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11months old baby won't drink water

26 replies

Missworry92 · 16/10/2021 19:49

My baby who is 11months old won't drink water, he screams and cries in sight of any of his water bottles/sippy cups etc. I have tried so many and offer it to him with every meal but he is not interested at all. He is only drinking his formula and having solids and keeps getting constipated as he doesn't drink enough. Does anyone have any tips? I've tried dilutes juice but that still doesn't work and tried normal cups with still no luck

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pinguwings · 16/10/2021 19:53

Have you tried a cup with a straw?
Will they take formula from a sippy cup?

PotteringAlong · 16/10/2021 19:54

I don’t think 11 month old babies need water! Mine were having some with meals at that stage but I never pushed it - milk was by far and away their main fluid.

Also, I don’t think lack of water makes you constipated. More water = more wee, nothing to do with your bowels. I don’t think you will cure constipation by increasing his water intake.

Definitely don’t give your 11 month old squash!

LifeIsBusy · 16/10/2021 20:01

Can you try and increase fiber in their diet that might help with the poop? I don't remember my eldest having much water at that age.

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Thissucksmonkeynuts · 16/10/2021 20:05

Up the wet foods, boiled veg, fruit etc and you are are weeks way from stopping formula as per the guidance,so hopefully full fat cows milk till ease the problem.

Missworry92 · 16/10/2021 20:05

@pinguwings I haven't tried giving him formula from a sippy cup but will give that a go, great idea thank you. I bought him a straw bottle and he's only tried it today for a first time with no luck but will keep trying as I don't think he gets it yet.
@PotteringAlong I've tried not to push it on him but other babies seem to be drinking at least a cup a day or even a few and mine won't touch it. Health visitor said its important for them to drink water and that it would help with constipation 🤷‍♀️

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ZooKeeper19 · 16/10/2021 20:07

I'd go with:

  • fennel tea (is naturally sweet and good for digestion)
  • diluted apple juice (worst case scenario)

If constipated, I'd feed sweet potato, carrot and olive oil mashed together. Also loads of fruit (it's not exactly season but I'd try). Not bananas, but maybe pears, berries, apples. Also avocado helps.

Loulouloyjay · 16/10/2021 20:08

Ours was the same and refused water from any type of cup/beaker/bottle too. He was still having milk in bottles until just before he turned 1 when he started to refuse those too.

We were also worried he wasn't getting enough fluids - we ended up giving him water via a calpol syringe as that's the only way he would drink anything. We did this for a few weeks, but were still worried as he was always constipated.

We always gave him a beaker of water with every meal, which he never touched - until one day at about 14 months he just picked it up and drank from it and has never looked back since.

Thefirsttime · 16/10/2021 20:22

Possibly a silly question but have you tried giving him water in a bottle (as in the same type of bottle that he has formula from)? It might be the bottle the water is in which he doesn’t like rather the fact that it is water instead of formula. I know the advice is to stop using baby bottles when they are 1, but if he is getting constipated because he isn’t drinking water I’d give it in a baby bottle if he will take it that way.

immersivereader · 16/10/2021 20:25

What the first time said.

Water in a bottle

Temple29 · 16/10/2021 20:32

Try water in a bottle, usually tricks them in to having a few sips before they realise. My first DS refused water until he was over a year and then drank it no problem. Now 2.5 and drinks loads.

CherryMaple · 16/10/2021 20:33

We tried for months to get DS to drink water. Eventually we gave up and gave him diluted fresh apple juice which he would drink...

Missworry92 · 16/10/2021 20:38

Thank you everyone for your suggestions.
I've increased his fruit and veg intake to help with constipation and he tends to have a bit of prunes or pears to help but he still struggles most days.
@ZooKeeper19 I didn't know this about fennel tea thank you, will have a look into this and he doesn't like dilutes juice.
@Loulouloyjay that's a bit reassuring, hopefully my boy will just start it one day. How did you transition from the bottle when your baby turned 12months? My boy hates calpol syringe normally 😅
@Thefirsttime
@immersivereader thank you yeah I've tried giving water in his formula bottle but he will try it, have a tiny sip and then refuse it too 😔

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Throughabushbackwards · 16/10/2021 20:44

We had this. We ended up giving DS cranberry juice for a few days then gradually diluting it each time until it was just a tiny splash of juice in water then waiter on its own.

