# Diet coke and young kids



## Ruth Goode (Mar 7, 2011)

Today I went to a club with my friend and our 2 years old girls, My friend ordered some drinks for us, I asked for a diet coke (knowing Carly will want some sips from mine as usual) then my friend asked for couple of fruit shoots for the girls and they didn't have it so they offered us fruit juices or high sugar squash instead.  I replied "no, thank you I will have another diet coke then" I was surprised when the bar-lady said "I wouldn't give these children that young some coke!!" 
She is so lucky I was in a good mood, I just said "well, it is the best one for her beacuse she is diabetic!"


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## Northerner (Mar 7, 2011)

Isn't it strange that people think that high sugar squash is a healthy alternative to diet coke? Well done for keeping your cool!


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## Pumper_Sue (Mar 7, 2011)

I suspect she was worried about the acid rotting a small child's teeth.
She would have no idea that Carly was diabetic unless she has a tattoo across her forehead.


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## bev (Mar 7, 2011)

Ruth Goode said:


> Today I went to a club with my friend and our 2 years old girls, My friend ordered some drinks for us, I asked for a diet coke (knowing Carly will want some sips from mine as usual) then my friend asked for couple of fruit shoots for the girls and they didn't have it so they offered us fruit juices or high sugar squash instead.  I replied "no, thank you I will have another diet coke then" I was surprised when the bar-lady said "I wouldn't give these children that young some coke!!"
> She is so lucky I was in a good mood, I just said "well, it is the best one for her beacuse she is diabetic!"



Hi Ruth,

It is amazing that some people feel it is acceptable to make comments about how to parent a child isnt it. It is no-one's business but yours, and as you hadnt asked for her approval then just ignore comments like that. Getting a diabetic child used to drinking fizzy drinks is essential, and, although we all know that these things arent entirely 'healthy' for their teeth etc - they are life-saving for our children so worrying about their teeth is futile when it is saving their life isnt it.Bev


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## Pumper_Sue (Mar 8, 2011)

bev said:


> Hi Ruth,
> 
> Getting a diabetic child used to drinking fizzy drinks is essential, and, although we all know that these things arent entirely 'healthy' for their teeth etc - they are life-saving for our children so worrying about their teeth is futile when it is saving their life isnt it.Bev



Bev I hate to disagree with you, but this is not correct.
As a child I nor my brothers were ever allowed to have fizzy drinks.
It is not essential to treat a hypo with fizzy what so ever.
Funny enough I have never been in hospital due to my diabetes hypo/hyper and never blacked out either. That's after 46 years on insulin. All that is required is glucose in water. or squash if plain water is not acceptable.


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## gewatts (Mar 8, 2011)

It's very annoying when you go out and all that's available is diet coke - Katie is sick of drinking it!!
People's opinions can be annoying too, even if they mean well - some of Katie's friends' mums put little packs of raisins in party bags for her instead of sweets thinking they have no sugar in them!!


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## macast (Mar 8, 2011)

gewatts said:


> It's very annoying when you go out and all that's available is diet coke - Katie is sick of drinking it!!
> People's opinions can be annoying too, even if they mean well - some of Katie's friends' mums put little packs of raisins in party bags for her instead of sweets thinking they have no sugar in them!!




it is all down to education of Joe and Jane Public


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## chrismbee (Mar 8, 2011)

when I was first diagnosed, it was quite rare to find any form of sugar-free drink in a pub, cafe, restaurant - I had to stick with beer! 
Things are a lot easier now, with diet coke (at least) available in most places.


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## Ruth Goode (Mar 8, 2011)

I agreed with you all, I just wish they keep these comments to themselves - in that club apart from water it was diet coke is the best, how annoying - I expect I will have to deal with a lot of these sorts coming up in years to come... bring it on!!


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## Pumper_Sue (Mar 8, 2011)

Ruth Goode said:


> I agreed with you all, I just wish they keep these comments to themselves - in that club apart from water it was diet coke is the best, how annoying - I expect I will have to deal with a lot of these sorts coming up in years to come... bring it on!!



Ruth,
My Mum used to take some undiluted SF squash when we were out as a family. Water was added at the table when we sat down for a meal.
This solved the problem of unsuitable drinks.


