It's not OK to let kids drink coffee

Key Facts

Despite years of warnings from pediatricians and other health professionals that coffee and other caffeinated beverages such as sodas and sports drinks can be harmful to youth, parents are allowing their little ones — even toddlers — to drink those beverages.
The American Academy of Pediatrics recommends no caffeinated coffee, tea, soda, sports drinks or other products for children under 12, while adolescents between 12 and 18 should limit their intake to less than 100 milligrams per day — about the size of an old-fashioned cup of coffee.
It starts when small children begin to ask for caffeinated drinks such as coffee “because they see the parents and older siblings drinking it — it’s a ‘grown-up’ thing to drink,” said Corkins, division chief of pediatric gastroenterology, hepatology and nutrition at the University of Tennessee Health Science Center in Memphis, via email.
If your child feels like he or she needs caffeine to get through the day, it would be better to work with a pediatrician to identify the root cause of what is creating the fatigue in the first place.”