Advice needed - baby refusing water

[Willow4987]

Hi

I’ve posted about this before but I’m still having the same issues and I don’t know what to do to help

My 9mo DS refuses to have any kind of water unless I spoon feed it to him (and even this is a nightmare sometimes). If I give him his beaker he just refuses, cry’s, pushes it away or throws it around

I’ve tried about 6 different bottle types and ideally wanted him to use one of those 360 cups as it’s better for his teeth

He’s bottle fed and even refuses the water from that

My main concern is as he’s taking on more solids he’s started refusing feeds so I’m worried if he doesn’t start taking more liquid he will dehydrate

I know I can give him water rich foods but that doesn’t solve the underlying problem

I suppose what I’m asking is....what should I do? Pick a cup and keep going even if he doesn’t take anything from it until he eventually accepts it? Or find one that works even if it’s bad for his teeth?

Also...I know the minimum amount of milk he needs but I can’t find online a definite amount of total liquid he needs a day?

Sorry it’s a long one but I’m quite confused

Forgot to say I’ve also tried watered down baby juice to see if that made a difference....it didn’t

DD was like this but she happily drank from a tea pot in the bath.

You could add some sliced apple to it for a little flavour to make it more exciting for him or even orange just a little just to see if he will have it that way...

sounds very obvious but is he thirsty, how long since he last had fluids when you offer it?

@octonouhht yes he’s similar! Happily drinks the swimming pool water but nothing else

@flamingo I’ve tried baby juice but will give this a go. My only concern is that as soon as I try to give him his drink, he won’t let me get it anywhere near him

@onlyfools it can be anywhere from 2-4 hours after milk (as he’s down to 3 bottles a day) so I’m assuming he’s thirsty

Are any of the cups you've tried free flowing ones (as opposed to no-spill ones) DS at a similar age could only drink from the Tommy tippee first cup - he couldn't get anything out of the 360 cup, straw cups or other ones with a no spill valve.

Or have you tried an open cup like the doidy cup? One of my nieces would only drink out of those.

Sure there's something you can put in it to make it a bit more appealing? I used to put a tiny drop of blackcurrant in, and my two DS are adults now. One has no fillings. One has two.

@narya I’ve got loads of different ones - tommee tippee free flowing, soft spout, ikea free flow, doidy cup, tommee tippee straw, nuby 360 and I’ve now got a tommee tippee soft spout that looks similar to the bottle on the way 🤷🏻‍♀️

all food contains plenty of water so that plus his milk means he will be fine.

DD wouldn't take water for ages, wasn't having any of it, I think she was over 1 before she would drink out of a cup (a cheap own brand sippy cup from Boots).

Don't go down the route of flavouring his water, that will not be good for his teeth at all.

@single I’ve tried baby juice watered down and it didn’t make a difference so far

@weeping do you think it’s best if I just pick one cup and stick to it, hoping that one day he just takes to it?

no - not necessarily. Equally I wouldn't spend £££ either.

The main thing is not to worry, which I know is hard - I can't remember hjow many times my mum told me that food is mainly water, DD wasn't going to dehydrate, she would take a cup eventually.

But she was right!

Just don't go down the diluted juice route, therein lies tooth decay!

Just make loads of wet food, eg stewed apple, poached fruit. You can also water down milk. Stay off the juice and squash, Natural yogurts (some are less sharp tasting than others, but mainly don't make a drama of it

DS was like this. We've literally got a cupboard full of cups now because we tried so many. The only way he'd have water was with a giant plastic syringe. Totally ridiculous and a tad embarrassing when out and about!

Once he got into the idea of actually having water he was fine, but it took a while to get there.

Put some extra water in his milk ?

why? Milk is around 85% water anyway!

My boy has only very recently started having water and he is nearly 9 months. Refused for months. I know your little one is a tad older but I guess my point is one day he just suddenly accepted it. Like he suddenly accepted a bottle for milk (bf exclusively up to that point). The cup he would accept was the Nuby cup with the soft silicone spout. I was worried about his teeth but I decided to just do what made him happy and now he will take out of a free flow cup and a straw cup too. But that Nuby one was a game changer for him. I think biggest thing is to not make it a drama too. Just leave it around while he is playing on the floor and one day he must just do it himself if you aren't trying to make him if that makes sense!

The toddler I look after didn't really seem to drink anything till she was 10/11 months. We would give her a sippy cup with water at every meal but she just wasn't bothered about it. As she got older and started dropping her milk feeds she probably started to feel a bit thirstier and started to drink more.
I wouldn't make a big deal about it, stick to one cup and personally I wouldn't offer juice, as long as he has a cup that you know he can easily drink from and he has regular access to it, he'll drink when he needs to.

My dad is the same shes 9.5 months and I can only get her to drink a few sips from a free flow sippy cup that the hv gave me actually. I've got a tommee tippee and a nuby non spill but she cant get the water out if either of them. Sounds really silly and obvious but check for things like dry lips and frothy spit in their mouth for signs of dehydration, as long as dd has a snobbery mouth I'm ok with it