Bub won't drink water should I offer alternatives?

[Made4it]

Hi, 6mo DS will not drink water, he grimaces each time I give it to him. I've tried daily for nearly 2 mnths now. I am worried that he is not getting enough to drink. He has 4 8oz formula feeds a day and we have just started weaning - just apple and banana mixed with formula and rice at the moment once a day. Is he getting enough liquid or should I consider juice etc? I really didn't want to give him anything other than water at this stage. Ta

[Nat777]

Hi, I had the same problem with my DD, now 7 months. She has quite alot of finger foods and is currently teething so I wanted her to have some form of liquid to 'keep everything flowing!!' She refuses water, so I have added a splash of a no sugar squash and she now drinks loads of it at every mealtime.

I checked with the HV and she said it was ok or she suggested that I heavily dilute a juice.

I am happier that she is having some liquid, although I would of course prefer her to have water.
HTH x

[Kathy1972]

My dd (now 9 months) also won't drink water (the only exception to this was when she had diarrhoea, which was extremely sensible of her) but as she isn't constipated and gets plenty of liquid from her milk and from all the fruit and veg she eats, I am not too worried.

[Tommy]

I would say that that much milk is porbably enough. He'll probably drink water when it's warmer later in the year - my DS2 was like this and wouln't drink water but it never occured to me to offer juice. he's 2.5 now and doesn't like juice

[elclose]

I would stick to diluted fruit juice. No added sugar squash has aspartamine in it, which is not very good for you. Check out organixs website all about additives they have just published a paper about it on their website. 1 part juice to 9 parts water is best also if you use orange it helps to absorb iron from food.

[franch]

DD1 took months to start drinking water. I just kept doggedly offering it and eventually she got the idea. DD2's 6 months and not interested either, she'll cotton on eventually

[LIZS]

Think it is still early to expect any significant amount of liquid other than milk to be drunk. As his appetite increases, he gets older and the weather warms up he will get more thirsty and be more receptive to it and you should hoepfully be able to avoid the alternatives - sweetened squash (even so called "no sugar" is artifically sweetened or may contain "natural" sugars) or juice. If you are using a cup that also takes some work to use successfully.

[gingernutlover]

what do you offer him the water in? my dd has a tommee tippee first cup for her water which I offer with every meal (she is 26wks), she mainly plays with it but does get a few dripd out, I think what she likes is the cup - she will not take water from a bottle. She gets really excited when the cup appears and wont let me have it back for ages.

[Made4it]

Hi, thanks to everyone for your responses. I have offered ds water in the tommee tippee easiflow step 1 cup. But the lid of the spout gets in the way and annoys him. He doesn't mind having a little chew on the spout but hasn't got the hang of sucking on it. I have today just tried him with warmed water in his regular bottle with some success (he has his milk warmed so may prefer this). I may well try the tommee tippee step 2 cup & do away with the first 1. If all else fails I think I will give him a little diluted juice once a day to encourage drinking other liquids besides milk. x

[Seona1973]

The best cup to try is the tommee tippee first cup (which is NOT the same as the easiflow cup - which your lo has to bite to get the fluid out of)

The first cup has a flip up spout with one hole and is freeflowing which makes it easier to get the fluid out - I would still stick to water if I was you. When dd was younger I tried juice but she didnt take it any better than water so I persevered with water and after a few weeks/months she started taking more than a few sips from it.

With your lo still taking so much formula there is no real need for him to take huge quantites of water/juice. At this point it is more about getting him used to the cup rather than him drinking much from it.

\link{http://www.tommeetippee.co.uk/index.php?p=31\Tommee Tippee first cup - suitable from 4 months}