Posted by
cygnet
18 yrs ago
How to make a 7 month old drink water? He's started solids for a while now and I just can't get him to drink water. I've tried bottles, sippy cups everything. He just doesnt drink enough. How much water should he be drinking daily and how can I get him to drink it? Really worried.
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I think I remember you're still breastfeeding.
no need to worry about water in take as your milk is giving enough to quench the thirst. However, learning to drink water is an important skill so continue to offer it after meals and during the day.
with my first, she didn't like water, so i would put some pear juice in to flavor the water. (very little.) It was enough to get her to start drinking and she drank it.
my second - I offer a korean toasted barley tea which is very mild. She drinks that very well. SOme people have talked about rooibos tea as another alternative. AT any rate, you don't need to worry about the water actual intake yet.
finally, some babies prefer warm temperatures - so offering one that is close to your breast milk temp may help.
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crj
18 yrs ago
Baby is 9 months, breast fed, and 4 x solids a day.
We view this as practice time, and are trying to teach our baby to drink from a cup.
We only want to teach our baby how to drink from a cup.
We got some simple plastic cups at IKEA, no handles or anything.
We fill with an inch or so of room temperature water.
We hold it up to his mouth - sometimes he opens up and takes a sip, other times he doesn't.
We don't worry if he actually drinks it, we see it as 'practice' for drinking from a cup at 1 year old.
What gave us this idea, is when he watches us drink from a glass he looks interesting and opens his mouth, so we give him a sip.
I really wouldn't worry - he is getting lots of fluids through your breastmilk.
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@@
18 yrs ago
I'm not a fan of giving kids sweet drinks but you could try adding a little apple juice to the water, if he takes that then slowly decrease the amount until you are back to water.
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Why worry? Does the baby seem in distress over this, or just mommy? Two ideas though. One: get a baby bottle that's easy for baby to hold by himself. Fill it up with ice and then fill the rest with cold water. Baby can creep around the house carrying it, and it's great to sooth gums when he is teething. Two, get a plastic "sippy" cup with a spout so baby can use same things as mom and dad at meal times. Three, feed water with a spoon if you like.
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don't worry, i feel the only reason you give water is to prevent constipation when they start on solids. so as long as he poos and wees ok, i wouldn't worry?
what i find helps with eating and drinking is that as the parent, you are eating and drinking with him....mine seems to drink and eat better when he sees us doing the same!! he is now 7.5 months.
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Try using only one type of cup for a while. Mine doesn't drink much water at all and it probably took her 3 weeks of trying every day with the same cup before she took any - I think the key is consistency - they won't "get it" straight away and if you keep changing cups they'll get confused.
If you're breastfeeding they prob don't need it, it's onyl a learning experience so just persevere with one cup. If after a month or so that one is no good try again for a month with a different one.
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Thanks for the replies everyone. No he doesn't seem to be in distress - it's just me reading too much and then worrying about it :(
I am still breastfeeding but the reason I am worried is coz he's started solids and his poo seems quite hard compared to the runny stools when he was exclusively bf.
If I flavour the water to make it a little sweet he will drink it but I don't want to encourage that. I tried introducing a sippy cup but he doesn't like that at all. What age is appropriate to introduce a sippy cup? Is 7 months too early? He will still drink milk from a bottle and also juice and soup and water(if it is flavoured) He loves drinking juice (sweet?) but I stopped it when I realized it was filling him up and he wasn't drinking enough milk.
So as long as I am breastfeeding I shouldn't worry if he doesn't drink too much water/juice even if he's eating solids?
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yep -
your baby is still young -don't worry about the water intake too much yet. I think some people say that once you start giving protein, then the water intake is more important.
I think practice is really important. My daughter loves the playtex flexible spout sippy cup - I gave it to her quiet a few times before she took to it.
solids poop is far more "solid" than bfeeding poop. So it's normal. there was a pretty recent thread a while back where a mother asked about sweet potatoes - does it come out the same consistency as it went in - and we all said YES.
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This is very common however, some sources state that babies between 6 and 12 months who are well established on breast milk or formula do not necessarily require water except in hot weather.
If you would like to introduce water, experiment with different temperatures and tastes. Your baby may prefer it cold from the refrigerator or room temperature. Try making water popsicles, baby may be more eager to hold and suck on an ice block.
Try flavoring a container of water with fresh cut fruits or very small amount of fruit juice. Reduce the amount of fruit juice over time once baby is taking more water.
Well Baby Clinic - 2849 1500
Matilda International Hospital
Hong Kong
http://www.matilda.org
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