Parents should understand that if children don’t drink the water you feed, they may not like to drink water, or they may not need extra water at all. As for when to replenish water? How much water should baby drink? These also need to be understood clearly in order to help the baby not repel and even like to drink water. Therefore, drinking water should also be scientific.

Water demand of babies of different months

1. No extra water is required for babies within 6 months.
The American Academy of Pediatrics practical feeding guidelines suggest that babies less than 6 months of age do not actually need to drink water because they already have the required water in breast milk and formula.
More than 90% of the breast milk of babies who drink breast milk is water, which is the best choice for babies to supplement water. If a baby drinks formula milk according to the specified proportion, the water content in the formula milk is almost the same as that of breast milk, which can meet the baby’s demand for water and does not need to feed water.

2. 6 months to 1 year old, feed water as appropriate.
It is a good time to let the baby drink water at the age of 6 months. However, it should be noted that the child does not actually need much water before the age of 1. The American Academy of Pediatrics recommends drinking 4-6 ounces of water a day. During this period, as long as the baby has enough milk, the amount of water in the supplementary food, such as fruits and vegetables, is also sufficient. For example, lettuce contains 95% water, watermelon 92%, broccoli 91%, carrot 87%, yogurt 85% and apple 84%.

3. After 1 year old, drink more water.
At this time, milk consumption gradually decreases, the amount of complementary food increases, salt is eaten, and the amount of activity increases, so the demand for water naturally increases. Most children will have the demand for water when they are thirsty. The specific amount should be determined according to the amount of activity, milk consumption and complementary food of the children.

Reference range of drinking water volume:

Half to one year old: 0.9 L / day
1 ~ 4 years old: 1.3 L / day
4 ~ 7 years old: 1.7 L / day
7 ~ 11 years old: 1.8 L / day
The amount here refers to the total amount of water in all diets in a day. When calculating the amount of water to feed alone, remember to subtract the amount of water from other foods in your diet.

When does the baby need to drink more water?

The premise of drinking more water must be that the baby is short of water. It is not a good thing to drink water without restraint in any case. Here are some ways to judge.
1. Look at the baby’s urine color. Except for morning urine, under normal circumstances, if the baby’s urine color is transparent or yellowish, it means that the baby is not short of water. If the baby’s urine color turns yellow, it means that the baby needs to supplement water in time.

2. When the baby is sweating more, exercising more, and the lips are dry, the baby needs to be hydrated.

3. When the baby is sick, such as fever and diarrhea, he should drink water to prevent dehydration.

How to make your baby love drinking water?
Children should be properly guided to drink water from the beginning, so that drinking water naturally becomes a part of daily life.

1. From the very beginning, give me plain water to drink. Don’t feed the sweet drink of fruit juice too early.

2. The amount of water is added gradually. At the beginning, after the complementary food is fed, the mouth will be more comfortable with a little water. In this way, the baby can slightly understand that drinking water is the instinctive demand of the body, and then gradually increase the amount according to the demand.

3. Play water games with your baby. You can find two small cups, one for your baby and one for yourself, and play the “cheers” game with your baby.

4. You can take your baby out more to find children of the same age. If you see other children drinking water, he will also want to drink.

5.You can prepare several straw cups with cute shapes and bright colors to feed your baby water alternately, or use spoons of different shapes to feed your baby water, which will make them feel fresh and interesting and like drinking water. Food grade silicone straw cup is the best choice for the soft and unbreakable feature.

6. Praise and encourage the child to drink with a water cup, so that he will feel more fun. When he finishes drinking, praise him in time.

7. When drinking water, parents can deliberately come to the baby and make exaggerated movements to attract his attention.

The premise of these methods is that the baby really needs to drink water. Don’t force the baby to drink.

Finally, when the baby’s body is short of water, in addition to drink water directly, it can also increase foods with high water content, such as vegetables, fruits and milk.