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Share your dilemmas and get honest opinions from other Mumsnetters.

Original poster

To never buy another water bottle

62 replies

Smurfy1 · 29/04/2012 05:43

Since DSD moved in with us full time in Jan she has gone through 11 yes 11 water bottles 9 chewed til they leaked, 2 lost (left at her butt)

I keep giving in and thinking she will look after this one but the latest one was given to her on wednesday and was chewed when I got it back to wash that night and was lost Thursday GAH i know they are cheapish at £2.50 a pop but it's adding up now

OP posts:
imnotmymum · 29/04/2012 11:17

Rhubarb I think there was some sort of research on kids having access to water when they need it increases concentration, learning or something. I now think that is maybe challenged now.IMO having worked in a school that had water bottles they decreased concentration as fiddled with, spilt, refilled continuously they are just madness. We get a drink if need one when out or just wait until home I doubt we will all dehydrate in the interim between brekkie and breaktime !!

orangeandlemons · 29/04/2012 11:25

I bloody loathe them. Just opened cupboard, and 4 have fallen out, all without lids. I am sick of fiddling with, washing, locating missing lids of water bottles.

DD 5 takes them and leaves them at school, until I have to go and fetch them all (usually about 3 or 4 by this time). I am scared of her drinking fromm old ones, as have become obsessed by legionaires diesease! When she rememebrs them, they leak all over her bag.

Loathe them.

notactuallyme · 29/04/2012 11:30

I gave up ages ago; we get highland spring or buxton sports top and they take a new one in each day. Kept in fridge overnight. Less hassle.

Chundle · 29/04/2012 11:33

I buy a cheap bottle of bottled water and rinse bottle out like another poster said lidl do them very cheap. We don't buy water bottles anymore for this exact chewing reason

Original poster
Smurfy1 · 29/04/2012 16:42

Hi she is 10 but has alot of issues, we ofcourse have said to her dont chew this one (like she listens) etc and metal ones ended up scratched/ defaced and still chewed

thanks for the tips :-)

OP posts:
GreenPetal94 · 29/04/2012 19:30

I reuse the 500ml mineral water bottles, not the chewable leaky sports caps but the normal screw lid type. Then when they get lost or worn you just send in a bottle of mineral water but tell them not to throw it at the end. You can also write their name on in permanent marker.

TheMichele · 16/05/2012 11:47

OOh all my 3 kids are chewers. At one point i had talked to the doc and wanted them tested for OCD but they didn't think so. I have started with like Sigg couple of years ago and only after 1 day, the cap will be chewed and the white top with all deep teethmarks. Day 2 the nozzle will be so chewed up its disgusting. Day 3, the bottle became dented and then the bottle was lent to another kid in her sports class and she forgot to take it back! Like eeew, who would want her bottle?? Especially with a chewed up spot

I tried nice bottles from Nalgene (supposedly breakable) but they chewed off the plastic cap in a month. Tried those camel baks too with the chewable spout and they chewed them off too. Even the ring handle was not spared!

Solution : bring a gatorade bottle for hot days but dont expect any to come back even with a name written. It looks trendy with the yellow top and yes, it still does get chewed but at least she gets to drink from a bottle and for the price you pay, you got a sport drink!

If its any consolation, go visit the lost and found. You will find so many nice expensive water bottles there but chewed to death by kids who just can't learn how to take care of things. I even found a water bottle with the price tag on it (so it can't be that old) defaced with markers of some girl being "Kool" all over it. Then you will feel better with a Gatorade bottle solution.

I am now dealing with a pen chewing issue.... do your kids chew pens now?

savoycabbage · 16/05/2012 11:56

Get ones without a spout. Mine have a sort of hole in the top and you press a button and part of the lid slides away to reveal the hole. My dd is a bit forgetful to say the least and she doesn't remember to push the sports bottle spouts down. Aladdin have ones that are just a hole with a lid over it.

Ithinkitsjustme · 16/05/2012 12:00

Just get a screw lid one. Problem solved.

startail · 16/05/2012 12:04

My lot like lucozade sport, so I get that when it's on offer and recycle those or cheep bottled water ones.

They loose far too many to get proper ones.

WorraLiberty · 16/05/2012 12:06

God I'm a tight cow

I just rinse out empty coke/lemonade/lucozade/water bottles and send them in with them Blush

WorraLiberty · 16/05/2012 12:07

Snap startail!

seeker · 16/05/2012 12:08

Just refil an evian bottle from th tap until it gets lost, then buy anothr one, refi and so on.

MissFaversham · 16/05/2012 12:08

I do what one of the other posters said on here. I buy the cheap bottles of water from wherever and just refill.

seeker · 16/05/2012 12:08

And shoot the next person who talks about hydrating. If we all do that we should get rid of them all in a week or so.

sausagesandmarmelade · 16/05/2012 12:11

Stop buying one. Give her a basic plastic bottle and tell her that if she destroys that, that she will have to go without.

Don't pander to her bad habits/behaviour.....

It's possibly some kind of protest...but she has to learn that there are consequences

Dancergirl · 16/05/2012 12:18

What ever happened to water fountains they used to have in schools?

Pandemoniaa · 16/05/2012 12:21

Buy cheap water already in bottles. Refill any bottles that aren't chewed beyond recognition but certainly, don't spend £2.50 on another one!

chipmunksex · 16/05/2012 12:22

Was very Confused at the idea of anyone chewing their hot water bottle Blush

I should avoid telling you then, that my dc never chew their water bottles and ds had the same one all through primary.

pumpkinsweetie · 16/05/2012 12:23

Get down to poundland- you get 2 for a £1, then it doesn't matter how many you throw awaySmile

GreenEggsAndNichts · 16/05/2012 12:30

Ridiculous expense. I can't wait for DS to start school. :(

I grew up in a much hotter country, and we had a drinking fountain at school we all had to queue up at after we'd been playing outside. It's almost never hot enough during the school year for children to be that desperate for water in this country. I'm amazed.

MyMelody · 16/05/2012 12:31

Our school insists on them, apparently its an ofsted requirement that all the children have access to water in the classroom. I just don't understand why they can't just have plastic beakers and a jug of tap water in the classroom, thats what we had in our day! So my children have to take a bottle in with their pack lunch and also a separate water bottle for in the classroom - madness and so many bottles everywhere to remember!

The last two water bottles I have bought have split at the bottom, they are so poorly made. I think I will go with re-using a mineral water bottle in future as water bottles just seem so overpriced and bad quality.

valiumredhead · 16/05/2012 12:33

Refil and Evian one - our school is the same as mymelody's - the kids have to have them. I get them from the 99 p shop, two in a pack.

thepigflu · 16/05/2012 12:35

I am a chewer and at 32 if I have a pen in my hand for any length of time it will end up chewed. It is a really hard habit to break, similar to nail biting, it is so sub conscious. I never used water bottles growing up, we used cups, I don't think water bottles are a necessity and the environmental impact of them is pretty disgusting. Kids seem pretty clued up about environmental issues these days , could you come at the issue from that angle and ask dsd to come up with a better option?

RachyRach30 · 16/05/2012 12:36

Why don't you get an electric blanket? Would have saved you loads by now. I love mine.