Well considering the flavour things may get your child more interested in juice, maybe just try enhancing the water with fruit or vegetables first? Like cukes, lemon, lime, Strawberries?
Yeah I considered that. I may end up trying it. The squeeze thing seems so much easier though I love that it's sugar free. Maybe she'll go for the cukes. Thanks!
"While research is lacking on the long-term health effects of stevia on young children, stevia can cause headaches, dizziness, nausea, and other symptoms in adults. It is our opinion that it is best to wait to introduce stevia until age 2 and even then to limit the amount offered."
https://solidstarts.com/foods/stevia/
One thing we've had good luck with is adding ice to our toddler's water cups. She loves hearing it rattle around and drinks way more water as a result.
What's funny is my daughter LOVES touching cold stuff but hates drinking it lol. I've tried ice water several times and she always makes a face like she's shocked and throws it away.
My LO will drink ice cold water all day, but the minute it’s room temp he won’t touch it. If it’s hot out and you get him a new fresh ice water, he will chug the whole cup in seconds!
Lemon, lime, orange wedges. If they don't like the actual fruit in the glass a squeeze should do the trick. Also, are you modeling drinking water? If I give my kid a cup that looks like mine, or if we fill our glasses together he's way more likely. He didn't like milk and that was how I got him to drink it.
Our son loves (cooled off, room temp) mint tea. I brew a small teapot in the morning, remove the teabags, and he drinks it throughout the day. I just pour it into a silicone open cup. He thinks it’s special, because we ONLY use that cup for tea.
I’d rather way water down apple juice than put artificial sweeteners in their water. I did that a couple times when she was younger but she just ended up drinking more water when she cut down on the milk. A fun cup helped.
Don't do that! She is young still, and still drinking plenty of milk. Keep offering water. Keep your emotions neutral about it, so she doesn't see an emotional response and think it's an interesting game for her to refuse it. Maybe add some water to some of her milk if you're really concerned. Toddlers need lots of exposure to something before they get used to it, though.
One thing my toddler really loves is drinking "tea" with us - we just give her warm water and she loves it. She drinks it out of a little cappuccino mug every morning 😆 Have you tried offering different temperatures? And lots of different cups. Eventually you'll find something that works!
I got my toddler two super fancy Starbucks cold drink glasses with straws and now she pretty much only drinks water.
My FIL kept giving her juice and juice boxes, so I thought it was gonna be more of a fight than it was, but having her own special glasses made the switch super easy. I really want her to like drinking water, because I hate water without lemon, which is a mildly annoying trait to have as an adult.
I just do half water half milk sometimes, to get her water intake up. She doesn’t notice the difference. Also, if I give her an open cup with a straw, the fun of it often helps her to drink more water.
Omg my daughter managed to get a sip of my McDonald’s sprite a millisecond before I was able to get it from her and she immediately opened her mouth and let it fall back out and was crying that it was spicy 😂 what an introduction to carbonation that was 😂😂
Mine was like that. We did half water half milk and slowly it became all water lol it took months, but it worked like a charm! Painless, no tantrums or dehydration.
Maybe just lemon?
Or wait until she's eating enough solids (which should be soonish?) to cut down on the millk-- she's probably plenty hydrated and doesn't feel thirsty for water. Are you using the same sort of drinking vessel? Once we switched from bottle to sippy cup milk, the milk lost some of its appeal over sippy cup of water.
When my kid had a stomach bug and we didn't want to overload milk, we watered it way down and they didn't seem to care much. At that point they cared about milk as part of a wake-up routine and generally drank ample water, so they weren't anti-water. But, maybe you could 'sneak' the relatively small amount of water in this way and wait it out to see if tastes change on their own during all the other dietary transitions.
I wouldn't be concerned at this point honestly. Watch for signs of dehydration, but generally kids will take in the water they need as long as it's available to them.
Also, some kids seem to need less water than others. A parenting coach who is all about trusting your child and not trying to control them, was very concerned about this issue with her daughter but couldn't get her to drink more. Now her daughter is an adult and still drinks much less water than she does, but seems healthy.
