Help - how do I get my baby to drink water?

L

Liquorice

Registered User
I am worried about my 7 month old. He is on 3 meals of solids a day, 3 bottles of milk, he is constipated (has been for weeks and weeks) and I cannot get him to drink water.

I have tried mixing it with prune juice, then various other juices. I have tried several different kinds of sippy cups, I have tried giving him it in his milk bottles, but he refuses to even put the teat in his mouth as soon as he knows it is water. I have tried weak milk, but he doesn't seem to like the taste and won't drink much.

I have tried all of these different ways for weeks now and nothing is improving. I'm very worried that he is dehydrated in this hot weather but I really don't know what else to do.

The only way he will drink water is out of a glass - when I am drinking it he wants to - but of course most of it dribbles down him rather than being swallowed.

Has anyone had a similar experience and found a solution? Thanks.
 
Both of my girls didn't drink much water until they were closer to 10 months. About the constipation, what kinds of food are you feeding him? If he's constipated, stay away from rice, apples and banana. They are all very common first foods but are all quite constipating.

About dehydration, if he's wetting enough nappies, he's fine, don't worry about it.

At 7 months, most of his nutrition should still come from milk anyway so if you're very concerned, just give him more milk :)
 
My baby girl is 9 months old and she's the opposite, she loves water but dislike milk. She doesn't like to drink from a bottle any type of a bottle, basically she's not drinking any milk during the day if I don't breast feed her, which is a real worry. All babies should have at least 500ml -600ml of milk intake a day, but she's taking less than 200ml. She can't get enough of water whenever I give her. I've tried to put milk in the cups or bottles, but she rejected them instantly the minute she knew it's milk. I like to stop breast feeding completely but how could i do it if she doesn't take the formula at all? if anyone has any ideas as what I should do to get her to drink formula, please share.
I started giving water to my daughter with a spoon when I started the solids, she loved water from the very start. May be you can try with a spoon when you feed her solids with each meal. Just try it hopefully this will work. Good luck!
 
Thanks Nicolejoy & Mia Bella. I'll try the spoon and keep on with the glass, and I'll also make sure I offer him milk more frequently. I was trying to get him into a routine based around 500-600ml of milk (i.e. and no more than that) so I will be more free with the milk.

Mia Bella, a worse situation than mine... I can't really help you as my little one had no problem at all taking formula. I hope you find a solution. I am assuming you have tried lots of different types of formula brands?
 
Liquorice - you've described my daughter to a T when she was 7 mths.
Like your son, she only wanted to drink from a cup which was not the most efficient. So like Mia Bella, I tried using a spoon and it worked. OK, not fostering the best habits and it is pretty darn slow but at least I know how much she drinks with a spoon. I can typically get an ounce down her. I continue to let her drink from "her cup" as well, so hopefully she will graduate solely to that at some point. She's 9 mths now.
re constipation - yes avoid the BRAT diet for a while - bananas, rice, apples and toast. I give her mashed fresh fruit for breakfast and after lunch and find that papaya, mangoes and custard apple work a treat. No issues with poo after...and brace yourself, the whole house knows when she's had papaya ;)
 
Oh another thing, try different types of cups/bottles. For my oldest, the straw cup worked the best. For my baby, the silicon soft spout ones work the best. There are a few different options. Also if something has a valve, try it without the valve as well. Sometimes it's just a matter of finding a better cup. I personally didn't want to offer water in a bottle since I didn't want to have to wean from milk and then wean from the bottle separately. So for me, the bottle was ONLY for milk. Also personally I didn't offer juice at all until over a year old and until they were drinking water very well. Many children do not drink water - but water is the healthiest thing that we can drink. So until they had good water drinking habits, I didn't offer any juice. Of course they had milk as well until they were good at drinking water so dehydration was not an issue.
 
my young one is similar - the only time she drinks water is when i am drinking it from a cup - i've learnt to ignore the dribbles and live with it as it's "only" water and will dry soon enough :) she likes her milk and so dehydration is not a problem, and she drinks alot of Chinese soups - sometimes 2 bowls...and i just let it be since i figure it is water anyways.
 
nicolejoy said:
Also personally I didn't offer juice at all until over a year old and until they were drinking water very well. Many children do not drink water - but water is the healthiest thing that we can drink. So until they had good water drinking habits, I didn't offer any juice.
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I reckon this is very sound advice. Juice, even juice that has been diluted with lots of water, contains a lot of sugar. I know of one mother who gave milk and watered-down juice (no plain water) to her baby when he was less than 12 months old and he developed tooth decay from a very early stage.
 
He doesn't seem to like juice either so I guess that is good. I'll keep with just getting water into him, however I can, until he gets used to it.
 
Hang in there with the water drinking. Before my son turned one he hated water, but after 1 and now at 2, he drinks so much of it! Just keep offering it to him. I would tend to stay away from juice for now as you wouldn't want your baby to get used to diluted juice and then refusing water even more!
 
My daughter, now 21 months, has never used a sippy cup, instead she has been using straws in adult glasses or drinking bottles with straw since 8 months old. As for solid food, try to incorporate more liquid into the solid meals, like soup, stew. Also try watermelon as a source of liquid.
 
Oh, try adding several drops of lemon juice into the water. Sometimes, just that slight hint of taste makes a huge difference (& it doesn't add sugar like fruit juices)
 
I read in The Nursing Mother's Guide to Weaning that if baby objects to formula, you can try to mix breastmilk with a small amount of formula first, and then gradually increase the proportion of formula with each bottle until baby accepts formula on its own.



Mia Bella said:
My baby girl is 9 months old and she's the opposite, she loves water but dislike milk. She doesn't like to drink from a bottle any type of a bottle, basically she's not drinking any milk during the day if I don't breast feed her, which is a real worry. All babies should have at least 500ml -600ml of milk intake a day, but she's taking less than 200ml. She can't get enough of water whenever I give her. I've tried to put milk in the cups or bottles, but she rejected them instantly the minute she knew it's milk. I like to stop breast feeding completely but how could i do it if she doesn't take the formula at all? if anyone has any ideas as what I should do to get her to drink formula, please share.
I started giving water to my daughter with a spoon when I started the solids, she loved water from the very start. May be you can try with a spoon when you feed her solids with each meal. Just try it hopefully this will work. Good luck!
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