Drinking? Children?

I keep a veggie tray and water sitting on the kitchen table like I am having a get together every day from about 10:30 to 11:30 then again from 1:30 to 2:30. The kids keep coming in and out and take a drink and a veggie as they want.

I have noticed that a lot of times they drink when they need it but I do remind them a lot. I would just try to have water out for them to notice and remind them every so often.

Good luck!

I had pretty good luck with my kids and keeping fluids in them. We had a sparkletts thingy in the kitchen. They liked being able to get their own water. When they played hard they didnt ignore their thirst and they hit the water cooler pretty routinely without prodding from me.

I worry about the older kids, my daughters, because they get too busy to remember to drink and I have to constantly remind them. The baby, no way, he sips from his cup most of the day at his leisure, and I've noticed if he's hot and sweaty from running around, he'll grab his cup. The girls wait until their faces are bright red and they're drenched in sweat before I remind them to drink!

Lead by example. I ALWAYS have a bottle of water on me, even if I'm simply running errands. The girls have started grabbing one too, and one for the baby ;)

Get him hydrated in other ways. Make your own ice pops, 1/2 juice 1/2 water.

Yeah I get concerned about it. My daughter always wants milk, but she needs water too. Outside it's easier because I tell her that the milk will make her tummy hurt (hot milk is not pleasant in your stomach lol). Inside it's more of a challenge. I got a cool car water bottle she LOVES so that is deemed her water cup, if she wants to use it she drinks water so she ends up drinking more water :)

We have issues around here all the time. When the kids don't have enough to drink their behaviour is horrible. They complain of not feeling well. They will often mistake thirst for hunger which is common for people to do and they will crave sugar or carbs because the signals in the brain for thirst are similar to those items. We taught them that if their body doesn't get enough to drink it can't work right and can make them sick. We taught them that if they've had enough to drink their pee will be either clear or very pale yellow. Anything darker yellow means they have not had enough to drink and need some more.
The old "rule" of 8 8 oz glasses of water isn't accurate. How much someone needs depends on their size, age, physical activity and the weather. a nursing mother needs more as do pregnant women..you get the idea. Remember it is possible to get too much water and that can make you sick too. Some need less then the "8 8s".
We have a bunch of cups that the kids like and change up. One of their favorite is a bottle with a built in Britta filter. We just recently bought camelpacks for when we go out. We all got mountain bikes which is what started it but we've used them for other things like days at the zoo and such.
We bought one of those lemon juice things so they can put a spritz of that in there so it tastes nicer than just water. Be careful offering too much Gatorade etc as too much can make them sick too. A nice alternative is to put a little bit of sea salt (has to be sea salt and not table salt) into water. It helps replace the electrolytes without all the sugar, dyes etc that is what can make you sick if you have too much.
We've had our battles and they are worse when they are dehydrated so make sure you have your discussions when it's not critical.
My kids are getting a lot better but we still have our days.

Yeah, I have to make sure my 18 month old drinks enough every day. I give him two milks, at least one diluted juice and water all day long. We are in a horrible heat wave so I have to be really diligent. My 4 yr old will drink all day just fine but the baby will run for hours without drinking if I don't constantly offer it to him.

My grand daughter was in the hospital a couple of weeks ago with strep and some horrible virus on top of it. Her throat only had a tiny tiny opening. Her tongue swelled up and she could not close her mouth. They said ti was from dehydration since she had stopped eating and drinking. She got 4 days of IV fluids and Rocefrin. She was a really really sick little girl. So I am now focused on putting a cup of water in front of each kid every couple of hours and sitting them down until they drink it. We are not even playing outside due to excessive heat but they still need it.

Does he drink it when you put it "in the face range?" If so, keep doing it until drinking becomes a habit for him.

Use a 1-2 quart bottle and fill it with water and keep in the refrig. In the morning when you get up make sure it's full, give your child a cup of water right away. Keep giving water from that bottle all day. At the end of the day you will know how much your child drank that day. Each child should have their own bottle of water in the refrig with their name on it. A person needs about 2 quarts of water a day, more in hot weather. Remember popscicles, juice and kool-aide also count in that 2 quarts. But if you have a pre-measured bottled in the refrige you will have an idea of how much they drank that day.

As long as his food has a lot of water content its not as important to force the liquids. Give him lots of fresh fruit choices and try to get at least two drinks in him.

I also have the same issue with my 3yo.. My 2yo is a drinker, she will drink all way, no matter what it is, water milk, juice, soda, anything she can get. She is always saying she is thirsty, then sucks down whatever she can get. My 3yo, not so much. She will drink when she eats, and if it's hot, but through out the day I have to tell her to drink, she will take a sip and that's it. So I had to start threatening her with "the Dr. Said if you don't drink enough water you will have to go to the hospital" then I pretend I am calling the Dr. That usually does the trick.

When I was raising my nephew, he was a picky eater and a picky drinker. I would make sure that when he came to me while I was making food in the kitchen and tell me he's hungry or ask me when it was time to eat I would say How about you drink a full glass of water, juice, gatorade, ect and then well eat. And then before he was allowed to leave the table he'd have to take a bite of each item. One bite for each year he's been alive and drink all of his drink.

Kids don't think about fluid as much as adults do. Does your child have a favorite drink that you both agree on? If so, offer it often. A great way to get fluids in, but make them thinking they are getting a treat is the pediasure pops. I don't know how old your child is, but you may want to explain why fluid is important and what happens to their body if it is not hydrated.