Please help, at wits end

[Mumsy89]

Hi All,

My soon to be 11 month old (8th June) is only drinking about 13-14oz of formula a day, 5oz of which is in her morning porridge. My concern is that she is not taking in enough fluid as she isn't a fan of water and will take 1 to 2 sips during the day, the majority of which ends up down her top and jot in her mouth! I've always been extremely worried about her becoming dehydrated, even more so now as I have decreased her solid intake in the hope that she would be more willing to consume fluids but no such luck
Has anyone got any words of wisdom that will put my mind at ease ? The HVs I've spoken to all have different answers as to how much she should drink so I'm completely at a loss. TIA x

Have you tried watery foods? Like watermelon? Or lollies?

My children seemed to go off milk at that age. And not all children like water, well into Junior school age.

This is an unpopular opinion because on Mumsnet, children must only drink milk or water and any other drinks are verboten well into the teenage years But if the choice is drink nothing or drink something, I opt for drink something and have always allowed watered down juice... or GASP, actual juice.

I wouldn't be massively concerned about that tbh.

Is she showing any signs of dehydration? Dry nappies? Drowsy? No tears when she cries?

Just give her lots of wet food; fruit and veg generally has a high water content.

Keep offering the water.

You can offer her a smoothie or a lolly made from a smoothie.

Yoghurt.

Fruit pouches.

How about fresh apple carrot juice. Mixed

Watermelon, cucumber, peppers, strawberries, oranges are good watery foods. Cut up and them munch. Mines did this too by the way. After a year old refused all offers of milk and only accepts some in cereal...

They go through phases of this and you always end up worried to the point of phoning someone dont you?

Are smoothies an option? Mine loved them!

Buy an assortment of cups. A straw one is always a winner once they get the hang!
Soft spout cup maybe? Or a hard one for teething gums?

Food contains a lot of water, it doesn't have to be in a cup. You can offer watery foods e.g. fruit but even other foods have water. Think for example of how much water goes in to pasta or rice in cooking, or how much milk you add to things like pancakes. You can also add milk to scrambled egg, mashed potato etc if you want. As a PP said, if she is not showing signs of dehydration try not to worry too much.

I second using a sippy cup, my 16 month old thinks it's a hilarious game getting water out of her cup and into her mouth!

My nearly 11mo loves drinking from a Munchkin 360 cup so will happily sip water from that. She's teething and I think it must feel good on her gums.

We had this exact issue. She had been mixed fed and at about 10 months went right off all milk. Also not keen on water.

I was still BF once or twice a day so I offered more and she stopped having bottles and switched to only boob. But if you don't BF then you could try dropping the bottles and just offering milk in other types of cups. Weirdly we have had most success with an open cup. Try getting her to drink water when she's in the bath as then it doesn't matter if she pours it all over herself lol.

Don't worry / unless she seems actually dehydrated she will be fine. Just a phase.

My son was hospitalised (Flu) the on duty doctor told me that when a child is dehaydrated that apple juice is the best thing as replaces sugars etc maybe worth a try if your worried some days x

Hi All, thanks for your comments I really appreciate it. Milly took 4oz of formula this morning out of her usual bottle and I managed to get 6oz in with her weetabix for breakfast. We have tried numerous cups having a Munchkin straw beaker, a tommee tippee hard spout and a Munchkin 360 all of which she shuns unless she's intending on pouring it all over herself haha. It seems to be the nightime bottle which she is the most reluctant to drink which used to be the one which she drank the most of (6oz morning, 6oz mid afternoon, 7oz evening). I will certainly give the ice lollies a go and she does have a fruit pouch per day too. Amelia does tend to eat jar food so I'm not sure how much water is in those, we are trying to wean her off these by introducing one portion of 'proper food per day.