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## Adrienne (Mar 8, 2011)

Pumper_Sue said:


> Bev I hate to disagree with you, but this is not correct.
> As a child I nor my brothers were ever allowed to have fizzy drinks.
> It is not essential to treat a hypo with fizzy what so ever.
> Funny enough I have never been in hospital due to my diabetes hypo/hyper and never blacked out either. That's after 46 years on insulin. All that is required is glucose in water. or squash if plain water is not acceptable.



Full sugar coke or lucozade (both fizzy) are the quickest things to treat a hypo with.  They are quicker than a spoonful of sugar.  

It is much easier for the child to be able to drink these and I know that coke has saved my daughter's brain on numerous occasions.

You are very lucky that you have not been hospitalised or blacked out.  Others are not so lucky but this is no reflection on the diabetic person or the parent.  Some people seem to have easier to manage diabetes than others, no idea why, as we all know each person is different.

My daughter has had to have the glucagon injection and often drifted in and out of consciousness.  She showed no symtoms of hypos or hypers (and is still not really).   Type 1 in children is very different to type 1 in adults.

Whilst it is not essential, it is a very good idea to get the children used to both drinks quite frankly.   Squash doesn't work as well and glucose ie in the form of glucotabs or glucojuice just doesn't work at all for some.  

So yes it is a great idea that all children with type 1 get to like the taste of coke and lucozade, it is not essential but it is a fabulous idea and in some cases needed.

And yes Ruth, bar staff and other parents should just keep their mouth shut otherwise we could start on about MacDonalds milkshakes etc etc


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## Pumper_Sue (Mar 8, 2011)

Adrienne said:


> Full sugar coke or lucozade (both fizzy) are the quickest things to treat a hypo with.  They are quicker than a spoonful of sugar.
> No quicker than glucose in water or squash. and a lot cheaper.
> It is much easier for the child to be able to drink these and I know that coke has saved my daughter's brain on numerous occasions.
> Erm yep you drink squash/water with glucose in it.
> ...



I think we are going to have to agree to disagree on this one.


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## Adrienne (Mar 8, 2011)

Pumper_Sue said:


> I think we are going to have to agree to disagree on this one.



Fair enough.  I don't agree with any of your comments.  It takes time to dissolve powered glucose in water, I used to use it when Jessica was a new born baby and having hypos so I have experience of both.  Coke and Lucozade work much faster in my experience.

So yep agree to disagree and people have to do what works for them but if a parent believes that coke or lucozade are the best thing for their child for a hypo then that is their perrogative and should not be criticized for it.


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## Ruth Goode (Mar 8, 2011)

In that club they only have cordial squash that no way I will allowed Carly to have it, I will prefer diet coke to it anytime - but it is a good idea to carry around a bottle of low sugar squash but is there a travelwise bottle?


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## bev (Mar 8, 2011)

Pumper_Sue said:


> I think we are going to have to agree to disagree on this one.



Hi Sue,

Yes - we will have to agree to disagree. We are told by our teams that fizzy drinks get into the system a lot quicker than anything else - I think it is because of the bubbles, and the advice given to newly diagnosed children these days is to have either lucozade or coke as the coke is the perfect amount for a hypo as it is in the small 'mini cans' and easy to carry round.Bev


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## Pumper_Sue (Mar 8, 2011)

Ruth Goode said:


> In that club they only have cordial squash that no way I will allowed Carly to have it, I will prefer diet coke to it anytime - but it is a good idea to carry around a bottle of low sugar squash but is there a travelwise bottle?



Hi Ruth,
If you look in your local supermarket they have SF still drinks in small bottles. Well worth buying one of those and reusing the bottle for your own squash


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## LouiseB (Mar 8, 2011)

bev said:


> Hi Sue,
> 
> Yes - we will have to agree to disagree. We are told by our teams that fizzy drinks get into the system a lot quicker than anything else - I think it is because of the bubbles, and the advice given to newly diagnosed children these days is to have either lucozade or coke as the coke is the perfect amount for a hypo as it is in the small 'mini cans' and easy to carry round.Bev



My son was dx only 7 months ago and we were told to use juice (apple or orange) as a first option as it is quickly absorbed (he doesnt like fizzy drinks) and it seems to work very well.  In addition as he is only young he only needs a small amount and so I buy the little Calypso Juice Shots (sainsburys sell them in packs of 12) which contain 9.7 carbs which is the perfect amount for a small child (older ones might need more).  They are great and dont need refrigerating so keep some in the car, some in the pantry etc.  He has them at school to treat hypos and no problems with not coming up quickly from hypos.  Also feel happier as coke is really bad for teeth (even sugar free) cos of the acid and at least he's getting a few vitamins thrown in.


