4 Best Meal Replacement Shakes For Kids (2024 Updated)

Last Updated on December, 2024

Making sure that children get the nutrition they need throughout their days is one of the biggest concerns for every parent. But, kids don’t make this an easy task to accomplish.

If you have children, you surely know the struggle of getting them to eat. They’ll either be too moody to eat healthy things, too busy playing to eat anything, or refuse to have it your way. While that may be cute in its way, it’s still bad for their health to go without food.

Meal shakes offer a solution to this for pretty much any parent. If you want to learn more about the use of these supplements for children before trying them out, continue reading as we’ll cover every critical detail, including which are the best meal replacement shakes for kids.

4 of the Best Meal Replacement Shakes for Kids

1. Kate Farms Pediatric Standard 1.2 (Top Pick for High Calories)

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Kate Farms Pediatric Standard 1.2 Shake is a ready mixed meal replacement that contains the right nutrients for your kids. It takes away the hassle of them throwing a tantrum, unlike the times you gave them their veggies.

This is a fair shake choice for all kids from 1 to 13 years of age. It is also gluten-free, dairy-free, and soy free. Furthermore, it is also void of corn, peanuts, and tree nuts.

This shake will provide your child with the right nutrients derived from whole foods and phytonutrients and essential vitamins.

Kate Farms Pediatric Standard 1.2 Shake is perfectly suitable for tube feeding and direct consumption. This meal replacement ensures that your kid with complete amino acid profiles. It is also free of any GMOs.

Here’s the nutritional information and key facts for Kate Farms Pediatric Standard 1.2 Vanilla Shake-flavored shake (300 Calories):

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2. Orgain Organic Kids Protein (Best Pick for Great Taste)

Any parent can count on Orgain Organic Kids Protein Shake as a convenient meal replacement. These compact bottles hold the essential vitamins and minerals from natural food sources.

This meal replacement is Kosher friendly but free of many ingredients that some might find allergic to: gluten and Soy. This tasty concoction ensures that your kid gets grass-fed milk protein and 22 essential vitamins and minerals at a time.

It is made up of an organic protein blend, vitamin and minerals blend, and topped off with organic fruit and vegetable blend. If your kid is allergic to peanuts or tree nuts, you have nothing to worry about as this shake refrains from them.

Here’s the nutritional information and key facts for Orgain Organic Kids Protein Chocolate-flavored shake (180 Calories):

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3. PediaSure® Grow & Gain (Top Choice for Convenience and Ease)

Looking for a shake to give your child the necessary nutrients to ensure they grow healthy (taller and stronger)? PediaSure Grow & Gain Shake has got your back.

It consists of 27 vitamins and minerals and 7 grams of protein derived from milk protein concentrate and soy protein isolate. Yes, it does contain soy and milk ingredients, but it is quite suitable for kids with lactose intolerance.

Furthermore, this shake is gluten-free and has no GMOs. It is kosher-friendly and halal too. The small-sized bottles make it a perfect choice when your kid is running late for his after-school practice.

Although this meal replacement shake is focused on your child’s growth, it ensures that no artificial growth hormones are used. It is perfect for kids from 2 to 13 years of age without any worries.

Here’s the nutritional information and key facts for PediaSure® Grow & Gain Vanilla-flavored shake (240 Calories):

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4. Healthy Heights Grow Daily 3+ Pediatric Shake (Best Choice for Active Little Kids)

Healthy Heights Grow Daily 3+ Pediatric Shake is suitable for kids aged 3 to 9. It is made of essential vitamins and minerals combined with the right dose of protein to ensure your child’s growth.

Yes, it gives 180 calories per serving, but this can be kicked up a notch to 230 when mixed with ½ cup of milk. It is not a ready-mixed one like the others we saw, but it can still be made quickly with some water and a couple of shakes.

This meal replacement shake is free of gluten, soy, and corn syrup. The flavors keep even your pickiest eater interested in continuing, but it has no artificial flavoring or colorings at all.

Here’s the nutritional information and key facts for Healthy Heights Grow Daily 3+ Pediatric Chocolate-flavored shake (180 Calories):

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Can Kids Have Meal Replacements?

Yes, kids can have meal replacement shakes. Unlike other food supplements, they’re a lot healthier in the sense that they offer complete nutrition. Through them, you get several essential micronutrients and a good percentage of needed macronutrients.

Do remember that this answer isn’t the same for every single kid. Each child is unique, and some might have certain conditions that make meal replacements unhealthy for them. If you think that could be the case for your children, consult a dietitian before taking further steps.

Things to Consider Before Giving Meal Shakes to Kids

Adults have many things to worry about before adding meal replacement shakes to their diet. For a parent trying to give these supplements to their child, these worries are notched up by 10.

