Caffiene
 

I read on another thread about allowing your children to have some soda every once in a while. I was wondering how many of you are concerned with Caffiene? I won't allow any of my daughters to have it.

Rachel

It's pretty hard to keep kids completely caffeine free. Do you allow them to have chocolate or anything with chocolate in it? It's got caffeine in it.
While I certainly wouldn't recommend a steady diet of caffeine for children, I don't think that allowing it once in a while is harmful. My DH's parents allowed him to have coffee and tea from a young age (watered down considerably with milk, I might add) and it doesn't seem to have harmed him or stunted his growth...he's almost 6 feet tall.
When it comes to soda pop, I'm more concerned with the calcium leaching effect of the phosphoric acid that carbonated beverages contain whether they have caffeine in them or not, which is why pop is a rare (maybe once every couple of weeks) treat for my girls.

I just re-read my post and it looks like I was saying I won't let them have ANY caffiene, what I meant was caffienated pop.

They don't eat a lot of chocolate, but even if they did it nowhere compares to a can of Mountain Dew. Perhaps my kids are just sensitive, but on the few occasions where someone else has given them caffienated soda, they were like monsters! LOL

I remember hearing about baby coffee from an italian family. The little kids would feel grown up for being allowed to have coffee. What it really was mostly was sweetened milk with a small splash of coffee :)

Does caffine stunt growth btw, or is that one of those food myths?

I think not giving your kids caffine pop is a good idea. Why get them addcted to something this early on. Yes there is caffine in many things, but I have seen full blown coke addicts that are extreamly young. They also don't need the stimulent. They are wired for sound as is.

If your kids really enjoy sodas, maybe get diet Rite or another caffine free, sugar free soda. Or make your own italian sodas using seltzer water and flavored syrups.

If someone is giving them mountain dew, it's not just the caffine but a sugar punch as well. The monster part could come from being over excited at getting a treat too. I can get my son bouncing off the walls with no sugar or caffine needed at times :)

If you are worried about caffine you might also want to look at hot chocolate, it's loaded. Instead use something like ovalteen, homade chocoalte and so on.