By Sebastian Madlangbayan, founder of Cleonse: the world's cleanest 3-ingredient organic electrolyte.
For most kids, the honest answer is no. Per American Academy of Pediatrics (AAP) guidance, water is the best choice for routine hydration, and electrolyte drinks are rarely necessary for children. Whether your child ever needs one depends on their situation, so it is a question for your pediatrician, not a marketing page.
I am Sebastian Madlangbayan, a state champion tennis player, and I built Cleonse as an electrolyte drink mix for adults. Because I spend my days thinking about hydration, parents ask me a version of the same question all the time: should my kid be drinking electrolytes too? I want to answer that as carefully and honestly as I can, because when the topic is children, the stakes are different and the advice should be more conservative, not less.
This article is educational only. It is not medical advice, and nothing here is a recommendation to give any product, including mine, to a child. For anything specific to your child, talk to your pediatrician.
What are electrolytes, in plain language?
Electrolytes are minerals in your body fluids that carry a small electrical charge. The main ones people talk about are sodium, potassium, magnesium, chloride, and calcium. They help with things like fluid balance, nerve signals, and muscle function.
When you sweat, you lose water and some of these minerals, mostly sodium. Adults doing long, hard exercise sometimes replace them with a sports drink. That is the context electrolyte products were originally designed for, and it is a very specific context.
Here is the part parents most need to hear: children are not small adults. Their hydration needs, their kidneys, their body size, and their activity patterns are different. What makes sense for a competitive adult athlete does not automatically translate to a kid, and a serving sized for an adult is, by definition, not sized for a child.
What the AAP actually says
The American Academy of Pediatrics has been clear and consistent on this. For routine, everyday hydration, water is the best choice for most children. Not a flavored electrolyte drink. Not a sports drink. Water.
The AAP has also addressed sports and electrolyte drinks directly, in a clinical report titled "Sports Drinks and Energy Drinks for Children and Adolescents: Are They Appropriate?" The short version of that guidance is that sports drinks are rarely necessary for children. They are generally only worth considering for prolonged, vigorous physical activity, roughly an hour or more of hard exercise, and even then it is worth a conversation with your pediatrician.
The main concern the AAP raises about routine use is the added sugar and calories. Sports drinks are often consumed casually, in place of water, on a normal day. Over time that adds sugar and calories a child does not need, which is why routine daily use is discouraged.
Sports drinks and energy drinks are not the same thing
This is a distinction worth drawing sharply. Energy drinks, the caffeinated kind, are a completely separate category, and they are never recommended for children. Caffeine and other stimulants do not belong in a kid's routine. If a product is marketed as an energy drink, it is not part of this conversation at all.
Electrolyte and sports drinks are different from energy drinks, but that does not make them a default choice for kids either. The AAP framing is not "pick a sports drink instead of an energy drink." It is "water is best, and sports drinks are rarely necessary."
When might a pediatrician actually discuss electrolytes for a child?
There are narrow situations where electrolytes come up in a pediatric context. I want to describe them so you know what they look like, but I want to be equally clear that each one is a reason to talk to a professional, not a green light to grab something off a shelf.
Long, intense exercise in the heat
A child playing a full day of tournament soccer in summer heat, or doing an hour-plus of genuinely hard training, is a different case than a kid running around a playground. In prolonged, vigorous activity, electrolyte replacement can become a reasonable topic. Even here, the AAP frames sports drinks as sometimes appropriate, not routinely necessary, and the details, including whether it is needed at all and in what amount, are best worked out with your pediatrician, athletic trainer, or team medical staff.
Illness with vomiting or diarrhea
This is the situation parents most often worry about, and it is the one where I most want to steer you toward a doctor. Dehydration from vomiting or diarrhea is a medical situation. It is not a sports-drink problem.
For illness-related dehydration in children, pediatricians typically recommend a proper pediatric oral rehydration solution, the kind of product sold as an oral rehydration solution or ORS (for example, Pedialyte-type products), which is specifically balanced for a sick child's needs. A sports drink is a different formulation, generally higher in sugar and not designed for this purpose. If your child is sick and you are worried about dehydration, the right move is to call your pediatrician or doctor and follow their guidance on which pediatric ORS to use and how much.