We also let him choose the colour of the sippy cup from, this made a huge difference as was then motivated to use it.

bloodywhitecat · 16/10/2021 20:56

Diluted apple juice was the answer here too (although the constipation didn't resolve until quite recently when he learned to stand at 16 months). My LO has always been a reluctant drinker and it turned out that he was aspirating on water as it was too thin for him to be able to manage so he now has thickened water.

Loulouloyjay · 16/10/2021 21:46

@Missworry92 one night we went to give him his bottle before bed as normal and he just refused it - was screaming. Then the next morning bottle, wouldn't have that either. We tried for a few days but he'd get so upset and just never had another bottle again.

So we tried with the calpol syringe after I saw someone suggest it on here. But we were like you, so worried he wasn't getting enough fluids. We saw a couple of doctors and the health visitor at his 1 year check-up and they all said he was well hydrated which was a relief. They said they get fluids through their food too.

Oreoreo · 16/10/2021 22:50

Mine is the same age and also refuses water in any form! Tried diluting juice also. My friend who had a baby suggested if they’re getting dehydrated to give them slices of cucumber, which I thought was a great idea. Thought I’d share here too x

Pandemicpregnancy · 16/10/2021 23:06

Had a similar problem with my DD. Refused all cups and wouldn't drink water from a bottle either. After trying so many different cups we eventually found a free flow straw cup to be the best. Taught her to use it by putting some of her favourite fruit puree in it and diluted with water. Also put some puree on the straw to encourage her to put it in her mouth. Once she drank that first cup of diluted puree then I swapped to water and she's had water ever since. You could do a slower transition from dilute puree to pure water if necessary though.

ZuzuMyLittleGingersnap · 17/10/2021 04:30

Watermelon? Is 92% water, and nice texture/bright colour...

DrNo007 · 17/10/2021 04:38

Have you tried filtering the water? Quite a few animals and children hate the taste of chlorine and won’t drink unfiltered tap water.

Donteatpurplebroccoli · 17/10/2021 04:42

My little one would drink water but only small sips at a time . It didn’t matter how much he drank or how much fruit and veg he had he remained constipated (we tried a lot!) prunes squished and mixed in with water then mixed into yoghurt was one of the best remedies although it looked awful he liked it!! Also the prune pouches helped when he was small. However, it got to the point that he was needing more and more of this type of food to help and was still really uncomfortable when having a poo so we started getting laxido from gp. Best thing we ever did! Used to mix it into food he drinks it with squash now at 3.5. Took all the pressure off and we increase and decrease as needed although he mostly only needs half a sachet daily now. Important for them not to associate poo with pain as this can cause problems later! Good luck

HeartvsBrain · 17/10/2021 07:41

@PotteringAlong

I don’t think 11 month old babies need water! Mine were having some with meals at that stage but I never pushed it - milk was by far and away their main fluid.

Also, I don’t think lack of water makes you constipated. More water = more wee, nothing to do with your bowels. I don’t think you will cure constipation by increasing his water intake.

Definitely don’t give your 11 month old squash!

Sorry @ PotteringAlong, but our bowels have everything to do with water, in fact I can't think of anything in the body that doesn't need water to work. Depending on our general health and the weather, an adult can live for about a week with no water coming into their bodies in any form. However, if you were not getting any water you would not want to live for a whole week!

