What Should i do so that my 5 month old daughter drink water or juice?And nd advice on weaning.?

Question

Hi
I am first time mum.My 5 months old daughter doesnt drink water at all.I tried a lot,but failed.then I tried to give her juice.She strongly refused that as well.My health visitor told me i cannot give solid food to my daughter until she is 6 months.She takes 900ml of formula milk everyday.I am very worried about her water problem and weaning.What should i do,so that my baby drink water.And what should i do about weaning? I am a member of several newborn web sites.In everywhere i saw,most of the mums starts weaning at age4-5 months.i am very worried.Pls suggest me.

Answer 1

What are you weaning the baby from at that age? Gosh.. I am an old school mom.. I start feeding my babies jar food when they are 3-4 months old. I have big babies and they have big apetites. As far as the water.. it is not mandatory for her to drink it now is it?? As long as she is getting plenty of milk. I would also, try to introduce the juice as a mixture with the milk. Good luck.

Answer 2

By "weaning" do you just mean starting solids? Because at only 5 months (even at 6 months!) the majority of her nutrition should still come from formula and/or breastmilk. Solids are just for fun and practice at this age, not so much for nutrition. For the entire first year, she needs to receive breastmilk or formula as her main form of nutrition. She doesn't have a "water problem" as both breastmilk and formula are mostly water! She's not constipated or showing any signs of dehydration, is she? There's really even no reason to offer juice this early. The people who are starting solids on these other sites you're talking about are starting early. There are many reasons to wait until 6 mos as the health visitor has advised you. (Starting too early increases the chances of allergies, diabetes and obesity! They can't digest it well much earlier than 6 mos also.)

Mine were all breastfed and added solids around 6 mos of age. At that same point, I began offering a couple of ounces of water when I offered the solids. This way they could "wash down" the solids they were eating. I offered it in a soft-spout sippy cup, not a bottle. You might try offering the water like that, when you start solids.

Answer 3

Infants don't need water until they start eating solids. Once solids are started, the kidneys need water for digestion, but when baby is only getting breastmilk or formula, water is unneeded. As for juice, it is also wholly unneeded at this young age. Juice can be helpful in getting enough servings of fruit in a toddler's diet, but even then must be carefully limited, as fruit juice has more calories per serving than fruit and is often high in sugar.

As for weaning, what are you weaning her from? If you're weaning to a cup, try Avent brand. They have soft spouts on their sippy cups, which feel similar to a bottle nipple. That could be a good first step. If you are weaning from formula, what are you substituting? Infants diet is primarily composed of breastmilk or formula for the first 12 months. Any other foods (solids, juice) are only supplementary. Formula/breastmilk are very calorie dense, which is key in the first year, since babies triple their birth weight in that year, but have very small stomachs.

Perhaps you should discuss your concerns with your health visitor or doctor.

Answer 4

The six month weaning age thing is fairly recent. I think it was brought it to try and reduce allergies in children, but as with every research based theory, it is flawed. I weaned both my children at 3-4 months, starting off with baby rice and cereal - just very small amounts after a milk feed. My eldest got bored of milk very early on, so I had no choice really. Once she got the hang of eating from a spoon, which takes a while, I introduced pureed fruit and vegetables, rusks soaked in milk, baby yoghurts, finger foods such as bread crusts etc. It's quite a long process, but if your baby is ready to take food from a spoon/fingers, I would start. Make sure you offer cool, boiled water many times throughout the day if milk feeds stop altogether. A thirsty child will not refuse it, so if your baby doesn't want it then she is obviously not thirsty.

Start each meal time with milk, and when she gets bored of it, try the solids. Good luck, and don't worry so much!

Answer 5

Hi it's to easy to worry about your child especially your first. Baby formula is made up with part water, so she is getting a daily intake of water. When i was younger i never drank water or any other type of drinks only milk, never done me any harm. Milk is made of water and all the vitamins a body needs for a feed. Don't worry to much about weaning your child if you do your baby will sense it and will become nerves around food or feed time. Relax try a teaspoon of baby cereal before a bottle feed and just take your time. Good luck all babies are different you'll know what your child needs just listen to what your baby is telling you through body language.

Answer 6

I have two children one a teenager and one a toddler. I weaned both of them about 5 - 6 months. I started with a teaspoon of baby rice after or before main feed. Make the baby rice with a little amount of the formula milk you have made up in the bottle. If baby takes the teaspoon of rice than increase slowly, she will soon let you know if she doesn't want it. As many other people have stated, there is no rush, start slowly introducing bland sloppy foods. I used to freeze steamed fruit or veg in ice cube trays. I defrosted a couple of icecubes before a feed. I gave cooled boiled water to both my children from them being new babies, inbetween feeds, just to quench their thirst. Sometimes they took it sometimes they didnt need it. Again just try a couple of mls in a feed bottle, if baby doesnt take it, dont worry just do it slowly. Please dont worry, your baby is getting all the nutrition she needs from her formula milk and it wont be long before she is holding a spoon and throwing food around your dining room whilst pouring water from a feeder cup. I never gave either of my children juice, just water. It is really bad for their teeth. I hope this has helped.

Answer 7

Everybody i know has started to wean their babies at 4 months. It,s only because of all these new rules that have come out that the health visitors tell you 6 months.You,ll know when your baby is ready to try solids cos they,ll start to take more notice in what your eating and want that instead of their milk.You,ll know yourself if formula is,nt filling your daughter.There,s no harm in trying her on something new.Try the cow and gate cereals that you mix with formula milk,first time i tried my son on this he ate it all and wanted more besides.As for the water thing try warming it up it might be too cold for her. Don,t forget she,s been used to drinkin nice warm milk for 5 months it,s a big change GOOD LUCK!!

Answer 8

I started weaning my two at 4 months old, with a couple of teaspoons of baby rice, mixed with milk from their bottle at every feed. After a few weeks of that and a gradual increase of rice mix, I added some of the tinned pureed first stage baby food to the rice mix, and topped them up with bottle. At eight months both mine were on the "lumpy" tinned food, with the rice mix, and a bottle "top up". Babies need formula milk to about 12 months. I think you can buy special baby juice now already prepared but I used to give mine cooled boiled water with a little Delrosa added to it. ( Do they still make that?) Keep offering the water but don`t worry if she refuses it. She will start to drink when she needs to. I have 2 grandchildren now and my daughter weaned them much the same way.

Answer 9

Let baby have her milk..what is this fascination with weaning. Your baby will let you know when SHE is ready..dont go by other mums no two babies are the same. try a little boiled-cooled water with the tiniest speck of sugar in..she may accept this half way through feeding..if she takes a few sips then continue with the milk. I dont know why you cant give a baby solids..its new to me and I had 5 kids..try the baby rice in packets or the banana or chocolate deserts in jars..just tiny amounts at first..baby will accept things eventually so dont worry..just enjoy her youre doing fine.

Answer 10

Water is not good for babys and juice is worse then water. I think that if you really want wean you baby it should be to just straight formula. It will take a very long time so get use to the crying and baby misery. no water before 6 months and no juice before 12 months