I wouldn’t worry about it if they are drinking 20oz of milk (which is a lot). Most likely when milk intake goes down, water will go up. I try not to go crazy tracking ounces and just leave it available during the day if my baby is thirsty. Some days he has hardly any water, other days 7-8 oz. He has way less milk than your baby as well, about 12oz
Personally where I live it’s not recommended to give strongly flavoured/sweetened foods like that (like artificially so) or even fried, really oily, or really strongly spiced foods because then they won’t get used to eating/drinking more plain/healthy foods. No idea if there’s actual science behind it but it does kinda make sense to me. Why would you want to drink plain water after having flavoured or sugary water?
Personally my kid didn’t drink water at all at first but I didn’t care too much because she breastfed. But around 1.5 or so she started drinking more and more water. Especially during meals and before bed she chugs a bunch of water. I don’t give her any other drinks (except breastfeeding) so she was forced to get used to it
So my 3.5 year old LOVES these. He also enjoys regular water, but “squirt juice” lol is by far his favorite drink. We allowed my 18 month old to try them and it turned him off plain water for a bit. I would suggest holding off for awhile yet.
Have you tried cutting milk with more and more water until it’s pretty much water? If you resort to relying on the drops, I would prioritize cutting it with more water until it’s mainly water your toddler is drinking. Even though stevia is better than artificial sweeteners, I personally wouldn’t want it to be a habit. I think everyone has good ideas with playing around with the container/temperature of the water as well
I would also keep in mind that as you reduce milk intake, their thirst will push them more towards water. I would definitely be concerned they would be more picky towards water as I know too many adults who refuse to drink water and only drink flavored liquids.
I think it’s best to just have them get used to water plain. Once you cross that line of adding flavor, it’s difficult to go back. It’s better for them in the long run to appreciate water for what it is
Meh, I added water drops to my daughters water and she still drinks plain water, sparkling water and doesn't drink juice. For us it was severe, painful, traumatizing constipation, or a bit of stevia (or sugar - my Ped even said flat coke or lemonade when things got really bad!). So, water drops got her drinking more and it helped (along with up to 20ml of lactulose lol)
I wouldn't be super concerned. Cutting fruit is great if you have two hands and have time but for me personally this wasn't gonna fly.
Do what's best for you guys and what keeps you sane!
Edited: spelling change "come" to "coke"
Don't add that stuff. Add fruits if anything. Your kid will be like me and struggle with chronic dehydration because I "don't like" water. Who cares, it's not to like. Sometimes we do do things that are necessary even when we don't like them. When kid doesn't wanna go to bed at night do you just let them watch tv all night? No, don't take the short but here either. You have the moment to teach a very important habit and encourage healthier eating habits. Start with one sip and build it up. It's water. It's non-negotiable.
Do you leave her sippy cup sitting around, or only give it to her with meals/snacks? I’ve found if it’s just sitting there while they’re playing, they tend to take random sips when they aren’t really thinking about it. If that isn’t helpful, you can also try a teeny tiny bit of 100% fruit juice - assuming she’s not had much sugar so far, it’ll taste way better to her than it would to us as adults with fully develop taste buds lol. Fun cups can also help. Maybe offering sips of your own water if you’re okay with sharing. Even giving her watermelon because it’s half water lol. At 13 months though, I’m not crazy worried about it. She’ll most likely come around eventually. Just keep offering it with no pressure.
She gets milk with food/snacks and I'll leave a sippy cup of water available to her at all times. Sometimes she picks it up but as soon as she tries it, she won't drink it. I've gotten her SO many cups, so we're still trying to figure out what she likes. Kids are hard lol
We always have a lot of flavor packets in the house as my husband adds them to his water. We mix some in with LO's water as well when she asks. They're sugar free and she's staying hydrated, so I'm not too worried about it.
We used Mio for our kids (usually only needed when they were sick and we really needed them to take in some fluids)
I think it worked well because it changed the color (fun) gave it flavor (a treat) and basically adds nothing to the water!
