ask: After drinking two sippy cups of juicy juice with DHA, my two year old son screamed with a hard tummy and vomitting for an hour. Is this juice too strong for little ones?

Anon, I'm so sorry! He was screaming for an hour? That gives us such distress when we aren't sure what's going on and when or how it will stop. Poor little thing.

For those who aren't sure what DHA is, it's short for docosahexaenoic acid. It is an omega-3 fatty acid that may be beneficial for children's brain development.

On the Juicy Juice web site, it specifically says:

"Nutrition Facts
"Baby Steps: Critical brain development takes place when your baby goes from six months to two years old; Juicy Juice Brain Development is specially formulated for this early age group.
"DHA: An Omega-3 fatty acid especially important for brain development in children under two years old."

So it's definitely meant for your son's age group. The only group they caution against giving it to is those children who are less than 6 months old. I'm wondering if there's anything else in there you think he might be sensitive to?

Here is the ingredient list for the Grape flavor:
INGREDIENTS: APPLE JUICE, AND GRAPE JUICE (WATER, JUICE CONCENTRATES), WATER, AND LESS THAN 0.5% OF NATURAL FLAVORS, PECTIN, ASCORBIC ACID (VITAMIN C), FISH OIL (TUNA) [A SOURCE OF OMEGA-3], CITRIC ACID, GELLAN GUM.

And here's the ingredient list for the Apple flavor:
INGREDIENTS: APPLE JUICE (WATER, JUICE CONCENTRATE), WATER, AND LESS THAN 0.5% OF PECTIN, ASCORBIC ACID (VITAMIN C), FISH OIL (TUNA) [A SOURCE OF OMEGA-3], MALIC ACID, GELLAN GUM.

If none of those ingredients are things your son has been sensitive to in the past, I'm wondering if by drinking two sippy cups at once he just got too much at once? And either the cold or the sweetness bothered him? Did he eat anything else at the time that might have upset him? Or was it just the juice?

The website does say this about how much to give a young child:
"The serving size for your young child should only be 4-6 fl. oz. of fruit juice per day. Because the US population generally consumes lower intakes of foods rich in DHA when compared to populations in some other countries, it is unlikely that one will get too much DHA in the diet. If you are unsure, consult your pediatrician."

You might try giving him just a spoonful and seeing if he has any reaction to it. If he does, you might save the carton and ask his pediatrician if there's something there he might be sensitive to. And is there a 1-800 or a 1-888 number on the box? You might call their customer help line and see if they have any advice. They do have an electronic "contact us" page if you're more comfortable with that:

http://www.juicyjuice.com/Public/Contact-Us.aspx

Save the carton until you find something out. And please, come back and update us when you figure out what's up, OK?

Diane gave you great information, and I was wondering how much juice your son typically drinks in a day, or in a week?

Fruit juice, as well as fresh fruit, consumed in large (or even moderate) quantities can cause diarrhea; many moms joke about giving their kids too much grapes or raisins, as they will "pay for it later" during a diaper change.

From the American Academy of Pediatrics (full article link below), "...malabsorption of carbohydrate in juice, especially when consumed in excessive amounts, can result in chronic diarrhea, flatulence, bloating, and abdominal pain".

So, it likely has nothing to do with the DHA in the fruit juice that your son consumed, but rather the sugar content and carbohydrates in the juice itself that caused the adverse reaction.

The AAP recommends that children limit their juice consumption to 1 serving (6 oz) per day (for 1-4 years olds), and 2 servings per day (for 10-18 year olds). It is actually recommended that children consume their fruit requirements with whole fruits instead of fruit juice, and that children drink milk or water throughout the day.

Knowing this information, I do give my son (2 years old) juice (even though it's not ideal), but water it down in his cup--half juice and half water with ice-- so that he is getting enough to drink during the hot months of summer, and also not drinking the pure juice. Depending on the week, he drinks 1-2 fruit juice boxes total (each diluted with water), and when we took him to his first (ever) dental appointment this week, the dentist was beyond thrilled that he doesn't drink juice from the juice box, and that his quantity is limited. She said they see so much tooth decay from kids drinking right from the box, juice box-after-juice box. She said if we do give him a juice box, he needs to brush his teeth immediately after. Wow---I had no idea it was this big of a problem...that drinking juice is actually worse than eating ice cream (as far as teeth go!).

You may be interested in reading the remainder of the article (quoted above) from the American Pediatrics Association (AAP), "The Use and Misuse of Fruit Juice".

How old is your son? Is he feeling better? I also wanted to mention, that it is important to call your son's pediatrician anytime there is severe vomiting, as he may need to be re-hydrated.

I hope you're OK, too...I know anything that happens to our kids is traumatic to us as well.

My 16 mos old toddler experienced the same symptoms yesterday it is the first time we did not dilute the juice has anyone else noticed these symptoms.... she was cryiing like she was in agony.....lasted approx 20 minutes....

Just adding to this post, has anyone that experienced this with their children had their children allergy tested for any allergies to certain foods? It would just appear to me that this MAY be associated with food allergies.

im 16 and i love juicy juice but for the past few days the same thing has been happening to me. i didnt know what was wrong but my stomach has been burning like crazy! i think im quitting with juice. :(