Skip the Pediatlyte: Stay Hydrated at Home When Sick

Have you ever felt sluggish and grumpy? Maybe you had a bit of a nagging headache too? Or maybe you noticed your child not acting like himself or herself? Then you remember to drink some water, and suddenly you feel like yourself again?

If so, you know just how important hydration is. A decrease in water of just 2% in your body will cause symptoms. Some of the signs of mild dehydration include:

• Fatigue
• Headache
• Anxiety
• Irritability
• Cramps
• Cravings
• Excessive thirst

And that’s when there is nothing else going on!

Hydration Strategies for Better Recovery During Illness

Now imagine what a decrease in fluid does when you are sick!

Dehydration often goes hand-in-hand with illness. This can be caused by:

• No appetite or desire to eat and drink.
• Sore throat prohibiting drinking/swallowing
• Diarrhea
• Vomiting
• Sweating due to a fever

A lack of fluid intake or a significant fluid loss during sickness can lead to dehydration very quickly. If the warning signs are ignored or it is out of your control, fluid loss past the 2% mark can cause:

• Heartburn
• Back pain
• Migraines
• Constipation (water helps remove waste)
• Colitis
• Joint pain (water cushions joints)

This just compounds how awful your kids feel when they are sick!

Stay Hydrated: Tips for Managing Illness

Obviously dehydration can have a significant impact on your health. So let’s back up for a minute. What exactly does water do in the body? Water performs many functions.

• Removes toxins
• Removes waste
• Puts nutrients where they belong
• Keeps body temperature stable
• Improves oxygen delivery to cells
• Moistens oxygen for easier breathing
• Prevents your tissues from sticking
• Improves how your cells talk to each other
• Empowers the body’s natural healing process
• Allows electrical signals to pass between cells
• Cushions bones and joints

These are just some of the critical roles that water plays in the body. Do you see how water might help when your child is sick?

Stabilizing body temperature when you have a fever, removing toxins, enabling healing, fascilitating easier breathing…these are all essential to get well.

How to Stay Hydrated When You’re Sick: Expert Tips

So what should you do if your child gets sick? There are some simple strategies that can have a big impact. Remember, the ultimate goal is to restore fluid levels. This is accomplished by eliminating the loss (stopping the vomiting, etc.) and replacing the fluids by drinking water with electrolytes (key minerals).

There are many different ways to prevent or correct dehydration and get electrolytes into kids. Some simple strategies include:

• Fruits and vegetables with a high water content (the fruits and vegetables will provide the minerals as well as the fluids)
• 100% fruit juice diluted with water, with unrefined sea salt added
• Water or juice with mineral drops (such as Concentrace, SpectraMin, or CT Minerals)
• Homemade popsicles with electrolytes added
• Homemade electrolyte drink (sports drink, watermelon slushie, “Smart” water)
• Potassium-rich foods with unrefined sea salt added (salted watermelon, salted coconut water, salted yogurt)
• Homemade fruit sorbet
• Homemade potassium-rich ice cream
• Powdered electorlyte mix such as Pickleball Cocktail or Relyte
• Lemon water with unrefined sea salt
• Frozen fruit to suck on
• Prioritizing hydration daily to avoid problems when sick
• Use a fun cup or straw to encourage drinking when sick
• Bone broth or broth-based soups
• Homeopathics to stop vomitting and diarrhea, such as Nux Vomica and Arsenica Album
• Hydrating hot cocoa

Note that it is best to avoid large amounts of plain water as this can actually worsen dehydration by flushing out critical minerals. This is especially true if you have reverse osmosis water, as it is devoid of minerals.

Natural Pedialyte Alternatives to Try

The common conventional treatment for dehydration during illness is a store-bought electrolyte drink, such as Pedialyte. So let’s take a look at what this actually provides for a child.

There are multiple varieties of Pedialyte to choose from. But most of them contain the same few nutrients:

• Potassium citrate
• Sodium citrate
• Magnesium citrate (only in the electrolyte drink mix)
• Acesulfame potassium
• Zinc gluconate
• Citric acid (the outer shell of the Vitamin C molecule – often made from GMO corn through a molding process)

Anytime you see “citrate” after a mineral, you know it’s not the best form. It’s cheap. Plus it can actually act as a laxative. Not the effect you want when dehydrated!

