What Flavor of Pedia Sure Does Your Toddler Like?

Hi G., I am familiar with that routine! My daughter doesn't like to eat in the mornings. I started to give her Ovaltine mixed with her milk, as it has lots of vitamins and minerals. She drinks it as hot chocolate and is cheaper than pedia sure. I have also given her the Carnation Instant Breakfasts on the recommendation of her pediatrician. She likes the chocolate and the strawberry. I feel better about giving her those, since they are full of the good stuff she needs. The ped told me not to worry about the eating in the morning, as she isn't going to let herself starve. Sometimes she will eat if she's in the mood. She likes bread with jelly in the mornings, or croissants (because they are different). Hope this helps, and best of luck to you!

Hi G.,
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My daughter likes the Vanilla only. I buy the Nutripals at Target, much cheaper. She uses them for snacks...

To be honest though, I wouldn't stress his not eating. I understand you wanting to get him nutrition, but, he may not be hungry. It is hard to see our kids eat so little when just under a year ago they ate us out of house and home!! Try not to make food an issue..he's old enough to get your anxiety about food and use it. If you are going to introduce the pediasure (nutripals) I wouldn't place any special emphasis on it...just tell him you thought he would like it and leave it.

Take Care

Have you tried to give him Carnation instant Breakfast? I did for my daughter when I weaned her at 16 months from breastfeeding. She didn't eat much for breakfast either and I was concerned. I use 1/4 cup to a tall sippy cup of milk. It has protein and vitamins etc. She likes the milk chocolate flavor. My friend tried strawberry with her son and he didn't like it. I buy it at costco or sams club because it is cheaper and I empty the packets into a container and measure it out that way. Every 2 packets make 3 sippy cups approx. She is 4 1/2 now and still likes a cup at night before going to bed.

I personally would find a different solution for your son's nutritional needs. My nephew started drinking Pediasure at about 2 years old, when his hair started falling out from lack of nutrition. The doctor recommended it for him at the time. He sometimes still drinks it and he is six! He prefers to drink it to any foods and knows that if he doesn't eat dinner, he will get Pediasure. Yeah I wouldn't eat dinner either if I knew I would get dessert anyway!

Have you tried smoothies? How about hiding fruits and veggies in foods he does like? My daughter is 2.5 and only weighs 24lbs. Our doctor has never recommended that we give her a vitamin, let alone Pediasure. I just feel strongly that if a child is hungry they will eat. It is our job as parents to provide the most nutritious foods to them when they do request to eat something. Cut out crackers, cookies and processed foods. They seem to fill their bellies more when they are eating whole, fresh foods. It might cost a little more, but not nearly as expensive as Pediasure. I hope you don't take offense to my post, but I really wouldn't even try Pediasure since there are so many hidden sugars in it!

G.,

I would really explore what is actually in those drinks before you give it to your son. Marketing can make it look like things are healthy and good when they really are not. There are a lot of hidden sugars in practically everything (even bread!), which have the unwanted side effect of lowering the immune system.

Another scary fact I have learned in the last year is that the American Heart Association, American Cancer society, American Lung assn. as well as several others, no longer reccomend the use of antioxidant vitamin supplements. Many vitamins are not bio-available, meaning your body does not absorb them. And in numerous other studies, vitamins have actually caused harm. One of the major problems is that there is no oversight in the vitamin industry. Companies are free to put in or leave out whatever they choose, as well as borrow research from anywhere they choose and apply it to their own product. Not very scrupulous, but legal.

About a year and a half ago a pediatric specialist reccomended a product called Juice Plus for my kids. Juice Plus is fruits, vegitables and grains in a capsule, chewable or gummy. It's not a vitamin (which are synthetic), it's actually food. The company grows all of their own produce, it's organic and vine ripened, and then it is superjuiced and dehydrated, preserving the nutritional essence. What is left is the nutrition from 17 different fruits, vegitables and grains. It comes to about 10 servings a day.

What is really unique about Juice Plus is all the independant research that has been done at major universities all over the world. Juice Plus studies have been published in many prestigious medical journals, such as the journal for the American College of Cardiology. Because of all the research, it's also been FDA analyzed numerous times.

After learning about all the research, and reading a lot about the state of nutrition in this country, I decided to dedicate myself to teaching others. I do wellness presentations in my home and educate people. It's very rewarding. Wether people decide to take Juice Plus, is their decision. In addition to understanding about Juice plus, I want people to take away a lot of information they can apply in their lives.

To learn more about Juice Plus, please visit my website, www.nutritionwithjennifer.com. Be sure to look under the Science of Juice plus tab. There is also another website you might find valuable, www.childrenshealthstudy.com. This is actually a non-profit informal health study. The famous Dr. Sears sits on the board. Juice Plus is dedicated to getting a million children on Juice Plus for free. Kids between the ages of 6 till the day before their 16th birthday are elligable. It's amazing to read about the impact of good nutrition on children. Let me know if you have any questions about all this.

All the best,

J.

