Getting baby to drink water

[Babasaclover]

Any advice on this please fellow Mums - 7.5 month old eats porridge for breakfast and a ouch of fruit / veg for lunch with the odd farleys rusk. All is going well but she will not drink water. As soon as the bottle gets in her mouth she spits it out and will not drink even a drop.

She obviously still has milk but should I be concerned about dehydration? I don't want to put squash in it at this early age, as I have seen babies have it then never want water again.

Have you tried a cup rather than a bottle? Takes some help but mine always drank from a Tommee Tippee free flow or a doidy cup.

My DD will only drink out of an open cup.

Don't worry about it - water does nothing for them anyway at that age. She should be getting her liquids in her milk. Offer it regularly, and she'll take it if she wants it.

Why do they need water?

Try a sippy cup. The best I found were the basic timer tippee ones with the hard flip up spout.

Try the basic free flow Tommee Tippee cup with a hard spout. She's probably expecting milk from her bottle so putting the water in a cup will help her to differentiate between the two.

Thanks ladies I will try the tommee tippee cup, she already uses their bottles.

Not sure why she needs water, was just told that as soon as she started having food she would need the water.

I love it myself, can't get enough!

Yes just offer in a cup and don't worry if she doesn't drink any yet. It may take her a while to get used to it

My son is just coming two and I would say he's only cracked drinking water in the last two weeks. We have tried every cup in the land and now he has milk from a TT free flow beaker and water from a cup with a straw. He has only just worked out a straw so wouldn't bother trying that yet!

I remember being told by HV to give PFB water. He never took it. So I didn't fret when my other DCs didn't like water as babies either. I think they started to sip water at around 18 months when sitting at family meal table and seeing others drink from cups.

She will get fluids from the food. Keep offering a cup of water but it is only an issue if the weather gets very hot.

I just gave a cup of water with all meals. DS did best with a straw cup. At first he didn't drink much and spat a lot of it out, but he got used to it gradually. It's very hot in summer here (US) so it is important they get fluids, but he seemed to self regulate just fine

It takes a while for them to get the hang of it, don't worry. Definitely get a cup, I recommend the Munchkin 360 miracle cup as it doesn't spill unless chucked violently

Lullaby23 what age would you recommend the munchkin cup from? Looks a bit grown up?

My 8.5 month old doesn't understand how to use his munchkin cup but his little baby friend who is a month younger drinks well from his, so your DD isn't necessarily too young for one.

DS only drinks from an open cup...I got ones called 'babycup' off of amazon, they look like little plastic shot glasses.
He has a few sips at the end of each meal...especially if he's had something crunchy/dry then he will take big gulps.

My 7.5mo will drink from an open cup (assisted), the basic tommee tippee soppy cups and a straw cup. She literally has a few tiny sips with each meal. She is breastfed on demand so gets all of hydration from that really at the moment.

At this stage it's just getting them used to it. DS didn't drink properly until he was about a year old which was also when he stopped having milk during the day.

Sorry missed the reply babasclover DS has been using it since 6 months, took him a while to get the hang of it but he loves it now. We do have the Tommee Tippee sippy cups too but he still likes to tip the water/milk out even now (he's 20 months!!) so the miracle cup still going strong here.

Well she still won't take any water - even out of the tommee tippee sippy cup. I will persevere but at the moment she literally cries when I try. So bizarre, I love water so much!!!