Should I be giving her some water?

[Ghosty]

Hello!
DD is 7 months old. She has 3 breastfeeds a day (first thing, mid afternoon and bedtime) and 3 meals a day (8ish, 12ish, 5ish). The current routine is that she has a long nap in the morning from 9.30am for up to 2 hours and then a shorter one in the afternoon for up to 1.5 hours. She doesn't feed in the night. If, for whatever reason, she has a short nap in the morning she will sneak in an extra feed mid morning.
My question is, is she having enough to drink? I offer her water from a cup with her lunch but she isn't very good at drinking it and hasn't worked out what to do with it tbh ...
Should I offer water at other times? I do sometimes offer the breast at other times if she is niggly in case she is thirsty but she isn't really that interested in a feed if it isn't 'feed time' IYSWIM?
I worry that she doesn't have enough liquid ... and I wouldn't even know what to look for for dehydration ...
Any tips?
Cheers
G xx

GEt a doidee cup thingy. They are really easy to drink water from.

I gave my DS2 a beaker with water in (Tommy Tipee - very basic) after meal times and in the afternoon. Mostly he just played with it but eventually he drank from it after I showed him ow a few times. Now (12m) he drinks really well from it and asks for it (points and shouts "dis dis" )

I think she would go for the breast if she was thirsty. Dehydration signs are sunken eyes, sunken fontanel, and dry nappies. Ds has only been dehydrated once, and it was fairly obvious (the dry nappy was a major giveaway!!) so I think she sounds fine. Like Tommy said, let her play with a beaker and she will get the hang of it. Ds did this with a little Avent bottle filled with water. I'm rambling now, so good luck!

Hi Ghosty
Your dd is having the same feeds & meals as mine, my dd is 8.5 months.
Agree with everyone else, offer her some water in a beaker a couple of times a day, if she is thirsty she'll drink. My dd only drinks lots of water at her lunchtime and a trickle with her breakfast & supper.....and she's doing fine!
Good luck and try not to worry about it!
mit x

I usually offer my ds a bottle of water after each nap - especially if he has been sleeping in his clothes with socks on etc. I always feel that if he was all hot and snugly while sleeping he would be thirsty on waking. It does seem to stop him grisling anyway.
Although I don't know if he takes it so readily just becuase its from his bottle. But I always think it won't do him any harm to take it when he doesn't really want it - better that than have him dehydrate.

Thanks everyone ...
Feel less worried now that you have given me the signs of dehydration, Bouj ....
I guess I will keep offering the cup then ...
cheers xxx

Bob didn't drink water in any meaningful quantities until quite recently and he survived on 3 feeds a day. There is water in her food which counts too.