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## grahams mum (Mar 8, 2011)

bev said:


> Hi Ruth,
> 
> It is amazing that some people feel it is acceptable to make comments about how to parent a child isnt it. It is no-one's business but yours, and as you hadnt asked for her approval then just ignore comments like that. Getting a diabetic child used to drinking fizzy drinks is essential, and, although we all know that these things arent entirely 'healthy' for their teeth etc - they are life-saving for our children so worrying about their teeth is futile when it is saving their life isnt it.Bev



when i give diet coke to graham(the one without caffeine)the parents always says or i would not give the stuff to my children because they makehim or her hyper  so they dont even understand the difference from normal coke or diet and i use it for graham only for treats otherwise is always water or fruit shoot has been prove as well that if somebody is healthy lots of sugar does not make any difference on a child behaviour is an excuse for bad parenting


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## grahams mum (Mar 8, 2011)

LouiseB said:


> My son was dx only 7 months ago and we were told to use juice (apple or orange) as a first option as it is quickly absorbed (he doesnt like fizzy drinks) and it seems to work very well.  In addition as he is only young he only needs a small amount and so I buy the little Calypso Juice Shots (sainsburys sell them in packs of 12) which contain 9.7 carbs which is the perfect amount for a small child (older ones might need more).  They are great and dont need refrigerating so keep some in the car, some in the pantry etc.  He has them at school to treat hypos and no problems with not coming up quickly from hypos.  Also feel happier as coke is really bad for teeth (even sugar free) cos of the acid and at least he's getting a few vitamins thrown in.



lots of apple juice is very bad for teeth as well is very acidic especially if is from concentrate


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## bev (Mar 8, 2011)

LouiseB said:


> My son was dx only 7 months ago and we were told to use juice (apple or orange) as a first option as it is quickly absorbed (he doesnt like fizzy drinks) and it seems to work very well.  In addition as he is only young he only needs a small amount and so I buy the little Calypso Juice Shots (sainsburys sell them in packs of 12) which contain 9.7 carbs which is the perfect amount for a small child (older ones might need more).  They are great and dont need refrigerating so keep some in the car, some in the pantry etc.  He has them at school to treat hypos and no problems with not coming up quickly from hypos.  Also feel happier as coke is really bad for teeth (even sugar free) cos of the acid and at least he's getting a few vitamins thrown in.



Hi Louise,

I used to use apple juice for hypo's because I felt the same as you - it is one of their 'five a day' and works for a hypo - until the day it stopped working.Alex had a hypo during the night and had so much apple juice - but it didnt work. The reason is because it contains 'fructrose' rather then 'glucose' and this means that it has a longer profile than 'glucose'. So if there is a low hypo and you give apple or orange juice, there may be the chance that it wont work and you end up in hospital. I have also been told that it is much better to worry about brain damage than it is to worry about the whiteness of the teeth. I know this might sound dramatic, but I think that there are so many other more important things to worry about in diabetes than how white teeth are.Bev


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## Adrienne (Mar 8, 2011)

Hiya

Yep Bev's right.  Much better to protect the brain than the teeth.  If you use a straw however there is the chance that it is going straight down the throat rather than hanging around the teeth, most of it anyway.

Juice is not always great for hypos.  If it works for the moment, great but it could stop work or not work quick enough.

We can't use juice at all or any other squash etc.    The bubbles do help and coke and lucozade are like putting a drip into a vein, even medical professionals at GOSH have told me that !

Unfortunately it matters not how old the child is as to how much quick acting carbs are used.   You just get the feel for what works well for your child.   If my daughter is 3.5 and above (under 4 though) she has half a can of long acting coke, ie about 7 or 8 cho.   If she is under 2.5 ish then she may well need two cokes or 1.5 cokes so between 23 and 30 cho, inbetween that and one can (small party sized can) is perfect and is 15 cho.