I am a nurse and I know that most kids hate the taste of pedialyte, lol, all flavors. If your child is taking a vitamin daily and eats ok the rest of the day, just make sure that he gets good nutritional meals and healthy snacks the rest of the day. Every child is different, and some just aren't hungry in the morning. If your child is within normal size/weight range, stop worrying. Relax, he will eat when he is hungry. My son, when he was younger might go for a day or two and eat very little, then eat like a horse for a couple of days, I talked with his pediatician, and I am giving you the same advice he gave me. If he isn't underweight and is having no energy problems, I would forget the pedialyte, but if you do decide to go that way, they have a popsicle that most kids seem to like better than the liquid.

We've had my daughter on PediaSure since her first birthday and she will drink all of the flavors but we primarily stuck with vanilla. My daughter will be 2 in March and we are hoping to switch her to lowfat milk since she is still a really good eater. The carnation instant breakfast is a great idea and was recommended by our pediatrician as well but we chose to stick with PediaSure because of the hight fat and protien content. Once she turns 2 though, the nutritional needs change so as others have recommended, I would try adding the Carnation Instant breakfast to his milk. A WHOLE lot less expensive.

Hi G.,

Being a Health and Nutritional Consultant, I can tell you that you that, unless your son is sick and needs the electrolytes, you should NOT be giving your son this stuff on a daily basis.

It is actually our natural cycle to not eat until around 10:00 in the morning, which is why your son won't eat early in the morning. Try sending a healthy snack to school with him, like plain yogurt with agave necgar, squished blueberries and oats or sliced apples w/ organic peanut or almond butter. Having a little something mid morning will sustain him until lunch and give you peace of mind.

Hope this helps. :)

Warm Regards,
G. Van Luven

Recently my 2.5 year old twins were really sick and not eating well so we started them on pedisure and they absolutely love it (strawberry and chocolate). If anything, I'm now trying to wean them off of it now that they are feeling better to try to get them back to eating a normal diet. But I really like the nutrition of it as a good back up choice.

Well, I'm not a mom yet,(only a teen!)but my 5 brothers and sisters really like the strawberry flavor.

-L. H.

My son has a number of feeding issues. We did chocolate PediaSure for awhile, but it's very expensive. Our doctor told us to use whole milk and Carnation instant breakfast. I'm part of a group of parents whose children have feeding issues and most of these kids drink Carnation. If your son eat other meals, this may be a nutritous and less expensive choice for breakfast.

my little one likes the vanilla flavored one. we bought it because there are days all he wants is a bottle and he won't eat. we've fought with him and found that if he won't eat, the pedia sure he'll take. he seems to get full and is find. we worried about him not geting enough nutients but he's healthy and very active. your little one will just think that its flavored milk. good luck.

Hey G.,

I'd read the label before I bought Pedia sure. Lots of yucky stuff in there. I have a 4 year old daughter who isn't always ready to eat in the morning, either. She catches up throughout the day, so I don't worry too much. Does he eat well the rest of the day? Do they give him something to eat at preschool when he's hungry at 11:30? Is he underweight, lethargic, anything that would indicate he's nutritionally deprived? If not, I wouldn't sweat it. Only my opinion.

We had my oldest on Pediasure right after his 1st birthday because his weight was low. He liked all of the flavors. I don't think you need to worry about your son not liking them. Another much cheaper option is to give him Carnation Instant Breakfast. It is almost the same thing, and it is MUCH cheaper. That is what my pediatrician recommended to me. The name brand Pediasure is almost $2 per serving, and the generic is significantly cheaper (I know Fry's has their own brand). You might also want to ask your pediatrician if they have any samples you can have. I got a whole 6 pack from mine when we started him on it.

My daughter is the same way. She is NOT a breakfast eater! So what she does like to snack on is GoGurt yogurt sticks! She loves them! Just an idea for a little bit of nutrition so early in the morning! My daughter is 3 and weighs 26 pounds, and her doctor has never made it an issue! So I really wouldn't start on the Pedisure because it becomes an alternative for your son to eat! My daughter would definetly choose a choc. drink over table food any day! Good Luck and having a 3 year old can be difficult at times!

My daughter has to have two PediaSures a day because she's under weight. She really likes the banana which unfortunately doesn't come in store brands. You can also buy a can of Step 2 Formula and add a scoop to the milk and it gives it about the same nutritional value and its cheaper. A can of formula is less than $20 and Pediasure runs 6 to 10 dollars for six. My daughter is also partial to the chocolate kind. She doesn't really like the strawberry or vanilla.

my son is under weight so we give him pedia sure to help out with the calories... i get vanilla ,strawberry,and chocolate,from the wic,but he drinks the moast of vanilla and strawberry,the chocolate he only drinks about half of what i give him.. hope this helps..

I would reccomend discussing this with your Ped. I have known a couple of children who's parents started this and then the children liked it ans started to refuse most foods adn only would drink the drink some even as old as 10 or 11. This left them with very little meal options at school and camp. Hope this helps.

The only difference between milk and a multi vitamin and pediasure is SUGAR. And sugar is never good in the morning, especially if your little gut is not consuming protein at the same time. Pediasure only tells our kids that sweet junky sugary stuff is healthy and they can get away with a milk shake if they dont feel like eating. Keep up with the milk plus a vitamin until your little one decides he is hungry enough for more breakfast. Kids go through phases, growth spurts and slow-downs so often.