Connor LOVES lollipops but the ones we have are full of sugar. He has one every other day when we visit my mom in her nursing home. It keeps his hands off things that would otherwise make me cringe. (He once touched her roommate's potty seat in the room and lifted it...eeewwww!)

Have any of you ever tried sugar free lollipops? I'm going to see if they're in a store near us, but was hoping they are good and if any of you buy any.

TIA!

By Trina~moderator on Thursday, May 10, 2007 - 01:34 pm:

Be aware that anything "sugar free" contains artificial sweeteners, which aren't really healthy for kids either. In those types of situations I always brought healthy snacks and toys and books to keep the kids occupied.

By Mrsheidi on Thursday, May 10, 2007 - 02:51 pm:

With snacks, he touches something and then grabs the food again. With a lollipop, he just grabs the stick.
Is splenda harmful?

By Trina~moderator on Thursday, May 10, 2007 - 03:07 pm:

I'm on my way out the door, but did a quick search. Here is an article by Dr. Sears.

http://www.parenting.com/parenting/child/article/0,19840,1196266,00.html
(Sorry, there are commas in the address so I can't make it clickable.)

I also read somewhere that artificial sweeteners can give kids diarrhea. *I* avoid them as much as possible because they give me awful intestinal cramps. I would rather limit real sugar intake than go the chemical route, especially with my kids, but that's my personal choice.

By Dawnk777 on Thursday, May 10, 2007 - 04:51 pm:

Dr. Sears article

By Trina~moderator on Thursday, May 10, 2007 - 06:57 pm:

Thanks, Dawn! How did you do that?! It wouldn't work for me. LOL!

By Cocoabutter on Thursday, May 10, 2007 - 07:08 pm:

If you go to http://www.tinyurl.com and enter in any weblink it will convert it to a shorter link for you.

The link to your story is http://tinyurl.com/33u6c6.

By Kaye on Thursday, May 10, 2007 - 07:14 pm:

Heidi, you have to keep this in perspective. A lollipop only has about 5 grams of sugar. I believe a cup of milk has 12 grams of sugar. One lollipop a day will not hurt him, they are relatively low in sugar.

By Bobbie~moderatr on Friday, May 11, 2007 - 08:47 am:

I agree, this is a keeping it in perspective situation. I have avoided giving my kids artificial sweetener. In my opinion, there is no way to judge long term effects of these chemicals. I would rather teach them how to use sugar properly rather than cut it out of their diet and have them dependent on a chemical that could possible have greater long term effects than a bit of sugar will. A couple of suckers a week isn't going to harm him and if it isn't broke don't fix it...

DH is diabetic and he uses artificial sweetener, but in his case and the case of other diabetics the sweetener is the lesser of two evils.

On a side note, I read an article about bottled water a while back.. They claimed that many of the companies add sugar to the water because it gives it a better taste and because we crave sugar we would be more likely to stick with the companies water. There are many things that they add sugar to, that most of us consume with out thought. So knowing a sucker has sugar, you can adjust the rest of his diet around eating one.

By Bobbie~moderatr on Friday, May 11, 2007 - 09:27 am:

Do you have a Whole Foods/Health Foods store near by?? They have Orgnaic suckers/lollipops out there but you are going to need to go to a specialty shop or do a direct order off the net to find them.

YummyEarth Organic Lollipops

How did we make the best tasting lollipop ever?

YummyEarth tastes so much better than chemical candy because we flood YummyEarth lollipops with a special blend of natural fruit extracts for outrageous mouthwatering flavor. Each flavor is handcrafted and taste tested by Jonah, Rose, Rob
and Sergio. We use ingredients like purple carrots and red cabbage to simulate the blush of a berry or the pink flesh of a watermelon instead of chemical color dyes. We also leave out all the other yucky chemicals, pesticides and artificial flavors found in regular "chemical candy" to really let the Yummy Earth flavor shine.

17g sugar

and

NaturePops: From College Farm Organic

Lollipops in 4 fun flavors (Cheery Cherry, Wildberry, Citrus Blast, & Tropical Treat ) & bright colors yet made with organic ingredients & NO artificial colors, flavors, or preservatives. These Funpops also have NO gluten, dairy, nuts, or soy; no hydrogenated oils or gelatin; & no GMOs. Candy wrappers are even compostable (made from cornstarch). Two year shelf life. All flavors are Kosher.

14g sugar


They do still contain sugar but the are whole food products and maybe the idea of him taking in the small sugar content will be over ridden by the fact that all the other yucky chemicals aren't found in these suckers...

By Eve on Friday, May 11, 2007 - 10:21 am:

I would not have survived life without dumdum lollipops with Sydney! LOL

By Debbie on Friday, May 11, 2007 - 12:07 pm:

Ditto, Kaye. I think you have to take everything in stride. A lollipop every other day isn't going to matter, if he eats healthy overall. I, personally, don't like the artifical sweetners, for my dks. JMHO.

By Reds9298 on Friday, May 11, 2007 - 01:20 pm:

Natalie has never had a sucker ever!! LOL I guess she's missing out. She just does books, cheerios, or coloring when she has to wait around.

I agree with the others...probably not a big deal. There's so much sugar in everything, even things we don't think about.