Raising a special child can be extremely challenging. Emotionally and socially speaking. Emotionally… because they are not like other normal children and whether you like it or not, you got to lower your expectations, or rather, in my case, learn to have no expectation at all so that I don’t get all stressed up or disappointed when there’s no improvements. Socially challenging… because of people’s ignorance and tendency to judge you and your children.

Since I had my boy and realized that he is different, I became quite a recluse and tend to avoid going to social functions… especially the ones hosted by the outlaws, cuz they tend to be judgmental and refused to understand that the boy is ADHD child and therefore, the way you deal with him have to be different.

People who do not bother to understand what ADHD is, usually would condemn me for being a horrible mother. I’ve been called many things, both to my face and behind my back. They call me a bad mother and accuse me for failing to raise the child in a proper manner and therefore he could not sit still and have zero social skill and worst, a tiger mother as I strictly control his diet, especially his sugar intake. I cannot afford any excessive sugar intake in his diet as it leads to many health issues that I don’t wish to deal with.

They say I am taking the childhood joys out of the boy’s life while in truth, I cannot afford to give him any extra sugar in his diet (eg: ice cream, candies), cuz medically, it is not good for him. For other children, perhaps it is not good because it will cause diabetes, obesity and not to mention tooth decay, but for my boy, it triggers hyperactivity and not only he gets hyper, but also extremely uncontrollable and will hurt himself.

I controlled his diet because I truly care, not because I want to take away his childhood from him. I did it because the pediatrician and his therapists advices me so.

As of late, I have been told that the growing up milk that he’s taking contains high sugar level despite of the fact that the milk formula claims to have no added sugar inside. I get extremely worked up though I don’t see any bad effects after my boy change to this growing up milk formula. The information that I found all over the net and various social media is extremely confusing, and I’ve come to a point where I don’t know what to believe anymore.

Call me a paranoid, but I had enough of all these information overload. I want whatever that goes into my boy’s body be the best for him. And I need to assure myself that I’m on the right track and so, I make it my personal mission to discover the truth about various claims on sugar and added sugar in growing up milk.

I have been told by mummies and daddies out there that:

• Not all carbohydrates are sugar. Some scientific names for sugar that is being used on the label cannot be considered as sugar. (eg: Corn syrup solids, glucose syrup solids, sucrose)
• Children need carbohydrates, and therefore, the added sugar in growing up milk is fine.
• It is fine to give children who has lactose issues or lactose intolerance growing up milk that contains excessive sugar or natural sugar that comes from plants.
• As long as the sugar content comes from natural source, it is fine to allow the kids to take it.
• And most worrying comment of all is that I have been informed that the no added sugar milk formula that I’m using my my son now contains total sugar that is higher than the ones that has added sugar in their formula.

Frankly speaking, all these opinions on cyberspace is confusing and therefore, I checked with various independent bodies who are non-commercial in nature. That way, I suppose their facts and opinions are much more solid and believable. (It definitely helps, especially if they are doctors and dietitians)

I’ve checked with my son’s specialist during my recent visit regarding to this issue cuz I was worried, and I have been told that:

• Sugars are sugars, and no matter what name is being used to call it (sucrose, natural sugar, added sugar, corn sugar, etc), it is still sugar, cuz at the end of the day when it’s inside the child’s body, the excessive sugar will be processed and ended up as sugar and extra calories inside the body.
• True, sugars are not necessarily bad as it provides children the energy that they need to grow up. But it becomes a problem when the amount is excessive and much higher than the daily recommended intake as it increase the chances of various health problems.
• And surprise, surprise, carbohydrates in growing up milk powder is only made up of two things: -Sugar that is naturally present in the milk powder. The only naturally present sugar in milk is lactose. The natural lactose level in a glass of standard milk is approximately 11g-12g per serve.  And sugars that are added to the milk powder. Anything higher than 11g-12g for ‘carbohydrate per serve’ in growing up milk powder is equal to added sugars ( according to Handbook of dairy foods and nutrition.)

Now… all these facts are scary, aren’t they? It’s creepier for me cuz I cannot afford to let my son take growing up milk that has excessive sugar as it will trigger extreme hyperactivity since he’s an ADHD child. As a parent, not only I am responsible for my son’s well being, but I am responsible to make an informed decision in regards to choosing his growing up milk too.

Many may not agree with me, but is my rights to protect my son from any health hazards that I can avoid in the first place. I can start by smell steps like choosing the right growing up milk for him.

It is not difficult to choose growing up milk that does not contain excessive sugar in their formula. All you need to do is just spend a little bit more time to read the label and decode the added sugar in growing up milk formula. If all of you bothered to check for the expiry dates for the goods that you intend to buy, why not bother to check the sugar contents in growing up milk too?

Mummies and daddies, here’s some tips on how you can make a much more informed decision when choosing the right growing up milk formula that does not contains excessive sugar or added sugar for your children:

• Find the number for ‘carbohydrates per serve’ on the packaging label. Anything that is higher than 11g-12g is added sugar.
• Watch out for the ingredients like: Sucrose, corn syrup solids as well as glucose syrup solids. These, ladies and gentlemen, are ingredients for added sugar.

Anyway, how many of you out there bothered to taste you kid’s growing up milk? After all of these horrible hoo-hahs, I decided to try my boy’s growing up milk… you know, just to exorcise away the claim that there’s more sugar in his milk than other brands. Thank God that despite of various claims, the milk that he’s been drinking is not sweet.

I wonder if your kid’s growing up milk taste sweet? Perhaps you might want to experiment a little bit and see for yourself if it’s sweet by tasting your kid’s growing up milk, and if it is, then it is time to act and stop giving your children those unnecessary sugar. Milk are not supposed to taste like liquid ice cream, you know?

If you have doubts about the growing up milk your children are drinking, do not hesitate to hook up with your medical consultants or your pediatrician. They can clarify and give you more information like they did for me, and if you need some independent, non-commercial resource on sugar in growing up milk and whatnot, you can visit the sites below:

Choosemyplate

Thefitshack

Answers.com

Wikianswers.com

Sugar.org

Cleffairy: Mummies and daddies, do feel free to leave a comment here and share your opinions with me regarding choosing the right growing up milk for your children. I am sure all of us are looking out for our children and wants nothing but the best for them during their growing up years.