In addition to the minerals, Pedialyte may contain any of the following sweeteners, fillers, and colors:

• Sucralose (sugar)
• Dextrose (Sugar)
• Corn maltodextrin (Sugar)
• Natural flavors (can be a myriad of things, learn more HERE)
• Artifiical flavors
• Yellow 6, Blue 1, Red 40 (food dyes – neurotoxins, read more about their impacts HERE)
• Sodium benzoate (for those that are sensitive to food dyes, this additive produces similar neurological/behavioral reactions)
• Cellulose gum
• Potassium sorbate (preservative)

When your child is sick, he or she is already struggling to remove toxins (bacteria, virus, pathogens, etc.). Adding these poor forms of minerals, sugar, artificial flavors, and food dyes will only make the process harder and drain more energy at a cellular level.

Best Pedialyte Substitutes for Kids and Adults

Don’t worry. There is a better solution!

There are two essential minerals (electrolytes) for hydration: sodium and potassium. Sodium is extracellular (outside the cell), while potassium is intracellular (inside the cell). Keeping these minerals in balance is key for proper hydration.

The simplest and most affordable way to supply these electrolytes is to keep sodium chloride (unrefined sea salt) and potassium chloride (looks and tastes just like salt) on hand. Add a pinch of each to plain water or water with a small amount of pure juice mixed in for flavor. Sip on this mixture throughout the day.

Coconut water with a pinch of unrefined sea salt is another simple electrolyte drink, as the coconut water supplies the potassium.

Cream of tartar is another easy option for adding potassium to drinks.

Mangesium can also be supportive in hydration, while zinc can help boost immune function. So these may be added to your drinks as well.

Jigsaw Pickleball Cocktail (use code Mary10 for 10% off) contains quality forms of sodium, potassium, and magnesium. Make sure you start with a small dose if you have never tried this electrolyte mix before.

Pedialyte Alternatives for Babies and Toddlers

Electrolyte mixes are great for adults and kids. But what about babies and very young children? You’ll notice that most Pedialyte bottles say they are not meant for children under one year of age. Some of them are only for kids five and older.

Thankfully God has given us the best hydrating drink for babies – breastmilk! If your nursling gets sick, continue to breastfeed on demand. This will not only provide minerals but also help your child recover from illness faster with the antibodies your body creates.

Often babies struggle when sick due to a stuffy nose. This makes it very difficult to breastfeed or bottle feed. Start by trying to gently clear the nose. Keep the baby in a more upright position to help the mucus drain.

Sometimes a child will refuse nursing or feeding when sick. In that case, you can use a syringe with pumped breastmilk or formula. Getting in small amounts via syringe will help your child avoid significant dehydration.

Freezing breastmilk or formula into a “popsicle” is another option. Let your child suck on this with supervision or using a mesh bag to prevent chunks from breaking off in the child’s mouth.

If using formula, check the mineral content. You can add a very small amount of unrefined sea salt and potassium chloride if needed.

When it comes to babies, stick to the usual fluids if possible, especially if he or she is breastfed.

Hydration Tips and Tricks for Fighting Off Illness

Keep in mind that hydration is not the only part of fighting off illness. It is just one factor in the equation. But it can have a significant impact on recovery.

Hydration when sick does not have to be complicated. There are many foods and drinks that can help replenish key minerals.

It’s also important to remember that you have to do what works best for your child. We are each unique with bio-individual needs.

Last Christmas my entire family was sick for weeks. It felt like the sickness that never ends. Of course, each family member responded differently. My high schooler tended to stop eating and drinking completely. She just had no appetite or thirst. After that went on for a bit I was getting very concerned.

So I bent the “rules” a bit and made her a milkshake (just basic vanilla ice cream with raw milk, cocoa powder, and maple syrup). And I added a healthy dose of unrefined sea salt and potassium chloride to get in some electrolytes.

She drank the whole thing and asked for more! Her energy and stamina started to return. It was her turning point. It wasn’t your typical hydrating drink. But it did have key minerals and essential nutrients. Plus it tasted great! And sometimes that’s the biggest challenge. You can even try this healthier version of a milkshake that is loaded with minerals!

Bottom line – keep the essentials on hand for staying hydrated when sick. But also do what works best for your child. Sometimes that means getting creative.

Do you prioritize hydration when your kids get sick?