Bubba will not drink water!

[bubbasmum]

I have tried to give DS (6months) water over and over again and he just will not take it. He is on three solid meals a day. How can i get him to drink it?

[veve]

first question - is he breastfed??? if so .. I'm pretty sure that they require less water if they are (even with the solids introduced) ..

if he is breastfed .. he could also be struggling with the drinking bottle that you are using?? (does he drink other stuff out of the same bottle??)

if on formula - yes .. you will have to continue to try ..

I didn't have any trouble introducing water to my DS ..

I would just keep trying different bottles etc .. till he finds one that he likes (not cheap I know) .. OR .. make a game of it .. sip for mum (yay .. sip for bub.. YAY!!) .. sigh .. I know .. its exhausting ..

if you give me a little more info on the situation .. I will try to think of more options :hugs:
xx
Jen

[Tristans_Mum]

Hey,

I had the same problem when my Ds was little. I was told to add a tiny bit of sugar to make it sweet. It worked for me. I only had to do this once. Now he loves water :thumbsup:

[bubbasmum]

Veve he is formula fed. He will take the tiniest amount and then gag. Thanks Tristans_Mum, i will try that. How much sugar are you talking about half a teaspoon?

[Tristans_Mum]

Thats ok:thumbsup: I cant remember how much, but really not much at all! i guess enough to change the taste. Good luck hope it works

[veve]

at least you have an idea to try :)

he wont take it out of his normal formula bottles??? fair enough ..

what about trying watered down formula?? (make up 50 mls .. then add 50ml water to it??)

xx
JEn

[LittleMissyMoo]

DD is also 6 months and gagged on water. I solved the problem by buying a Tommee Tippee first step sippee cup - the one with the handles on the side. Its got the same flow as a bottle so no need to worry about choking. I got a bright pink one which DD was instantly attracted to and because of the rubber nozzle she likes to chew on it but at the same time water is going into her mouth, so I think she connected the fun with the taste of water. I made a big deal about how pretty the cup was and positively reinforced her when she drank. I also pretended to drink from it and she instantly wanted it.
Now she loves it and drinks about half a cup per meal. The cups are pretty cheap so nothing lost if it doesn't work.

[biscotti]

My bub won't drink water out of a bottle but she loves it in a cup (preferably mine!) so maybe try that.

[pinkandblue]

Veve he is formula fed. He will take the tiniest amount and then gag. Thanks Tristans_Mum, i will try that. How much sugar are you talking about half a teaspoon?

You could always put a little bit of cordial in it too.

My DD would never drink water and I used to put the tiniest bit of cordial in her water. My DS, on the other hand, drinks water 95% of the time.

[bubbasmum]

Thanks everyone for the suggestions!

[nkenward]

Hey there,

At 6 months of age, you probably don't want to start introducing to much sugary stuff.

Connor was slow to drink water as well. But my mum has a 'lemonade' lemon tree. I squeezed lemon juice into the water to give it some flavour. It was naturally sweetened. It worked for us. Maybe even some squeezed orange juice.

[devlin's mom]

I had some problem with DS in the beginning too. I made some soup with apple, carrot and sweetcorn, then diluted it with water and DS happily drank it. I gradually decreased the portion of soup and 3 weeks later, it's 100% water. DS didn't seem to notice the difference and has been drinking water ever since.

[leane7]

Another good way of introducing water is by giving it warm or giving warm camomile tea. This was a suggestion I was given by the health nurse. I havnt tried the camomile tea beacuse my son drinks water without a problem.