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Weaning

Find weaning advice from other Mumsnetters on our Weaning forum. Use our child development calendar for more information.

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Original poster

Any tips for getting baby to drink water?

13 replies

spewgloriousspew · 08/11/2011 18:46

Tried it in several different sippy cups and in a beaker but he just turns his head away every time it comes near his mouth. He's 6 1/2 months old.

He does get a bit constipated from time to time (caused bleeding today so a bit concerned that he's not getting enough liquid).

I don't really want to end up giving him diluted juice as I'm worried he'll never want water then!

Any tips?

OP posts:

Nevercan · 08/11/2011 19:03

Have you tried warming it up?

schmohawk · 08/11/2011 20:02

Bit of an odd suggestion by my DD loves sucking water out of her sponge at bath time! Don't know how much actually goes down, but it might be a way of getting his fluid intake up a bit...soaked in clean water of course .

Original poster

spewgloriousspew · 08/11/2011 21:13

I guess it is cold by the time he has it - cooled boiled water - so I could try and heat it. But he often has cold milk, so not sure it's a temperature thing to be honest.

I'll try most things to get him to drink, so the sponge trick is worth knowing!

Babies may be cute, but they're also bloody fickle !

OP posts:

Seona1973 · 09/11/2011 10:39

you dont need to boil water for drinking after 6 months so I'd just use tap water. I'd use a free-flowing lidded beaker (like the tommee tippee first cup) and give it to him when he is sitting in his highchair and let him play about with it and eventually end up drinking from it by himself.

BornSicky · 09/11/2011 11:03

doidy cup!

my bf baby wouldn't take sippy cups or bottles or beakers, but he loves the doidy cup.

bought mine on amazon for a couple of quid.

you could also try adding a couple of drops of fruit juice to the water

wahwahwah · 09/11/2011 11:13

I found that anything I had, he wanted too! If you keep having glasses of water and saying 'yum', if you offer a sip from your glass after a while, I am sure that will work!

Original poster

spewgloriousspew · 10/11/2011 07:54

Thanks all. My mum mentioned the doidy cup, will give that a shot.

I've tried drinking water in front of him to no avail.

He'll drink it from a bottle, but I kind of want to move on from that!

Also, thanks for the tip about not having to boil the water

OP posts:

BertieBotts · 10/11/2011 08:10

Use the tommee tippee cups with the freeflow flip up spouts. Choose one where the lid is very close to the colour of the main part of the cup.

Take the lid off, and fill the cup about 1/4 to 1/3 full of water. When your baby is happy and relaxed and preferably strapped in a highchair, bring the cup to them. Keep hold of it (so he doesn't spill it on himself and get a shock!) but allow him to look at it, touch it, generally explore it. At some point let him bring it to his mouth and try to eat it, at which point you tip it up gently so that the water just touches his lips. Then, hopefully, he will realise what it is and try to drink.

Repeat this assisted drinking a few times until he's familiar with it, and then one day just put the lid on the cup and try to get the spout in his mouth before he really notices. Then hopefully he won't be surprised by the fact water is coming out, and then you can let him manage the cup alone.

If he really won't go for any kind of cup, you could try moving to a sports bottle? They are a bit more grown up and won't damage the teeth (although water in a bottle wouldn't anyway.) And it's useful for them to have the skill of a sports bottle if you're ever caught short while out. Or perhaps one of those bottle-to-cup trainers, where they go from a soft bottle teat, to a soft shaped spout, to a hard spout.

Seona1973 · 10/11/2011 08:30

I didnt like the doidy cup and used the tommee tippee first cup firstly with the lid on and then with the lid off as the kids got better at using it. We had a few years use out of it and they are nice and cheap as well.

MummyOC · 13/11/2011 20:26

Our dd1 was 8.5 months old before she started to drink water from a cup! Now at 9.5 mo, she's quite enthusiastic.

I was quite keen for her to drink from a cup because she refused to take milk from a bottle. So, we first introduced her to a cup when she was 5 months old, not so much to get her to drink from it but to play with it. Then, at 6mo, we tried to get her to drink from it and offered her water with every meal. Blank refusal each time! It was so frustrating. At the time, my HV advised us to persist and offer it every day and not to switch to fruit juice. After about 10 long weeks, she finally drank from a tommy tippee cup, but without the lid. We didn't go down the route of trying different cups because we had already done that with bottles and teats to no avail. We simply tilt the cup in front of her, and gently bring it to her lips. She even loves the spillages!

My main suggestion is to to just follow what my HV advised. Keep trying and he will get it!

Loobyloo1902 · 15/11/2011 21:12

I had the same problem with my 6.5mo DD. She started taking a little water then refused. I had the cup out at every meal and let her play with it, bash it about and kind of 'claim' it IYSWIM. Slowly she accepted the cup but it took a few weeks. Hope that helps.

LMRose · 25/03/2019 19:12

I was in the same position pulling my hair out until my mum suggested using a spoon which really helped and now she uses a cup (very messily but still progress!) Think the spoon was more familiar to her and helped her get used to the taste so she recognises it now from a cup x

April45 · 25/03/2019 21:29

If he'll drink water from bottle I wouldn't worry too much.. keep offering in cups/ doidy use the same one or 2 cups so he can get familiar then he'll start when he's ready.

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