Your kiddo is sick. Sick with the latest cold, flu, stomach virus, or whatever that is going around. The first thing you remember is to keep your sick kiddo hydrated, right? Right. Parenting 101.
What is the first thing that pops into your head when you think of kids and hydration when sick? Yep…Pedialyte! Pedialyte in the plastic liters and/or the freezer pops.
But, if you think Pedialyte is safe…think again. All it takes is a quick look at the ingredients and you know that it is NOT safe to drink.
Let’s look, shall we?
Ingredients for Pedialyte: Strawberry Flavor
Water, Dextrose. Less than 2% of the Following: Citric Acid, Potassium Citrate, Salt, Sodium Citrate, Natural Flavor, Sucralose, Acesulfame Potassium, Zinc Gluconate, Red 40, and Blue 1. (Source: Pedialyte Website).
Pedialyte Freezer Pops
Water, Anhydrous Dextrose. Less than 2% of the Following: Citric Acid, Salt, Sodium Carboxymethylcellulose, Potassium Citrate, Potassium Sorbate, Sodium Benzoate, Sucralose, Acesulfame Potassium, and Grape also contains Natural and Artificial Grape Flavor, Red 40, and Blue 1; Cherry also contains Natural and Artificial Cherry Flavor and Red 40; Orange also contains Natural and Artificial Orange Flavor, Yellow 6, and Red 40; Blue Raspberry also contains Natural and Artificial Blue Raspberry Flavor, and Blue 1. (Source: Pedialyte Website)
I can’t even begin to go through these long lists of ingredients and decipher them for you {well, I could but the kids wake up from naptime soon}. Let’s look at the three that stand out the most:
- Dextrose- this is made from starch {usually corn} so that screams GMOs
- Natural Flavors- well this could mean anything- including beaver butt {no…that is NOT a typo}.
- Artificial Food Dyes- recent studies show that food dyes are not safe to ingest. They are currently banned in other countries because they have been PROVEN to cause chromosomal damage, cancer, and tumors (source: Food Matters TV- Top Ten Food Additives to Avoid).
Yum. Drink up my sick kiddos. I’m sure these ingredients will help you fight off your illness (said no mom ever).
I’ve been giving my kiddos this awesome 3-ingredient concoction since 2010, the year J was born. It was right when I started to dabble into natural things AND I didn’t want to pay $1,472 for one liter of Pedialyte.
Seriously, it costs that much (at least to my bank account).
And what are you paying $1,427 for? Ingredients that could MAKE YOUR CHILD MORE SICK. Awesome.
How and why are these ingredients in a drink that we give to sick kids? Why are doctors recommending this drink to parents? I can’t figure it out. You?
All kids need to stay hydrated are three things I already have in my kitchen: sugar, water, and salt. Period. Done.
No nasty ingredients.
The recipe is so simple, takes less than 5 minutes to make it, and it tastes super sweet so kids like it!
You Will Need:
8 cups distilled water
1/4 cup organic cane sugar
1 teaspoon of unrefined salt
1/2 Gallon Container (pitcher, mason jar, anything that is 1/2 gallon)
1/2 cup organic juice OR 4 drops essential oils for flavor.
- Warm 2 cups of water until hot (this is to dissolve the salt and sugar).
- Add hot water, sugar, and salt to a bowl. Stir until salt and sugar are dissolved.
- Pour the hot water mixture into your 1/2 gallon container.
- Add remaining 6 cups of water to container. If using juice or essential oils add them to container. Cover.
- Shake container.
- Store in fridge and serve cold.
*My kiddos will drink this plain but if yours won’t you can add in organic juice or essential oils. Make sure the juice you are adding doesn’t have bad ingredients {CHECK YOUR LABELS}. My kiddos love orange essential oil OR lemon & lime essential oil in this recipe. I LOVE adding the citrus essential oils because they push toxins out of the body at the same time the homemade Pedialyte hydrates. DOUBLE WHAMMY!
**To make freezer pops: add the finished recipe to freezer pop molds and freeze. Simple as that!
***I recommend unrefined sugar and salt. You CAN use refined sugar and salt if that is all you have on hand.
Happy homemade Pedialyte making! Hope the kid(dos) feel better soon!
- 8 cups distilled water
- ¼ cup organic cane sugar
- 1 teaspoon of unrefined salt
- ½ Gallon Container (pitcher, mason jar, anything that is ½ gallon)
- ½ cup organic juice OR 4 drops essential oils for flavor {please make sure your essential oils are SAFE to ingest}. (OPTIONAL)
- Warm 2 cups of water until hot (this is to dissolve the salt and sugar).
- Add hot water, sugar, and salt to a bowl. Stir until salt and sugar are dissolved.
- Pour the hot water mixture into your ½ gallon container.
- Add remaining 6 cups of water to container. If using juice or essential oils add them to container. Cover.
- Shake container.
- Store in fridge and serve cold.
*To make freezer pops: add the finished recipe to freezer pop molds and freeze. Simple as that!
***I recommend unrefined sugar and salt. You CAN use refined sugar and salt if that is all you have on hand.
Happy homemade Pedialyte making! Hope the kid(dos) feel better soon!
Shared on: Backyard Farming Connection, Homemade Mondays, Homestead Barn Hop, Natural Living Monday, Tuesday’s With a Twist,
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I make this with maple syrup instead of cane sugar and add a few drops of vanilla extract.
This post made for a very interesting read! I didn’t realise those freezer pops had all those ingredients in! :-/
Thanks for linking up at the Talented Tuesday Link Party!
Pedialite doesn’t sound much better than Gatorade for sports stars… amazing what the food industry gets away with!
I make rejuvalic from wheat berries (great for electrolytes) and I suppose could be doctored for better kid-friendly flavor, but all in all I do notice a difference drinking it… and making congee when I do start up solid foods again.
Thanks for sharing your recipe!
Nice article with a great suggestion on avoiding all the dyes in pedialyte!
One thing – calling dextrose (which is glucose) “GMO” is unnecessarily scaring people IMO. Glucose is a simple sugar with the molecular formula C6H12O6. There are no genetics involved at all. It’s a processed food product so basically nothing is left but the chemical sugar glucose. People throw the GMO term around so much these days. Now I agree with you that cane sugar is vastly better to consume because it has slightly more complex sugars and traces of amino acids since it’s a less refined product.
The thing to really stay away from is the food dye! Yuk.
Thanks for the article.