How do I get my 1yr old to drink some --any-- water?

[incywincyspide]

My son is dropping milk but not replacing it with water so I'm a bit worried that he's not drinking enough.

Any tips gratefully received from more experienced parents/carers!

Water down the milk?

We tried every cup, beaker and straw and eventually dc1 will use the tommee tippee beakers with the folding spout and will now drink happily from an open cup at age 2 if the beaker isn't available. What cups or beakers/straw bottles have you tried?

The only cup he likes is the miracle 360 which is great but he just doesn't seem thirsty. He has 140mls of milk in the morning and 250ml of milk in the evening. He will sip a tiny amount of water through the day, and that's it

Ice lollies?

Orange or blackcurrant (very dilute).

You’ll get the “squash is akin to giving them crack cocaine” brigade on flaming me for this.....but put some squash or juice in it! It’s not optimal, sure....water is better - but ultimately, being well hydrated is the most important thing. A friend of mine stuck to the “only water” mantra and, like your son, her DD wasn’t keen on it! And her DD had UTI after UTI until her GP basically ordered her to get the child to drink whatever she would.

I'll give squash a go

It's just like when we were told "don't give bread to wild birds because it's bad for them". People stopped feeding bread to the birds, and swans died of starvation! It's not ideal, but it's better than the alternative!

They will drink, mine didn't drink much water until over a year before it clicked. The health visitor said that I also should ensure he's getting lots of watery food, like melon/grapes etc.

I did try milk but dc1 will only drink water now he's not breastfeeding, nothing worked to get him to drink other than time. Just keep offering water and reminding him to sip every 20 minutes and he'll start to do it himself out of habit.

Personally I wouldn't do the squash as he'll get used to it and be less likely to drink plain water. Do you give him very cold water? He might like that. I hate room temp water but drink gallons of it cold.

With DS1 I eventually got him drinking from a Bing pixie bottle (one of the bottles with a straw plugged in). It also helped that the weather was warmer - he was over a year old.

With DS2 I’ve introduced a TT free flow cup and a doidycup straight from 6m. He’s already drinking some. I’m try not to repeat the stress of DS1!

Diluted juice is working!