How can I get my baby to drink water, without putting sugar in it?

Question

My baby is 7 months old now and I have been trying to give her water for about 3 months. When I try to give it to her she spits it out, and I tried giving it to her in a sippy cup and bottle. The need for water is greater now because she is on solids. I don't want to put sugar in it, I think that defeats the whole purpose of water.

Answer 1

Babies tend not to drink water especially after they have tasted something they like. Don't be afraid to wait for your baby to warm up to water. I have a two year old and if your child is thirsty they WILL drink water. Noone ever said they had to like it. Keep on trying and don't give your child ANYTHING else until he/she drinks water. Your child will get all his/her nutrition from food or breast milk so don't think you are depriving your child of anything he/she needs by not giving juice or sugar water. Be the parent and only introduce water until they take to it. Juice should be a treat NOT a necessity. Good luck, it only takes time. And whoever the hell said don't give water because it has no nutritional value is naive. That is the silliest nonsense I have ever heard. Water is EXTREMELY important and especially for babies and children. My daughter is VERY healthy and I've only given her water since she was 8 months old. You should really try giving your baby a four to six ounce bottle of water ever third feeding. Water has no nutritional value? PISH POSH...that was retarded.

Answer 2

Hello there, I had the same problem with my kids, now at this age they get enough fluids with the formula but if she gets thirsty between meals I would offer her the water a few times maybe cold water would work better. When my kids are thirsty and its not meal time they get water they tell me no sometimes and stomp out of the room but they come back and drink the water. Just keep trying this is new for her and may take a while, if that's all you give her is water sooner or later she'll catch on. As for the sugar in the water, once you start that its a hard habit to break, and it really messes up the teeth.

Answer 3

Maybe it's not the taste of the water, maybe it's coming out of the bottle too fast. Get a finer nipple for the bottle. If babies are accustomed to drinking thicker things like brest milk or formula water is a huge rush to them. It might drip out a little too fast.

If that's not the case... try putting a tiny bit of real fruit juice in the mixture instead of sugar. I always tried to steer my daughter away from juice, but if you mix just a bit in with the water it might work! You can decrease the juice to water ratio little by little.

Answer 4

Wait until she is ready. Until she is about a year old, she should be getting only *small* amounts of solids, so if she isn't drinking water, it shouldn't matter. None of my kids ever had any water until they were about 18 months old (they were still nursing frequently), and they are all healthy (3 adults, a teen, and a toddler). (And you're right--sugar *does* defeat the purpose!!)

Answer 5

We have been giving our daughter the flavored water. I asked my doctor about it, and brought a bottle to have her look at the ingredients. She said that the Nestle flavored water (the stuff we use) is fine. It is water with some flavoring to it.

Water is such a drastic taste difference from what babies get with formula and juice. Another trick we use - fill a bottle with 7 ounces of water and 1 ounce of juice. It gives the water some flavor, but she still gets the benefits of water.

Good luck!

Answer 6

You cannot. A baby will only eat/drink what they like. Are you breast feeding? That will give plenty of liquid nutrients as well as the solids she is now eating.

There are some juices on the market for babies and you can try some of those to see if she likes them. When she is older, she will probably like water, but for now, I wouldn't keep trying to give her something she doesn't like. Just be sure to give her plenty of liquids that she likes especially with the hot weather, otherwise she could become dehydrated.

Answer 7

If your baby doesn't like water, I say stop fighting it. Just give her milk with meals. She will get all the fluid she needs from the milk.

Try water once in a while, but don't frustrate yourself or you baby. Put it away and try again a few days later.

Answer 8

You don't have to give her water because she is on solids granted she does need fluids. Give her juice juice but whatever you do don't put her back on formula if she is off of it and doing fine keep it that way, it don't have to be water try juice juice and kool aide without sugar it will still give it a little taste. good luck

Answer 9

This may sound odd, but what worked for us was when my daughter was in the bath, she would put the water from our shower head (we have one on a long hose) into her mouth. Pretty soon we realized that she was actually taking gulps. When she started to play with tub toys, she would take little cups and drink the water from the tub.
Another way that helped for me was to let her take sips of my water. She would reach for my cup, so I would help her take sips of my water. 7 months is about when they want to start mimicing, so you might try drinking infront of her and see how that works.

Answer 10

I give my four month old regular, sugarless water, and she drinks it just fine. Granted, she doesn't drink a lot, but she drinks enough for me to be satisfied that she won't be dehydrated during the summer heat. She likes for me to rub the bottle nipple on her gums, and a little water comes out when I do that, so she just swallows it. And all those people who say don't give water, it's unhealthy for babies, that's just silly. My husband is a doctor, and he tells me to give her water. I doubt this helps you, but it's my experience.