Getting DD to drink water

[MayasMommy]

My daughter is 7.5 months and I started weaning @ 18 wks as she wasn't putting any weight on - she just didn't like milk

Weaning has gone really well and we're slowly moving over to finger foods and feeding herself. The only hiccough is that I can't get her to drink water and her nappies are starting to get a bit whiffy and her wee is quite yellow..... She's still having 3/4 7oz bottles a day, as well as 3 meals.

I've tried water in her normal bottle, adding a teeny bit of apple juice (HV advice!) for flavour and bought her a tommee tippee first cup which she hates!!!

Any advice would be greatly received...

Thank you

Is the water cold? Mine used to like it warm (boiled and left to cool ). They still do actually, aged 10 and 12.

I used a doidy cup with my DD, so she drinks without a lid like the rest of us. You could try it...cheaper (new) on eBay.

i used the apple juice trick and it worked really well for DD who point blankley refused to touch water in any form.

I bought the expensive waitrose apple juice and she hated it. Bought the cheap tescos UHT apple jiuce and she loved it.

To start with i made it up about 50/50 with water so it tastes very "appley", then gradually cut it down to more water and less apple juice.

It you are only adding a little apple juice to the water it probably tasted quite bad (all of the tartness and none of the sweetness iykwim) so it might be worth a try again with a higher ratio of juice to water.

Also try getting one of the tommee tippee free flow cups. THe first cups are the ones with the valve and the rubber covered spout? If so it took DD ages to get the knack of those but the free flowing cups were very easy for her to use (a bit messy though if your LO is prone to waving the cup about). Also they are only about £1.50 at tescos

i had the same problem with DS and will second what TheSugarPlumFairy said about the tommee tippee free flow cups. I had the TT first cup and found that because it was quite big he struggled to drink from it himself because if it was full it was heavy and if it wasn't full he had to tip it quite far back to get the water out. We're now using the freeflow cup and he's getting on alot better.

He's now drinking abit of water during meals but that has taken about 2 months. Prior to that the only thing other than milk he had ever drank was some fresh pear juice from when mum had pureed some pears for him and i wasn't about to start making that for him every day.

My DD has been having water in a sippy cup from 5 months. She has always spat most of it out with a smile until she was 10 months. She is 11 months and she drinks loads now. Dont stress about it, I think they just do it when they are ready.

Can I ask a daft question?

DD is 6 months and we started weaning 2 weeks ago. All is going well so far (she loves feeding herself, is having mashed up stuff as well as finger food like toast etc). She is FF but with a wee bit of BFing thrown in for good measure. We have just started giving her (small amounts of) real food twice a day, and once she seems to have had enough we give her her milk feed.

We've already been given a Tommee Tippee freeflow cup by the HV and told to start introducing it so that by the time she is 1 she is getting all her drinks from a cup. However, we've never offered her water before but I think we need to start now that she is getting real food, is that right? If so, how much? And should we offer it between meals or at the same time as her (food and milk) meals?

DD has a doidy cup at mealtimes (the sealed/leakproof cups were also seemingly baby-drinking proof too).

She/the table/floor wears more water than she actually drinks but she's getting there. She particularly likes to empty the cup and then blow raspberries on the edge of it. However, if we leave her to it, she takes more than if we try to help her.

If we leave it for her to drink at any other time, she just throws it.

She is nearly 11mo, there is no way she will be getting all her drinks from the cup by the time she is 1.

The sippy cups with the valves encourage babies to hold the liquid in their mouth longer, because they need to suck so hard, and so if you are using anything other than plain water it can be bad for their teeth.

DD won't use the ones without a valve, but will happily use a doidy cup with a bit of help (more to make sure I don't end up drenched!) Her absolute favourite way to drink water though is to slowly move towards my pint glass until she grabs it, and then she will happily drink from it.

Unless she grabs my water at another time, we give her water at meal times.

If you are breastfeeding, your milk should adjust to provide what your DC needs, so if they need more water that should get some from you anyway.

Ha ha, she tries and grabs my water glass too, is absolutely fascinated by us drinking :) Maybe I should get the plastic glasses out and see how she does with that, I worry that the big chunky glass glasses will hurt her.

Just had a thought - she was cup fed for a while after she was born - perhaps she will actually take to it quite easily?? really should give it a go...

Spoon feeding water helped with my son!

I was having the same problem with DS at 7 months. I tried the non-drip cups but as mentioned it requires a motion which is a bit different to lapping which most babies are used to for drinking their milk. DS was solely breastfed until 6months so I thought that might be a problem as he wasn't used to taking liquids in sitting/semi-sitting position. I also tried Tommee Tippee cup that drips but he was not having it. Then I tried the doidy cup and although he was more curious about it he would bite the edge and not be interested in drinking. I tried adding juices, warm/cold water etc but nothing seemed to work with all of the above different cups as well as a bottle.

So, I started spoon feeding him water at his lunchtime meal (he is less tired and more receptive to 'change' around this time!) A spoon of food followed by a spoon of water. I scooped the water out of the Tommee Tippee cup without the lid on so he would get used to seeing it and associating what was in it. I would also tell him what I was giving him with each spoon (ie. "Food" vs "Water"). The first few days he only took and swallowed 2-4 teaspoons, the rest dribbled down the sides of his mouth. After 3-4 days he was 'drinking' (if you can call spoon feeding water that!) 25mls and within the week he was happily taking 50-100mls. He even began to close his lips allowing for a small gap only when I announced "Water" as he seemed to understand that it is a different consistency to "Food" and will fall out if he just opens his mouth widely. He also does the same lip motion when he wants a drink while being fed his solids.

Once he was happy with water, I started to tip the Tommee Tippee sippy cup (the one that drips) into his mouth instead of the odd spoon of water. As the cup lets a few drops out before the baby needs to suck he seemed to better understand what was going on. It only took a day or two of biting at the mouth piece and he started sucking it and drinking. As soon as he figured out the sucking motion, I stopped spoon feeding him water. He now happily takes 100-150mls of water with his meal!

I know all babies are different but may help/give others ideas?!