Drinking plain water problem

[hushling 0]

Hi all,

I would like to know if any of your babies have problem drinking water? Do you have any solution to this?

My baby is now on formula and because I'm worried that he'll have hard stool, I have to give him water. But the problem is he refuses to drink until I have to use syringe to force some liquid in, which he'll make alot of fuss taking in the water. He'll cry or he'll spit out the water.

Now, my MIL suggested that I add some glucose in the water so that he drinks. No surprise, he really drinks the whole lot of the water that I made for him yesterday. I don't wish to give him so much glucose water though I didn't put much in it. Any other solution?

[bunnyNwife 0]

Maybe you wanna try sippy cup/straw or spoon-feed?

My gal is on BM fully thus she never drink water till 6 months old when we started solid. She will never drink water from bottle and she dislike sippy cup too. However if we spoon feed her or let her drink via straw, she will happily finish it and asked for more.

[hushling 0]

Hi bunnyNwife, my baby is just 3.5 months old. So, maybe I'll try your suggestion when he's older. :)

Thanks ya!

[Diana 0]

Well mine's similar to your solution hushling, but I add honey instead of glucose just a bit of it. It also helps in clearing the tongue off those white stuff due to the milk. My baby's been drinking water since a few days old although at the start i bf her.

[meiteoh 0]

Reason why he doesn't like water - like most babies - is because water has no taste and it's bizarre for them. If you add sugar in the water, of course babies will drink it but it's not a long term solution.

Eva made the "I hate this" face the first time I intro-ed water to her (coz she's on 100% BM and still is) and she wouldn't drink a lot. In fact, she would chew on the sippy more than drink and prefers water given in a spoon. What I did was I kept up the water in the sippy and reserve the spoon for days where she doesn't drink a lot and only during meals. It is my way of telling her that just because she doesn't like it, it doesn't mean she can opt to not take it. Die die oso have to drink. I'd also make sure that she sees me drinking water - all my glasses are transculent so she can see the water in them and when she shows interest in them, I'll let her take a sip from the glass. Then I introduced the straw and would sip from it to show her that Mummy takes it too so it's good for her! Works all the time. XD

She went from taking about 10-20 ml of water to sometimes 100 ml (give or take 20ml for spillage coz she sometimes would dribble water out from her mouth). So my advice? Keep it up either by spoon or syringe if you have to.

EDIT: Diana, please don't give your baby honey as it may contain botulism spores which are deadly for babies.

[CFA 0]

http://pediatrics.about.com/od/weeklyquest...nfant_honey.htm

Q. I seem to remember something about not giving honey to small children. Can you tell me the age? I am inquiring about a 2 year old taking honey for allergies. Susan, Bella Vista, Ar

A. The general warning is that you should not feed honey to infants under twelve months of age. It should be fine for a two year old, and I have heard of using a daily teaspoon of raw honey as a treatment for allergies. It has something to do with the pollen and other substances in the raw honey helping the patient to build up some immunity to whatever they are allergic to, but you would think that it would trigger their allergies and make them worse until that happens. If not, then great, maybe give it a try.

Honey is also being used as a wound dressing in Australia because of its antimicrobial properties, sometimes working better than topical antibiotics against difficult to treat bacteria.

For a child under twelve months of age, there is a risk of botulism from eating honey and it should be avoided. The spores of the Clostridium botulinum bacteria can be found in honey, and when ingested by an infant, the spores can release a toxin that causes botulism.

Infant Botulism

According to the CDC, infants with botulism 'appear lethargic, feed poorly, are constipated, and have a weak cry and poor muscle tone,' which may 'progress to cause paralysis of the arms, legs, trunk and respiratory muscles.'

Although parents often know not to give their infants under twelve months of age plain honey, they often overlook other foods that contain honey in them, such as Honey Graham Crackers, Honey Nut Cheerios, Honey Wheat Bread, etc. Although the honey in these foods may be processed, it may not be pasteurized, and so may still contain botulism spores in them and should be avoided. If you feel strongly about giving these foods to your infant, call the manufacturer to make sure that they are safe.

http://www.babycenter.com/0_foods-that-can...ur-baby_9195.bc

As your baby grows, he'll be eager to sample food from your plate – and you'll be eager to introduce some variety to his diet. But not all foods are safe for your child. Some pose a choking hazard, and a few aren't good for your baby's still-developing digestive system.

Foods to avoid: Newborn to 4 to 6 months

All solid food: The AAP recommends feeding your baby only breast milk or formula for the first four to six months.

Foods to avoid: 4 to 12 months

Honey: Honey can harbor spores of Clostridium botulinum, which causes botulism. An adult's intestinal tract can prevent the growth of these spores, but in a baby the spores can grow and produce life-threatening toxins.

Peanut butter: The sticky consistency of peanut butter and other nut butters can make it tough for a young child to swallow safely.

