was to try and brush out as much of the harmful bacteria as you can and that having sugar on your teeth feeds that bacteria and acts like a glue to keep them on your teeth. Even if it's not sugar free, I would be concerned that sugar free drinks would have the same effect. I agree with the "water only" rule

 

I never let my kids have sugar free ANYTHING. Chemical sweeteners are worst for kids than sugar, in my opinion. I won't eat or drink the stuff, either. if my kids have juice before bed, we brush their teeth before they go to bed.

 

I wouldn't give anything else at bedtime besides water. I know for myself if I drink something other than water after brushing my teeth I wake up feeling like my mouth was pasted shut. I'm not sure about whether or not the 'sugar-free' means anything but I can't see the milk used to make it would be good on your teeth overnight.

 

QUOTE(PurpleNurple @ Dec 29 2007, 06:44 PM) [snapback]550228[/snapback]
I never let my kids have sugar free ANYTHING. Chemical sweeteners are worst for kids than sugar, in my opinion. I won't eat or drink the stuff, either.



Same here. We try to avoid it as much as possible. We only give water before bed.

 

QUOTE(MichelleS @ Dec 29 2007, 09:47 PM) [snapback]550291[/snapback]
I'm not sure about whether or not the 'sugar-free' means anything but I can't see the milk used to make it would be good on your teeth overnight.

I agree. Milk has a lot of natural sugar in it and it will cause tooth decay even if the cocoa mix is sugar free. I, too, don't allow anything but water after they brush their teeth.

I do let the boys sip from my diet Coke (caffeine-free) from time to time. I don't think a small amount could cause any harm (but not before bed).

 

I have to agree with the other posts, I don't give my children anything in the bed at night. I make sure that brushing is the last thing we do and then straight to bed we go.

 

I guess theoretically, it shouldn't cause cavities or decay, but why get them into the habit of taking something "good" to bed to drink. Case in point, my girls have been allowed to take sippy of watered down sugar-free grape koolaid. Never thought anything about it but what's happened is that they are just sucking it down (almost all of it if not all of it) and when they wake up their diapers are SOAKED. It appears that with plain water, they aren't doing this but since the Koolaid tastes so good to them, they are making sure they just suck it all down. It's become such a bad habit now that, for example, last night, Emily laid in bed and cried and cried. I finally went in there and asked her what the problem was and of course she says "I want juice". I made a deal with her that I'd give her just a little bit if she would go to sleep. We shook on it and she held up her end of the deal. I probably gave her about a mini dixie cup full of watered down koolaid. But the point is that THAT'S what got her to sleep. So, we've got to break this mainly because we want them to develop good bed time habits for when they really get going on the whole potty training thing. SO, for this reason alone, I'd say don't give them anything other than water.

 

Personally, I wouldn't want my kids getting sugar-free drinks at all. Those chemicals aren't tested on children.

 

No sugar free here, but never hot chocolate in bed sugar free or not, that is crazy IMO. Water only before bed in this house.

 

Nothing to drink here before bed time...after they brush that is. If they want something its water. That sugarfree stuff is nasty. But everyones different in the way they parent. As someone mentioned even milk will rot teeth.

 

http://www.defeatdiabetes.org/Articles/aspart020100.htm

This is an article addressing some of the issues related to chemical sweeteners there are others related more specifically to children out there, you can look them up.