If you aren’t seeing that, watch for other signs of dehydration and talk to your baby’s pediatrician. Babies should have at least 6 wet diapers a day to indicate they are adequately hydrated. The best way to know if your baby is adequately hydrated is to watch their diapers. Additionally, high water-containing foods such as fruit, vegetables, and soup can also contribute to water intake. Factors such as the weather and activity level can impact hydration needs. Water needs may vary quite a bit from baby to baby as well as from day to day. Introducing water too early or diluting formula or breastmilk with water can be dangerous for your baby because it affects the balance of electrolytes in the blood and can lead to seizures. It is not intended to replace breastmilk or formula, which still provides all the water your baby needs.īabies younger than 6 months should not be offered water or any other fluids besides breastmilk or formula, which is sufficient, even on hot days. Any water your baby drinks at this age is meant to get them used to its taste and introduce the skills needed for cup drinking. Offer a few sips of water from an open cup or straw cup at mealtimes. When can I introduce water to my baby?īabies can begin to have small amounts of water when they start solids at around 6 months of age. After that, water is the best-choice beverage alongside plain cow’s or nondairy milk. The American Academy of Pediatrics recommends introducing water for babies from the age of 6 months, although breastmilk or formula will remain their main beverage until they reach 1 year. However, babies meet their needs a little bit differently.
As adults, we usually think of meeting our water needs by assessing the amount of water we drink each day. Water helps to carry nutrients throughout the body, lubricate joints, and regulate digestion and body temperature. Why is it important for babies to drink water?ĭrinking water is important for everyone, including babies, since it has so many vital functions in the body. By 1 year of age, that amount drops to about 65%.īut what does this mean for babies? Should they be drinking water throughout the day like the rest of us? The answer is - it depends! Keep reading to find out when it is appropriate to start offering your baby water and how much they need. Babies have the largest percentage of body water, about 78% at birth. One US military source recommends drinking only up to 1.4 liters of water per hour, when you drink it for several hours in a row.Drinking enough water is essential for optimal health and well-being. This is the lowest amount to cause water intoxication in adults, I've heard of. Water intoxication is not studied by experiments, from obvious reasons, so the most knowledge about this comes from case reports and newspaper news.Īccording to one report, a woman who was on a low-calorie and hence low-sodium diet for about a week, drank 4 liters of water in 2 hours and later died in hospital from water intoxication (hyponatremia). If you drink smaller amounts, like 1 cup (237 mL) at the time, for example, 30 min apart, you have a better chance to keep a greater percent of water in your body. When you drink 1 liter of water at once (still only the half of the amount you miss) you may observe that you will need to urinate shortly after that (because of mechanism described above). This can be true even when you are dehydrated and you, for example, miss 2 liters of water in your body (you can know that by weighing yourself). This way the drinking will be less efficient than drinking smaller amounts, like 1 cup at the time. Volume receptors in the heart will detect an increase of blood volume and will trigger excretion of some water from the blood through the kidneys before the water could reach the body cells. If you drink a large amount of water at once, for example, 500 mL (2 cups, 16 oz), all this water will be quickly absorbed and will expand the blood volume. I don't see a lot of difference between drinking few sips and 1 cup (8 oz, 237 mL) of water at once.
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