Dear Dr. Ellie,
I’ve looked through your blog for child’s dosage, I wonder if there’s a specific dose for a 19 month old. I just want to ensure i don’t give her too much. Thank you.
GD
Dear GD
My suggestion for infants, babies and children is to work the “dosage” up slowly starting with just a couple of grams a day and working up to about 6 to 7 grams (one and a half teaspoons of granular xylitol) by the time a child is on a mixed and regular diet.
I normally suggest that you start by mixing granular xylitol in warm water (as if you were making a cup of tea) and then allow the liquid to cool. The liquid can be enjoyed from a water bottle or sippy cup.
The child can sip or drink this Z-water at the end of meals, snacks or whenever they like especially before naps or during the night. This also makes an excellent protective drink to follow medicines and syrups so as to protect the child’s teeth after taking sweet or acidic medications.
Xylitol has a low glycemic index (7) and is the opposite of sugar (100). This means that xylitol will not “spike” the child’s sugar levels and will therefore keep blood sugars stable. Xylitol is safe for diabetic children.
As your child starts to enjoy other forms of xylitol in mints or gum I would recommend working to have 6 to 10 grams xylitol a day (two and a half teaspoons) for a young child. More than this does not seem necessary, but is completely safe.
FYI: The academic “safe” dose is 140 grams (35 teaspoons which I think is a quarter of a pound a day!) way more than anyone needs in a day!
Thanks for your question.
There is a lot of information on the Zellies site for parents:
http://www.zellies.com/store.asp?pid=9836
You may like to download this PDF about kids teeth:
http://www.zellies.com/client_images/catalog19708/pages/files/XylitolForKidsBooklet.pdf
Good luck and please let me know if you have any other questions,
Ellie
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