Is squash drink really bad for toddlers?

[baileyslover]

My DS is 14months and I am really struggling to get him to drink. He will drink from his cup of water at meal times when he asks for it, but not usually when I offer it to him and hardly ever between meals. I have tried watered down fruit juice which he will drink a bit more of but still not masses, and the same with milk.
The other day he got hold of my drink of squash and loved it, though not sure how much of that was because it was in my glass not his cup! I don't know whether to give in and offer him squash, or persevere with the water.
He eats loads of fruit and has milk in his cereal but feel he is still not getting enough fluids.

bailey personally I wouldn't let my DC have it on a regular basis, although some are better than others, probably best to check out the ingredients. In our house its milk or water but then I am a scarily strict old bitch .

Is DS showing any signs of dehydration or constipation? Is he bf or on cows milk? Have you tried just letting him have access to a sippy cup with water in it all day so that he can just help himself?

My DS has had a few glasses of squash each day from fairly early on and I think a glass of weak squash is better than a) not drinking or b) fruit juice, which can be quite acidic and cause tummy upsets. Now age 11yo and no ill-effects.

Definately not constipated, in fact his poos are looser that I would like but suspect that is the fruit as he is a bit of a fruit monster. Nappies (cloth) are wet and not smelling of strong concentrated urine so guess he can't be that dehydrated. Stopped bf last month when feeling rubbish with morning sickness, and he hardly touches cows milk. He has loads of dairy in his diet so less worried about that.
I have his doidy cup within sight during the day, and he can point and say please when he wants it. I have recently also got a toddler drinks bottle he has access to, but he mostly ignores it

I let mine have a little squash at that age, heavily diluted, but only the ones with sugar in, not artificial sweeteners. Some friends have found that their kids won't drink water after trying squash but my DD will always choose water over squash now.

If you're not worried about consitpation I suspect he is getting enough water, so I'd forget about the squash for now. On the bfing front, I found that my DS wouldn't touch cows milk when we stopped bfing but would drink it when we tried him with semi-skimmed. A week or so later we swapped it for full fat. Do you think that might be worth a try?

Just remembered, with DD we gave her a drink of cows milk in a cup in the bath. Think she drank it from the novelty factor, actually having a grown up cup and if she spilled any, it didn't matter as she was in the bath anyway. if she's tired she will sometimes ask for her milk warmed up, but we only do it to about body temperature, think it reminds her of her bfing days .

Thanks JJJ, will give semi skimmed a go, and just maybe stop over analysing

This may be painfully stupid, but why do some people not like giving squash to kids? Is it empty calories? Sugar/acid rotting teeth? Additives? Or what?

Squash is fine - we drank it all the time as kids. Teeth fine if you brush them. Let him have what he likes.

Dd drinks lots with sugar, no additives. Teeth lovely (unlike mine, which aredreadful)

Think thats it for me too Julia. I drank loads of sqash as a child and also had lots of fillings. Now I'm not saying that if you give your child squash they will have to have fillings or if they don't have squash they'll never get fillings but for us having them drink plain water is our preferred choice.

I wouldn't give squash too often and make sure it's very diluted because of the sugar content. That said, if you're strict about teeth-cleaning etc, I imagine that should protect against decay from sugary drinks. Maybe give him a cube of cheese or something after he's had some squash?

Another way to get him drinking is to see if he'll go for a straw. The novelty of a straw will often encourage my DD to drink more and try drinks she might otherwise not be interested in.

Incidentally, I've never managed to get DD to drink cow's milk from a cup, but she eats a lot of yoghurt and cheese and will accept a bit of milk if it's in the occasional form of an (unsweetened) fruit smoothie or lassi. So there are ways of making sure calcium/protein intake is good even if they don't take to cow's milk as a drink.....

Is he at the novelty cup stage yet? The ones with twisty straws attached might work, watching the drink move up etc?