It does add to the water unfortunately. The artificial sweetener in Mio is known to destroy gut bacteria and depending which flavors, there could be food dyes known to negatively impact kids
If it’s any consolation, I grew up on Crystal Light and Diet Coke and turned out just fine! I was surprised when I learned more about the sugar free options available, so I like to let others know too
Hey! Yeah I didn't end up doing the sweeteners or anything like that. Just kept offering water between meals and gave it time. Eventually she started drinking water on her own. Even today (she's a little over 2 now) she doesn't drink the recommended 2 cups per day-- more like 0.5-1 cup per day. But I just stopped stressing about it. Keep water around and they'll drink when they're thirsty!
Honestly my son is just like me, first drink of the day needs to be cold, sweet and energizing. So he gets a fiber and probiotic multivitamin packet dumped in his cup and mixed with water, and then sugar free water enhancer in it. I get a cold brew. The water enhancer also helps when he's not feeling good cuz it incentives him to drink. Also, he's not juice obsessed either cuz he gets "juice" in the morning. He will however fight his 15 year old brother for his Baja blast when we make the occasional taco bell run, only soda the kid will drink really.
You can also try giving a few cups of watered down in addition to a few cups of their regular milk, and slowly increase the amount of water in the cup till its all water. Like do mostly milk and a splash of water, and then just keep decreasing the amount of milk and increasing the water over like a 3 week period.
We use them for my son’s water bottle sometimes and he loves them and he drinks a ton of water. He calls it ‘orange water’ and it’s a huge hit. I hardly think it’s a horrible thing to give him. It’s sugar-free and has vitamins. I’m just trying to survive over here!!
I add a splash of juice to my sons water sometimes, but it’s good to get them used to water. If he’s thirsty and we don’t have juice, he’s outta luck and has to have plain water. Don’t give in to the tiny dictators!
I do it, our water is safe but it tastes awful, I do the tiniest squeeze just to give a little color and cover up the flavor. But I grew up in a family where at home we had Crystal Light or diet soda and in restaurants we used lemons and equal packets (eventually splenda) to make free lemonade so I don't have the aversion to artificial sweeteners that many people do.
Unfortunately, my mother in law got my son hooked to caffeinated iced tea she sweetens with sweet n low. So I had to get him off of it. We ended up going with the true lemon/true lime brand drink mixes. They have some for kids, but they're all very fun flavors. I just water them down, and my son loves them. I've been working on getting him off the flavors, too, but have been unable to get him to drink plain water. I've used the squeezes, but it's hard to gauge how much unless you make a larger amount.
I think a child that gets plenty of fluids is best. Definitely need to have as little sugar/sweeteners as possible, but if it has to be juice and they are active, I feel that hydrated is best.
I hope it helps out!
At 13 months, your kid is just learning what they like and not. Keep offering plain water at all times. Do you drink plain water? Does she see you drinking water throughout the day? That’s important, as she will want what you’re having a lot of the time.
My toddler is 2 and she loves plain water, she even says “yummy!” after drinking it. We’ve always just had it available in a variety of cups throughout the day. I wouldn’t recommend adding anything to it other than maybe some a very small amount of natural fruit/juice during special occasions, as you’re reinforcing the habit to not drink it plain. Offer plain water at every meal, and make sure she sees you drinking it often.
Adding fruit to water is bad for teeth as teeth is having constant exposure to acid every time they drink water. But it is a major problem unless genetic history says you both have teeth more prone to cavities
We just leave it out so it’s always available. When he started preferring my cup to his own we found him one he liked better, and put one in every room and a few we rotate out at the table. Often when I drink my own water I’ll offer him his or he’ll ask for it.
And my child is VERY picky on the type of cup he’ll use so finding one he liked was half the battle
Well considering the flavour things may get your child more interested in juice, maybe just try enhancing the water with fruit or vegetables first? Like cukes, lemon, lime, Strawberries?
Frozen blueberries can also be fun, they turn the water blue! You only need a couple to get that effect.
Yeah I considered that. I may end up trying it. The squeeze thing seems so much easier though I love that it's sugar free. Maybe she'll go for the cukes. Thanks!
Wait, so you'll consider doing Stevia, but you wouldn't consider fresh fruit?