Any child is sensitive, so you must be extra careful before taking such a step. Here are some questions you should ask yourself before giving a meal shake to your kids that should help things go perfectly. We’ll also discuss how each question can help you understand its importance.

1. What’s the reason behind all of this?: This is the first and most important question. Once you have an answer to this, your goals become apparent, and everything about feeding meal replacements to your children becomes much easier.
2. Does my kid have any specific nutritional needs?: Asking yourself this question will help you find a meal replacement with perfect nutritional density and variety for your child’s particular needs.
3. What allergies does your child have?: Once you have a detailed answer to this question, it’ll help you figure out which ingredients you need to avoid and which components you should focus on most. This can help prevent any complications.
4. How will you know if the shake is doing its job?: You aren’t feeding your child meal replacement shakes just to do so. You’re doing it for specific purposes. Answering this question will help parents determine if the shakes fulfill that purpose.
5. What foods do they like the most?: Most children are seriously picky eaters. But, if you know which foods a kid loves most, it’s easy to buy a meal replacement shake of the right flavor which they’ll surely love. For example, strawberry or chocolate flavors are just two of many that nearly all children love.
6. What’s your plan if they don’t like it?: Speaking of picky eaters, it’s essential to keep a contingency plan in mind just in case your kid doesn’t want their shake. This can help parents prepare an alternative shake that the child might like better, or it could help parents create some other kind of plan B.
7. When should your children drink these shakes?: This is an easy question that might not seem too important, but it is. It would help if you had a set time when your kids drink meal replacement shakes. That ensures the best results, gives them a sense of punctuality and ensures that they never skip out on their daily shake.
8. How do you keep them committed?: It’s nearly impossible to have a child’s complete attention. They always want something new and something fun. If you manage to answer this question, you’ll know what to do to make sure they don’t try to stop drinking these shakes down the line.

Advantages of Meal Replacement Shakes for Kids

There are plenty of advantages to meal replacement shakes for kids. They’re a great way to get your child the nutrition they need for their energetic days. Additionally, they’re super easy to make and drink up, meaning they shouldn’t have any trouble consuming them.

They’re also perfect for any child with specific digestive issues or health conditions. Because of their nature, most kids can gulp them down without a problem. The best thing is that they help parents ensure that their children never skip meals, which is a widespread concern.

Meal replacement shakes are also convenient because there are so many flavors. No matter how picky your kid is about food, there’s undoubtedly a good flavor out there that they would love to have.

These different flavors also make meal replacement shakes an excellent way to make your kids try new foods they would never have otherwise.

Cautions About Giving Meal Replacement Shakes to Kids

Meal replacement shakes for kids are entirely different from meal shakes for adults. Most adults would want to use these to lose weight or gain it. That shouldn’t be the case for little children unless they have medical reasons to lose or gain weight.

Instead, you should only use these supplements to get the necessary nutrition. Additionally, a meal replacement should never actually replace a meal for children. Instead, they should be a little snack or a drink to have alongside meals.

Make sure you don’t feed them more than once a day either. Liquidizing too many meals for your kids at a young age could make them develop eating disorders, which is bad for obvious reasons. 

Other than this, the only caution you should keep in mind is specific ingredients. Avoid any allergens that might cause them problems, anything artificial, and avoid giving them a shake with too many sugars inside it.

There could be other, more specific cautions if your child has any conditions. If that’s the case, consult a medical expert, as we suggested earlier. They’ll be able to examine your kid’s specific needs and help you make decisions accordingly.

Components of a Good Meal Replacement Shake for Kids

Any meal replacement shakes meant to help kids with nutrition must include as many healthy ingredients as possible. This includes some obvious things, such as fruits and vegetables in the shake.

But, those aren’t the only sources of nutrition in the world. Any ingredients with high nutritional density could work. Organic options, entirely plant-based options, and whole foods in general; many components can be inside of a meal replacement shake for kids.

Grains, beans, tofu, and many other ingredients of the sort are included in this. Make sure that your meal replacement shake has any of these healthy ingredients instead of artificial ones or unhealthy food ingredients.

What matters is the nutrition that these components provide. You’ll want healthy carbs, fats, protein, and a good amount of calories as these are your main macronutrients. But, a child also needs their micronutrients. 

We mean significant types of vitamins, various minerals, digestive enzymes, and much more. As long as the components in your meal replacement shake can offer that to kids, it’s perfect. 

Conclusion

Meal replacement shakes can be the perfect snack for your kids, as long as you know how to use them right and which ones to choose.

If you’ve gone through everything we’ve said above, there’s no doubt you know how to do so! You also know about 4 of the best meal replacements for kids and how to use them the best way. Now it’s up to you to choose the best one for your children.

Once you do that, all that’s left to do is use our tips and create a perfect plan that suits your child best. Once they follow this, you’ll start seeing the positive effects of adding a good meal replacement shake to their diet.

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