Water vs sports drink vs pediatric ORS: how the guidance compares
Here is a simple way to hold the three apart. This table reflects general AAP-style guidance, not a recommendation of any specific brand, and it is not a substitute for your pediatrician's advice.
| Option | Primarily for | What the guidance suggests for kids |
|---|---|---|
| Water | Routine, everyday hydration | The best choice for most children, most of the time. |
| Sports / electrolyte drink | Prolonged, vigorous exercise (roughly an hour or more of hard activity) | Rarely necessary; not for routine daily use, largely due to added sugar and calories. Discuss with your pediatrician. |
| Pediatric oral rehydration solution (ORS) | Illness-related dehydration (vomiting, diarrhea) | The tool pediatricians typically recommend for a sick child. This is a medical situation; consult your pediatrician or doctor. |
| Energy drink (caffeinated) | Not applicable | Never recommended for children. |
Where Cleonse fits, and where it honestly does not
Since I make an electrolyte product, I want to be transparent about it rather than pretend it does not exist. Cleonse is a simple, three-ingredient electrolyte drink mix made with organic lemon or organic strawberry powder, organic cane sugar, and French grey sea salt. It has no stevia, no artificial sweeteners, no artificial flavors, no dyes, no preservatives, no gums, no fillers, and no anti-caking agents. It is vegan and gluten-free.
I designed it as an adult sports and daily hydration drink. Each 30g stick delivers 500mg of sodium, 100 calories, 26g of carbohydrate, and 24g of sugar, mixed into 16 oz (473 ml) of water. It does not add potassium or magnesium.
Here is the honest part. That formulation, high sodium and meaningful sugar in a single adult-sized serving, is built for adults. It is not formulated or portioned for children. A child is smaller, has different needs, and should not be handed an adult serving because it happens to be in the house. Whether a child needs any electrolyte drink at all is a question for a pediatrician, full stop. I am not recommending Cleonse, or any brand, for kids. If you are curious about how we think about ingredients, you can read the full Cleonse facts and our take on what the cleanest electrolyte actually means, but please treat those as adult-product references, not children's guidance.
Practical, low-drama hydration for most kids
If your child is generally healthy and active in normal ways, the everyday approach is refreshingly boring, and that is a good thing.
- Offer water as the default drink, at home, at school, and during ordinary play and sports.
- Send a water bottle to practices and games so they can sip regularly.
- Watch for common-sense signs like thirst, and encourage drinking before, during, and after activity.
- Save the question of electrolyte drinks for genuinely prolonged, intense activity, and raise it with your pediatrician first.
- Treat illness-related dehydration as a medical matter: call your pediatrician and ask about a pediatric ORS.
None of that requires a specialty product. For the vast majority of kids, water and a normal balanced diet cover the bases, and the AAP agrees.
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Shop CleonseFrequently Asked Questions
Do kids need electrolyte drinks for everyday hydration?
Generally no. Per AAP guidance, water is the best choice for routine hydration for most children, and electrolyte drinks are rarely necessary. If you think your child's situation is different, ask your pediatrician.
My child plays sports. Should they drink a sports drink?
For most youth sports, water is still the everyday choice. The AAP describes sports drinks as rarely necessary and generally worth considering only for prolonged, vigorous activity, roughly an hour or more of hard exercise. Talk to your pediatrician or team medical staff before making it a habit, especially given the added sugar and calories.
My child is sick and vomiting. Can I give them a sports drink?
Illness-related dehydration is a medical situation. Pediatricians typically recommend a pediatric oral rehydration solution (an ORS, like Pedialyte-type products), not a sports drink. Please contact your pediatrician or doctor for guidance on what to use and how much.
Are energy drinks the same as electrolyte drinks?
No. Energy drinks are caffeinated and are never recommended for children. Electrolyte and sports drinks are a different category, but they are still rarely necessary for kids. When in doubt, water first, and ask your pediatrician.
Can my child drink Cleonse?
Cleonse is formulated as an adult hydration drink, with a high sodium and sugar content in a single adult-sized serving. It is not formulated or portioned for children, and I am not recommending it for kids. Whether a child needs any electrolyte drink is a question for a pediatrician.
How do I know if my child is drinking enough water?
Offer water regularly throughout the day and around activity, and pay attention to your child's individual needs. If you have specific concerns about your child's hydration or health, your pediatrician is the right person to ask.
Editor's note
This article is for general educational purposes only and is not medical advice. It draws on American Academy of Pediatrics (AAP) guidance, including the clinical report "Sports Drinks and Energy Drinks for Children and Adolescents: Are They Appropriate?" and AAP News guidance that water is best for children's routine hydration. For most children, water is the best choice for routine hydration, and electrolyte drinks are rarely necessary. Please consult your pediatrician for anything specific to your child. Illness-related dehydration (such as from vomiting or diarrhea) is a medical situation; a pediatric oral rehydration solution is the tool typically recommended, and you should consult your pediatrician or doctor. Cleonse is an adult hydration product. It is not formulated or portioned for children, is not a recommendation for children, and is not intended to diagnose, treat, cure, or prevent any disease or condition.