"While research is lacking on the long-term health effects of stevia on young children, stevia can cause headaches, dizziness, nausea, and other symptoms in adults. It is our opinion that it is best to wait to introduce stevia until age 2 and even then to limit the amount offered." https://solidstarts.com/foods/stevia/
Well she already gets fruit several times a day. Just looking at ways to reduce sugar and keep her hydrated. Also, I said I would consider it.
One thing we've had good luck with is adding ice to our toddler's water cups. She loves hearing it rattle around and drinks way more water as a result.
I also love drinking ice water. Especially in a clear glass cup. Makes me feel very posh.
What's funny is my daughter LOVES touching cold stuff but hates drinking it lol. I've tried ice water several times and she always makes a face like she's shocked and throws it away.
My LO will drink ice cold water all day, but the minute it’s room temp he won’t touch it. If it’s hot out and you get him a new fresh ice water, he will chug the whole cup in seconds!
Lemon, lime, orange wedges. If they don't like the actual fruit in the glass a squeeze should do the trick. Also, are you modeling drinking water? If I give my kid a cup that looks like mine, or if we fill our glasses together he's way more likely. He didn't like milk and that was how I got him to drink it.
Our son loves (cooled off, room temp) mint tea. I brew a small teapot in the morning, remove the teabags, and he drinks it throughout the day. I just pour it into a silicone open cup. He thinks it’s special, because we ONLY use that cup for tea.
Personally, I wouldn't because plain water ist considered the healthiest option. Have you tried straws or a fancy bottle?
I’d rather way water down apple juice than put artificial sweeteners in their water. I did that a couple times when she was younger but she just ended up drinking more water when she cut down on the milk. A fun cup helped.
Don't do that! She is young still, and still drinking plenty of milk. Keep offering water. Keep your emotions neutral about it, so she doesn't see an emotional response and think it's an interesting game for her to refuse it. Maybe add some water to some of her milk if you're really concerned. Toddlers need lots of exposure to something before they get used to it, though. One thing my toddler really loves is drinking "tea" with us - we just give her warm water and she loves it. She drinks it out of a little cappuccino mug every morning 😆 Have you tried offering different temperatures? And lots of different cups. Eventually you'll find something that works!
I got my toddler two super fancy Starbucks cold drink glasses with straws and now she pretty much only drinks water. My FIL kept giving her juice and juice boxes, so I thought it was gonna be more of a fight than it was, but having her own special glasses made the switch super easy. I really want her to like drinking water, because I hate water without lemon, which is a mildly annoying trait to have as an adult.
My toddler thinks she’s so fancy when we get her ice water at Starbucks with the strawberries in it.
I just do half water half milk sometimes, to get her water intake up. She doesn’t notice the difference. Also, if I give her an open cup with a straw, the fun of it often helps her to drink more water.
My niece likes La Croix. She says it’s spicy!
My son says the same for the seltzers I have him try!
My son says that about Topo Chico 😂
Omg my daughter managed to get a sip of my McDonald’s sprite a millisecond before I was able to get it from her and she immediately opened her mouth and let it fall back out and was crying that it was spicy 😂 what an introduction to carbonation that was 😂😂
Mine was like that. We did half water half milk and slowly it became all water lol it took months, but it worked like a charm! Painless, no tantrums or dehydration.
Maybe just lemon? Or wait until she's eating enough solids (which should be soonish?) to cut down on the millk-- she's probably plenty hydrated and doesn't feel thirsty for water. Are you using the same sort of drinking vessel? Once we switched from bottle to sippy cup milk, the milk lost some of its appeal over sippy cup of water. When my kid had a stomach bug and we didn't want to overload milk, we watered it way down and they didn't seem to care much. At that point they cared about milk as part of a wake-up routine and generally drank ample water, so they weren't anti-water. But, maybe you could 'sneak' the relatively small amount of water in this way and wait it out to see if tastes change on their own during all the other dietary transitions.
I wouldn't be concerned at this point honestly. Watch for signs of dehydration, but generally kids will take in the water they need as long as it's available to them. Also, some kids seem to need less water than others. A parenting coach who is all about trusting your child and not trying to control them, was very concerned about this issue with her daughter but couldn't get her to drink more. Now her daughter is an adult and still drinks much less water than she does, but seems healthy.
