Wendy-Lee,

I got a little nervous when I read in your post your caution about Gatorade . . . "Gatorade or Powerade or any of the other sports drinks as a fluid replacement when your child is vomitting or has diarrhea; they are definately not in the same league (all you have to do is compare their ingredient labels - a much watered down version), and our endo has a fit if she hears of anyone using them for such".

We have been pretty lucky so far and I haven't seen my son get very dehydrated so I am not talking about serious dehydration, but, in cases where I can tell he is getting a touch of something, or is starting to get dehydated, I do rely on Gatorade type drinks. I push liquids in general and he is very good at drinking water. We also shy away from too much juice. He doesn't drink pop and (very unfortunately) is not crazy about milk. I struggle to find ok. drinks. I am wondering why your endo is against Gatorade drinks. Does she/he think plain kool-aid is better? other liquids?   

I happened to have some gatorade in the cupboard and some pediatlyte freezer pops (don't know why I kept them, as you said, my son would have to eat the entire box) and I compared their ingredients list. They both list, in order, water, sugar (dextrose and sucrose), citric acid. Gatorade then lists natural flavors and salt, sodium citrate, momopotassium phosphate, colors etc and Pediatlyte lists sodium carboxymehtylcellulose, potassium citrate, aspartame, potassium sorbate, sodium benzoate and acesulfame potassium. UGH. I am not a chemist and probably am not understanding these labels. They do seem to have water, sugar, salt, and potassium in common. Pedialyte has more sodium and potassium, but wouldn't Gatorade (less) be better than nothing (none)? Do you know why your endo says not to drink them? I don't want to be giving my son something that will make it harder for him to replace fluids.

Thanks in advance. I hope this doesn't sound like I am challenging your endo, I am just concerned I am missing something and may make hydration more difficult for my son.