Make Sure Kids Drink More Fluids When They Play

“It’s hard to get kids to drink, even when coaches remember to bring fluids to games and practices,” a longtime Little League coach told me. “Kids don’t want to be bothered. They just want to get back into the game.”

The American Dietetic Association (ADA) has targeted this problem, noting that kids in organized sports need to be supervised when it comes to getting enough to drink.

Kids are not just little adults, the ADA points out; they sweat less, produce more heat and are less efficient at transferring heat from muscle to skin. They have more skin surface area, for their height and weight, than adults, and acclimate to heat more slowly.

All of that places children at much greater risk of dehydration than adult athletes playing under similar conditions. And kids don’t instinctively drink enough to replace sweat losses, so in the heat of competition, they can push themselves into heat exhaustion.

Water is the best fluid replacer for activities lasting less than 90 minutes, but kids are more tempted by flavorful beverages like sports drinks, fruit juice or even Kool-Aid. Watered-down drinks are the easiest to absorb during intense activities like swimming or running. Stand-still sports such as baseball or archery don’t tax the digestive system, so any drink will do, as long as it replaces lost sweat.

Kids need to be taught to drink before, during and after their event. Those attending sports camps where they compete or drill more than once a day should be monitored especially well. Supervisors can assess hydration by weighing kids before and after workouts. Any weight loss during a session is fluid, not fat. Two cups of water weigh 1 pound; if a child loses 2 pounds in one afternoon, that child needs to drink four cups of fluid before going back for another workout.

Fluid restriction should never be used as a disciplinary measure. The ADA also points out that fluid restriction, diuretics and laxatives to promote water weight loss are always inappropriate because they upset electrolyte balance, damaging both health and performance.

Children’s bone density and proportion of body fluids are very different from adults, the ADA adds. Weight and percent body fat should not be used to decide who can play and who cannot. Setting overly strict weight standards can limit normal growth and development.

Limiting children’s caloric intake by eliminating one or more food groups puts them at risk for fatigue, dehydration, nutritional deficiencies, eating disorders and limited growth. “Food choices should not be restricted because of the energy (calorie), sugar, or fat content of any one food,” the ADA says.

On the other hand, children don’t need to be overfed, either. Stuffing them doesn’t make them grow; it only makes them fat.

Vitamin supplements and ergogenic aids (amino acids, protein mixtures, chromium supplements) have never been shown to improve performance in kids (or adults). Relying on supplements instead of healthful, well-balanced meals can compromise health as well as performance.

Child athletes need healthful eating habits that provide the energy they need to grow and to play at their sport. Like adults, they can easily meet their nutritional needs by choosing foods from all the categories of the Food Guide Pyramid.

Kids need plenty of complex carbohydrates, including breakfast cereals, sandwich breads or rolls, English muffins, bagels, rice and tortillas, along with at least two fruits and three vegetables daily. They also need two small servings daily of high-protein foods like lean meat, chicken, fish, beans, peanut butter or eggs, and two or three servings of dairy foods. And, yes, they need some fat. A little bit of sugar is OK, too.

Kids have small stomachs and high energy needs. Choosing from all the food groups is the key to good health, maximum growth and peak performance.