Our bowels need so much water to function that one of the things that would kill you from lack of water would be your bowel seizing up. Constipation is actually when the faeces have had up to almost all their water content withdrawn. If something makes the passage of faeces slow down, the the absorbation of water from the bowel actually increases. In a healthy well nourished human when our stomachs process certain nutrients with the help of stomach acids - the acids break down the food into smaller and smaller pieces so that they can be absorbed by the body. This starts in the mouth with enzymes, and is the main reason (apart from choking hazards) why we should chew all our food thoroughly before swallowing (and why certain tablet medications have enteric coatings which we should swallow whole to stop the digestion process starting in the mouth, and help progress the tablet through the stomach without dissolving in its very strong stomach acids, to the bowel where those particular tablets can then work safely without causing an ulcer to establish in the stomach) - if you have ever vomited you can see, feel (the burn of the acids), and taste the digestion process at work. Anyway, what enters the first part of the bowel is like a thick, mainly liquidised soup, one which during the continued digesting process in the bowel (large and small intestines) leaches out the liquid as it progresses along the bowel. If we get certain viruses, food poisoning, or even a shock, the opposite to constipation happens, as everything is suddenly moved through the bowel at a much faster rate (maybe because the body knows it needs to expell something nasty, and hence maybe why we also vomit - I don't know the working of the body in that much detail as I was a student mentsl health nurse when I learned about the alimentary canal?), and in going so fast hardly any of the liquid (still mainly water based) gets absorbed, leading therefore to diarrhoea, and our anus' can get slightly burned too from any remaining acids. For that essay/exam I didn"t need to cover the bladder as it is not actually part of the alimenary canal, but I think that it must get it's waste water from absorbed liquid.

If you are reading this OP it is not intended to frighten you, if you are still getting plenty of wet (with a pale stain, not a dark one), and normal pooey nappies, then I don't think you have much to worry about, but if you are still concerned then please talk to your health visitor, or if you have noticeably dryer or dark stained nappies, and/or very firm poos, then talk to a Dr straight away.

On a personal note from being a mother of small babies a very long time ago, if your baby does have some dehydration, and you are already giving him a lot of high water content foods, then I would give him any non-alcoholic (obviously) and no-added sweetner, sugar or caffeine drinks that he will tolerate, and then very gradually dilute them until they are mainly, if not solely water - but tjis last paragraph is not due to any medical training, so please don't take that into account. Good luck OP, you sound like a great mum!

JapanJetplane · 17/10/2021 08:02

Lack of water definitely can cause constipation!

Hopefully the bottle with straw will help, but in the meantime I would tey feeding him lots of moisture-rich foods to increase his water in food intake. Will he have soups and things like that?

PotteringAlong · 17/10/2021 08:05

@HeartvsBrain every day is a school day! At 11 months old mine were still definitely getting their main fluid content from milk, but breastmilk so maybe a different makeup.

Missworry92 · 17/10/2021 13:38

Thank you everyone for your messages! I've definitely upped his watery foods, he loves yogurts so I put water in that and feed it to him with a spoon. So far he's not understanding the staw type beaker but it's only second day, he's just playing with it, will try putting purees on the straw to encourage him 😀
He always seems to struggle when pooping as his face even goes red but sometimes it's not that hard so not sure why he's still straining so much 🤷‍♀️
I've tried giving him formula from a free flow cup this morning but he refused, no idea how I'm going to stop using the bottles at 12 months 🙈

OP posts:
Donteatpurplebroccoli · 17/10/2021 16:57

I think as long as it’s an ok consistency not to worry too much we used to have hours of trying followed by rabbit pellets or maltesers if we weren’t constantly on it! Some babies just struggle more than others and fairly normal to go red and be obviously pushing until older so don’t worry as long as good amounts and not too hard it’s fine!
Sounds to me like you’re doing fab !! don’t stress to much about the stopping the bottle at 12 months you can do it gradually after his birthday don’t be thinking it’s got to be bottles in the bin on the day and causing you stress!! You’ll get there! We managed to drop day time bottles by about 13 months and bed time one by 15 months and I remember feeling guilty about it with hindsight I wish I’d just enjoyed those precious extra months of bottle feeding!! Flowers they grow up so fast!! I just remembered we had most success with tiny beakers (like plastic shot glasses!) can buy them on Amazon he loved them obviously loads of water got spilt but he drank more from them than anything!