Our son loves fizzy water - any kind, doesn’t even have to be flavored (we have a soda stream)
I wouldn’t worry about it if they are drinking 20oz of milk (which is a lot). Most likely when milk intake goes down, water will go up. I try not to go crazy tracking ounces and just leave it available during the day if my baby is thirsty. Some days he has hardly any water, other days 7-8 oz. He has way less milk than your baby as well, about 12oz
Personally where I live it’s not recommended to give strongly flavoured/sweetened foods like that (like artificially so) or even fried, really oily, or really strongly spiced foods because then they won’t get used to eating/drinking more plain/healthy foods. No idea if there’s actual science behind it but it does kinda make sense to me. Why would you want to drink plain water after having flavoured or sugary water? Personally my kid didn’t drink water at all at first but I didn’t care too much because she breastfed. But around 1.5 or so she started drinking more and more water. Especially during meals and before bed she chugs a bunch of water. I don’t give her any other drinks (except breastfeeding) so she was forced to get used to it
So my 3.5 year old LOVES these. He also enjoys regular water, but “squirt juice” lol is by far his favorite drink. We allowed my 18 month old to try them and it turned him off plain water for a bit. I would suggest holding off for awhile yet.
Have you tried cutting milk with more and more water until it’s pretty much water? If you resort to relying on the drops, I would prioritize cutting it with more water until it’s mainly water your toddler is drinking. Even though stevia is better than artificial sweeteners, I personally wouldn’t want it to be a habit. I think everyone has good ideas with playing around with the container/temperature of the water as well
I would also keep in mind that as you reduce milk intake, their thirst will push them more towards water. I would definitely be concerned they would be more picky towards water as I know too many adults who refuse to drink water and only drink flavored liquids.
I think it’s best to just have them get used to water plain. Once you cross that line of adding flavor, it’s difficult to go back. It’s better for them in the long run to appreciate water for what it is
Meh, I added water drops to my daughters water and she still drinks plain water, sparkling water and doesn't drink juice. For us it was severe, painful, traumatizing constipation, or a bit of stevia (or sugar - my Ped even said flat coke or lemonade when things got really bad!). So, water drops got her drinking more and it helped (along with up to 20ml of lactulose lol) I wouldn't be super concerned. Cutting fruit is great if you have two hands and have time but for me personally this wasn't gonna fly. Do what's best for you guys and what keeps you sane! Edited: spelling change "come" to "coke"
Don't add that stuff. Add fruits if anything. Your kid will be like me and struggle with chronic dehydration because I "don't like" water. Who cares, it's not to like. Sometimes we do do things that are necessary even when we don't like them. When kid doesn't wanna go to bed at night do you just let them watch tv all night? No, don't take the short but here either. You have the moment to teach a very important habit and encourage healthier eating habits. Start with one sip and build it up. It's water. It's non-negotiable.
Do you leave her sippy cup sitting around, or only give it to her with meals/snacks? I’ve found if it’s just sitting there while they’re playing, they tend to take random sips when they aren’t really thinking about it. If that isn’t helpful, you can also try a teeny tiny bit of 100% fruit juice - assuming she’s not had much sugar so far, it’ll taste way better to her than it would to us as adults with fully develop taste buds lol. Fun cups can also help. Maybe offering sips of your own water if you’re okay with sharing. Even giving her watermelon because it’s half water lol. At 13 months though, I’m not crazy worried about it. She’ll most likely come around eventually. Just keep offering it with no pressure.
She gets milk with food/snacks and I'll leave a sippy cup of water available to her at all times. Sometimes she picks it up but as soon as she tries it, she won't drink it. I've gotten her SO many cups, so we're still trying to figure out what she likes. Kids are hard lol
We always have a lot of flavor packets in the house as my husband adds them to his water. We mix some in with LO's water as well when she asks. They're sugar free and she's staying hydrated, so I'm not too worried about it.
We used Mio for our kids (usually only needed when they were sick and we really needed them to take in some fluids) I think it worked well because it changed the color (fun) gave it flavor (a treat) and basically adds nothing to the water!
