When Your Child Is Sick, Sweet Treats Might Be The Last Thing On Your Mind, But This Pediatric Emergency Doctor Is Underscoring The Importance Of Sugar When Kids Are Ill
Coming down with a cold or catching a stomach bug is a normal part of life. Illnesses are inevitable, and your little one is bound to get sick at least a few times throughout the course of a year. Although frequent illness may be normal, it can take a toll on both parents and children in more ways than one.
For kids, not only are they feeling physically unwell from the sickness, but it is also a great source of mental distress, especially if they’re too young to understand what’s happening to them.
As a parent, if you could just snap your fingers and magically cure your child’s discomfort, you would do so in a heartbeat. Unfortunately, the only thing you can do is administer the right medicine and wait for the cold or flu to pass.
When your kid is sick, the anxiety you feel can make your mind fixate on worst-case scenarios. But the best thing you can do for your child during times of uncertainty is focus on what you can control. And one of those things is their sugar intake.
Usually, parents are always concerned about if their children are eating or drinking too much sugar. However, it’s just as crucial to make sure your youngster is getting enough sugar.
Meghan Martin (@beachgem10) is a pediatric emergency medical doctor, and she’s on TikTok talking about how sick kids need a source of sugar/glucose to power their bodies, especially if they’re not eating much.
In her video, she emphasizes that they need a beverage with sugar in it to prevent their blood sugar levels from dropping to dangerously low levels.
“If we’re fasting and not eating, we have these glycogen stores in our liver that we can use to rapidly get glucose and keep our blood sugar fairly steady,” said Meghan, referring to adults. But for kids, it’s a different story.
“However, young kids, toddlers, and infants really don’t have this, or their stores are very small, which is actually why it’s important that newborn babies are fed every couple of hours because they cannot maintain their blood sugar if they’re not.”
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For sick kids who are not eating, an electrolyte beverage containing sugar is needed since they are unable to stay in a state of fasting for very long. Meghan went on to say that diet culture has really given sugar a bad rep when it’s actually something that’s necessary to keep our bodies fueled.
Then, she further explained how our bodies process sugar through “ketones,” which she refers to as an “emergency system.”
“We can use [those] to fuel the brain if we don’t have sugar. But ketones make the blood very acidic, and that can cause other problems.”
So, that’s why it’s vital for your sick kid to receive enough sugar, whether it’s from food or an electrolyte beverage.
Several TikTok users shared what foods they give their kids in times of sickness to keep them hydrated and nourished.
“My son has not gone through an illness yet where Oreos have not been an acceptable sustenance to him,” commented one user.
“My Dr. always tells us to give my toddler whatever he wants, ices, Slurpees, Italian ices, literally whatever he will eat that will help with fluid,” wrote another.
“We have always used apple pouches. I have teens, they now want that when unwell. Easy on the tummy but simple sugars,” added a third.
@beachgem10 Replying to @sarahphinatoo Glucose/sugar is an important fuel for our brain. If kids are sick and not eating food, they need a source of sugar to power their body #sugar #sick #kids #parents #ketones
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