Cut out the fizz say NHS.

PARENTS should not give fizzy drinks or even flat Coke to children with diarrhoea and vomiting, according to new NHS guidelines.

The idea that flat drinks can help with gastroenteritis is untrue while fruit juices and fizzy drinks do not help either, experts said.

Instead, parents should ensure their children are given the right kinds of fluids, including water with an oral rehydration salt solution for youngsters at risk of dehydration.

The new guidance, from the National Institute for Health and Clinical Excellence (Nice), is aimed at managing gastroenteritis in children up to the age of five.

Between 10% and 20% (150,000 to 300,000) of children under five in England are taken to their GP or hospital each year with symptoms of gastroenteritis.

Most children get better quickly without treatment and can be looked after at home but some end up dehydrated and need hospital care.

The guideline recommends that children who are not yet dehydrated should continue to be breastfed if they usually are.

Fluids should be kept up, but the drinking of fruit juices and carbonated drinks should be "discouraged", it said.

Children who are dehydrated need a higher level care but fruit juices and fizzy drinks should still not be given.

Simon Minford, an advanced paediatric nurse and practitioner, said children should not be given fizzy drinks gone flat..