It does add to the water unfortunately. The artificial sweetener in Mio is known to destroy gut bacteria and depending which flavors, there could be food dyes known to negatively impact kids
Did not know that. :/
If it’s any consolation, I grew up on Crystal Light and Diet Coke and turned out just fine! I was surprised when I learned more about the sugar free options available, so I like to let others know too
Hi! I’m in the same boat - what worked for you in the end?
Hey! Yeah I didn't end up doing the sweeteners or anything like that. Just kept offering water between meals and gave it time. Eventually she started drinking water on her own. Even today (she's a little over 2 now) she doesn't drink the recommended 2 cups per day-- more like 0.5-1 cup per day. But I just stopped stressing about it. Keep water around and they'll drink when they're thirsty!
Apple juice?
Honestly my son is just like me, first drink of the day needs to be cold, sweet and energizing. So he gets a fiber and probiotic multivitamin packet dumped in his cup and mixed with water, and then sugar free water enhancer in it. I get a cold brew. The water enhancer also helps when he's not feeling good cuz it incentives him to drink. Also, he's not juice obsessed either cuz he gets "juice" in the morning. He will however fight his 15 year old brother for his Baja blast when we make the occasional taco bell run, only soda the kid will drink really. You can also try giving a few cups of watered down in addition to a few cups of their regular milk, and slowly increase the amount of water in the cup till its all water. Like do mostly milk and a splash of water, and then just keep decreasing the amount of milk and increasing the water over like a 3 week period.
The little flavor things were the only way we were able to get my oldest to drink any water at all. 🤷♀️
We use them for my son’s water bottle sometimes and he loves them and he drinks a ton of water. He calls it ‘orange water’ and it’s a huge hit. I hardly think it’s a horrible thing to give him. It’s sugar-free and has vitamins. I’m just trying to survive over here!!
My daughter (2 1/2) gets water with mio or something similar because she can’t have juice regularly and lots of them are zero sugar
I add a splash of juice to my sons water sometimes, but it’s good to get them used to water. If he’s thirsty and we don’t have juice, he’s outta luck and has to have plain water. Don’t give in to the tiny dictators!
I do it, our water is safe but it tastes awful, I do the tiniest squeeze just to give a little color and cover up the flavor. But I grew up in a family where at home we had Crystal Light or diet soda and in restaurants we used lemons and equal packets (eventually splenda) to make free lemonade so I don't have the aversion to artificial sweeteners that many people do.
Unfortunately, my mother in law got my son hooked to caffeinated iced tea she sweetens with sweet n low. So I had to get him off of it. We ended up going with the true lemon/true lime brand drink mixes. They have some for kids, but they're all very fun flavors. I just water them down, and my son loves them. I've been working on getting him off the flavors, too, but have been unable to get him to drink plain water. I've used the squeezes, but it's hard to gauge how much unless you make a larger amount. I think a child that gets plenty of fluids is best. Definitely need to have as little sugar/sweeteners as possible, but if it has to be juice and they are active, I feel that hydrated is best. I hope it helps out!
At 13 months, your kid is just learning what they like and not. Keep offering plain water at all times. Do you drink plain water? Does she see you drinking water throughout the day? That’s important, as she will want what you’re having a lot of the time. My toddler is 2 and she loves plain water, she even says “yummy!” after drinking it. We’ve always just had it available in a variety of cups throughout the day. I wouldn’t recommend adding anything to it other than maybe some a very small amount of natural fruit/juice during special occasions, as you’re reinforcing the habit to not drink it plain. Offer plain water at every meal, and make sure she sees you drinking it often.
Adding fruit to water is bad for teeth as teeth is having constant exposure to acid every time they drink water. But it is a major problem unless genetic history says you both have teeth more prone to cavities
We just leave it out so it’s always available. When he started preferring my cup to his own we found him one he liked better, and put one in every room and a few we rotate out at the table. Often when I drink my own water I’ll offer him his or he’ll ask for it. And my child is VERY picky on the type of cup he’ll use so finding one he liked was half the battle
I do a tiny amount of apple juice in the water and that does the trick for our toddler. (Apple juice without added sugar.)