Cow's milk: Stick with breast milk or formula until your child's first birthday. Why? Your baby can't digest the protein in cow's milk for the first year, it doesn't have all the nutrients he needs, and it contains minerals in amounts that can damage his kidneys.

Choking hazards to watch for

Large chunks: Pea-size pieces of food are safest — they won't get stuck in your child's throat. Vegetables like carrots, celery, and green beans should be diced, shredded, or cooked and cut up. Cut fruits like grapes, cherry tomatoes, and melon balls into quarters before serving. Cut meats and cheeses into very small pieces or shred them.

Small, hard foods: Nuts, popcorn, cough drops, hard candies, raisins, and other small dried fruit and seeds are potential choking hazards.

Soft foods: Soft foods like marshmallows and jelly candies can get lodged in your child's throat.

More choking prevention:

• Avoid letting your child eat in the car. It's too hard to supervise while driving.
• If you're using a rub-on teething medication, keep a close eye on your baby as it can numb his throat and interfere with swallowing.

Foods to avoid: 12 to 36 months

<A title="" href="http://www.babycenter.com/0_foods-that-can-be-unsafe-for-your-toddler_1491465.bc">Click here to see age-by-age advice about food safety with older babies and toddlers.

[uniquesoul 0]

Hi all, my baby hates water too. Guess this is perfectly normal. I've got a trick here. Every time before feeding, yr baby should be hungry rite? Feed him/her with water in bottle, definitely baby will drink it cos he/she might taught you are feeding milk. IT works for my bb, she will have lotsa water then only feed her with milk.

[hushling 0]

I guess my baby is too cheeky to be tricked. Everytime when I put the bottle in, he'll taste it...if it's water, he'll make a fuss.

when he's about 1 or 2 months old, this work. but not anymore now....hhehe....

[CFA 0]

I guess my baby is too cheeky to be tricked. Everytime when I put the bottle in, he'll taste it...if it's water, he'll make a fuss.

when he's about 1 or 2 months old, this work. but not anymore now....hhehe....

At first we had a smaller bottle just for water and baby hated that bottle. So, we decided to use the milk bottle to feed water and it worked for a few times until he figured it out. Now he will use his tongue to block the teat and now that Baby is stronger, use the hands to push the bottle away. If i or my wife keep on feeding him, baby will make the choking noise but when we feed milk, there is no such response. babies are getting smarter by the day.

[eunice.anne4 0]

my baby is also on fulltime FM so i had introduced him to water since he is days old. Now he loves water... What i did was, i give him water everytime after he wake up so it became kind of routine now that he has to take water after he wakes up. Maybe you can try to give it to him after each time he wakes up..

[hushling 0]

CFA! Exactly.....that's exactly what my baby is doing! ahaha

[uniquesoul 0]

Hmm..agree with eunice, have to feed baby with water regularly,. so that baby knows it is necessary to drink water at all times. if baby refuse to drink and mummy doesn't feed, that will make matters worse.

[starryeye 0]

this is the first time i read that its ok to give water to infant. my paed said no no to water until baby is 6 mths, especially those on exclusive BM.

honey and glucose is a big no no, so whats right and whats wrong?

my baby was on BM first 2 mths (so i never gave him water) and after that hes on BM and FM up to now 17 weeks. i let him drink water when he turned 12 weeks. yes, same thing, he hates water. he will take a bit and pull away from the bottle or he will chew on the bottle teats. same as eunice, i let my baby drink after he wakes up every nap, i will prepare the water same as the milk temperature, just to trick him to drink. but like all babies these days, hes smart, taste it, pause, thinks and spit out.

all in all, he only drinks 1.5 to 2 oz a day.

the rest are BM and FM.

his stools look OK, in fact it looks the same as when he was on full BM. my gynea said that even tho i top of FM, as long as there's BM, baby's stools would be OK, they call it the ice cream paste stools.

i think i will into the straw method when he turns 6 :)

[Ally'sMom 0]

My baby hates water too! Looks like it is a common problem :) What I do is boil apple or pear in water, and just before feeding my baby, I will dilute the water further by adding more plain water. The water is not v sweet, but has some taste. So far my baby drinks it. I am hoping to dilute the 'fruity' water more as time goes by, till the day my baby takes plain water.

But I only started doing this after my baby turned 7 mths. Before that she was fully BM. I realise that some of your babies are still quite young...not sure whether can feed them the fruit boiled water.

[Cas 0]

Actually I read somewhere that babies dont need water up until they're 6 months because the breast milk provides that for them already. Maybe that's why the younger babies hate water? It's only recommended to give them water after 6 months.

[meiteoh 0]

Cas and starryeye, only those on FM are giving their babies water. The rest of us whose babies are on 100% BM are only giving water when they start solid food. That is the right practice - to me.