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## LouiseB (Mar 8, 2011)

I'm not worried about whiteness of teeth so much as cavities!!  He drinks through a straw which bypasses his teeth more or less anyway. Will bear in mind what you say about fructose VS glucose but coke contains sucrose which also needs breaking down into glucose. Anyway whatever works!!


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## LouiseB (Mar 8, 2011)

Just to clarify I only give juice to treat a hypo so I would called 85 mls to treat the odd hypo lots but I get your point.


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## LouiseB (Mar 8, 2011)

Re above reply was in referenc to Grahames mum  comment.


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## bev (Mar 8, 2011)

LouiseB said:


> I'm not worried about whiteness of teeth so much as cavities!!  He drinks through a straw which bypasses his teeth more or less anyway. Will bear in mind what you say about fructose VS glucose but coke contains sucrose which also needs breaking down into glucose. Anyway whatever works!!



Hi Louise

As long as you give water after drinking coke or similar - the damage to teeth is negligable compared to possible brain damage.Bev


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## LouiseB (Mar 8, 2011)

bev said:


> Hi Louise
> 
> As long as you give water after drinking coke or similar - the damage to teeth is negligable compared to possible brain damage.Bev



Tbh I think your references to brain damage are a bit alarmist. I will certainly be aware that juice may one day not work and if I need to use fizzy coke in the middle of the night then I will but in the meanwhile I don't think it necessary and I think that most kids would find a drink of apple juice more palatable than fizzy coke or lucozadd but each to their own.


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## bev (Mar 8, 2011)

LouiseB said:


> Tbh I think your references to brain damage are a bit alarmist. I will certainly be aware that juice may one day not work and if I need to use fizzy coke in the middle of the night then I will but in the meanwhile I don't think it necessary and I think that most kids would find a drink of apple juice more palatable than fizzy coke or lucozadd but each to their own.



Hi Louise,

I am sorry you feel that way. But the truth of the matter is that if a hypo deteriorates to a level that means fits or siezure or worse - then that is a reality, and although it is not nice to hear, it is what may happen if a particular treatment does not work. If the brain is deprived of glucose for any length of time it starts to deteriorate and damage occurs. If your child is not used to drinking fizzy drinks then this might come as a shock if there is an emergency situation - so I would recommend trying a diet coke or similar as the texture is very different to a 'flat' drink.Bev


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## LouiseB (Mar 8, 2011)

bev said:


> Hi Louise,
> 
> I am sorry you feel that way. But the truth of the matter is that if a hypo deteriorates to a level that means fits or siezure or worse - then that is a reality, and although it is not nice to hear, it is what may happen if a particular treatment does not work. If the brain is deprived of glucose for any length of time it starts to deteriorate and damage occurs. If your child is not used to drinking fizzy drinks then this might come as a shock if there is an emergency situation - so I would recommend trying a diet coke or similar as the texture is very different to a 'flat' drink.Bev



Yes i am aware that a severe hypo if left untreated can result in seizures etc. but that would be a (hopefully!) extremely rare event.  Yes quite, fizzy drinks are very different to flat and hard to guzzle quickly - have tried him with diet coke as often the only option when out apart from water but he will not tolerate it!


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## bev (Mar 8, 2011)

LouiseB said:


> Yes i am aware that a severe hypo if left untreated can result in seizures etc. but that would be a (hopefully!) extremely rare event.  Yes quite, fizzy drinks are very different to flat and hard to guzzle quickly - have tried him with diet coke as often the only option when out apart from water but he will not tolerate it!



Hi Louise,

Have you tried letting the coke go flat - sometimes this is more palatable if a child doesnt like fizzy drinks - but means they are getting the 'quick' glucose when they need it.Bev


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## Northerner (Mar 8, 2011)

This thread seems to have diverged quite a lot from the original post, which was about a comment about diet drinks and not what is a suitable hypo treatment, which has been discussed at great length elsewhere sp I will close this thread now. Thanks to everyone for their input - clearly some divergence of opinion.


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