[fluene 0]

My elder baby hates water too. When I tried to feed her water, she rather choke than swallow it in. No surprise, she had constipation in early formula days. In the end, I had to add extra 10ml water in her feed everytime. The recommended ratio is 1 spoon of formula to 60ml water. So instead of 60ml, I use 70ml. This doesn't help in cleaning her tongue but at least she got the extra water needed. With this method, my baby does not have constipation anymore. Now, she can drink 10 - 15ml plain water before she started to complain.

[tinkerbelle 0]

wow. seems like im one of the lucky one who has no prob feeding any amt of water to my kiddo.

but some of u are right. lead by example. i thk the only reason why he doesnt put up a fight when comes to feeding water is becoz whenever i drink my cup of water (before and after b/feeding), i am carrying him in my arm, the otr hand holding the cup and gulping it down eversince he was a newborn.

so now kiddo doesnt want to drink like a baby. wanna drink like mommy. use a cup and gulps it down. haha.

i give him one medicine cup everytime he wakes up, after naps and after meals. extras on hot days. not a lot, as the otr half, drink from left side of his mouth, come out the right side, esp so when he wanna layan u to show u that he's cooperating by drinking.

actually, i bought him one super cute sippy cup from tommee tippee but he either doesnt know how to suck on the spout or he hates plasticky taste in his mouth, just like he dislikes his pacifier or the medicine feeder. wasted my dough.

yes. babies nowadays are just way too smart.

fluene,

i thk u shd check wif yr paed if it is ok to increase the amount of water in the formula's feed as "diluted" feed is not advisable (from wat i read from the instruction labels on the formula's pack).

iirc, one of the important reasons why fully breastfed babies dont need additional water is becoz water will "wash" away the antibodies in the lining of the gut etc. sumthg like that. do a google.

cheers.

[meiteoh 0]

tinkerbelle, eh, I do the same as well - carry in one hand and drink! Since small until now!

Can you change the spout head to a straw head for your tommy tippee? I bought her the Pigeon Mag Mag so I just switch the head to a straw one and voila, she loves it.

Still, it's good that he's drinking from a cup coz that's another set of skills for him to learn. XD

[fluene 0]

fluene,

i thk u shd check wif yr paed if it is ok to increase the amount of water in the formula's feed as "diluted" feed is not advisable (from wat i read from the instruction labels on the formula's pack).

iirc, one of the important reasons why fully breastfed babies dont need additional water is becoz water will "wash" away the antibodies in the lining of the gut etc. sumthg like that. do a google.

cheers.

I've checked with the paed. He said ok as the amount of the formula taken is the same. It is different if the baby is hungry and you feed her with only small amount of formula and top up with water instead.

[tinkerbelle 0]

tinkerbelle, eh, I do the same as well - carry in one hand and drink! Since small until now!

Can you change the spout head to a straw head for your tommy tippee? I bought her the Pigeon Mag Mag so I just switch the head to a straw one and voila, she loves it.

Still, it's good that he's drinking from a cup coz that's another set of skills for him to learn. XD

i thk some of us are the SAHM and singlehandedly do everything, literally.

good suggestions on the interchangeable spout. lemme give a call to mothercare. they shd be able to tell me. else, i've sourced a super cool bottle for kiddo, let's him drink like a (little) man.

fluene,

ok, i get wat u meant. thx for clarifying.

[CFA 0]

I don't know why but my Baby does not like to drink water eversince he was born. He's now < 10 mths old. When he was younger, still can force him to drink a bit of water before feeding him milk but now that he is more aware, he will use both hands and even the leg to push away the water bottle in addition to the Rock & Roll Motion (Twist & Turn, Shout & Scream) and use the tongue to prevent the water bottle from going in the mouth.

For a little guy, he's quite strong and we don't want to traumatise him too much, so we stop after a little while and he seems to be able to recognise the difference between the water and milk bottle, cos the minute we take away the water bottle and place the milk bottle, he will stop all this action and immediately suck on the milk bottle. Hence, my wife has to use a spoon to feed him water and dilute the milk a little bit more.

Any advice ladies.

[uniquesoul 0]

He is still not use to drink water with water bottle. Guess you should give him some time. Babies should start water bottle so early?

[Ally'sMom 0]

CFA, that's perfectly normal!

[meiteoh 0]

unique, once baby starts solid, MUST introduce water for adequate hydration as well as to help the body flush out excess toxins and byproducts from digestion of solids.

CFA, sorry but I think you need to be more firm with him. If you think that now is bad, when he's older, it will be harder for you to teach him to learn to drink water. Keep up the water feeds via spoon (no choice). Also, have you considered putting water in the same bottle as the ones you use to give your baby milk? Maybe you can try that.

Just a question - do you and your wife drink water often and in front of your baby? Maybe if he sees you both drinking, he may be curious to try - be it via a straw, sippy or even cup. Don't have to die die give him water in a bottle. Move to a straw cup or cup; added bonus is that he may be too distracted with being a grown-up kiddo that he won't notice it's water. :p