My son is very young for water (4 months), but his pediatrician is recommending very small amounts (1-2 oz) to help combat his persistent constipation. Unfortunately he cries and refuses to take any water at all. I really want to avoid anything sweet until he's been on solids for a while, so juice is not a good option. Does anyone have any advice on how to get him to take small amounts of water?
Why not just add the extra couple of ounces of water to his formula?
(I'm assuming he drinks formula... if he's constipated with breastmilk, I doubt its anything water can fix).
HTH
T.
A medicine dropper. My DD is older than yours but we play a game with the dropper that she just loves and it makes me happy because when she refuses to drink I know that I can get liquid in her this way. It takes a while to get a sufficient amount in them but it for sure works
Good Luck
i suggest just watering down the formula or breast milk with a couple extra ounces of water. but i don't know if that will accomplish what you want...
Have you tried giving it to him from a cup? Just do very, very small amounts at first - he won't be used to getting liquids that way and will probably cough a little at first. Maybe a medicine syringe would work too?
I would get juice instead of water. You can add some water to prune juice, but I would do that instead. It is what I was told to do when my little dude was constipated at 3 months.
My son had this problem too, so I bought gas drops for him and they work great. At a year old they still help him. Or gripe water works too. Try putting in a bottle and see if he will take it. If not, try spoon feeding it to him and see if that helps.
When my oldest son had that same problem as an infant, his pedi told us to mix a tsp. of Karo syrup in his formula. That was 11.5 years ago, so I don't know if they still recommend that or not, but it worked great. You could ask his pedi. Good luck :)
When raising my now 5 yr old, the way i got him to drink was to put a little bit of sugar in it. but i have used the home remidy of onion tea, and now he drinks water without the sugar. im not sure how the oniion came into play. but thats how i did it.
I still add a splash of juice to the water. Worked for my kids.
My doctor told me to give my daughter 1/2 tspn of miralax in her formula to help with constipation..I never had to do water.
I, too, would suggest watering down what he eats, but be very careful that he's getting enough to eat as well. My cousin's little boy had that same problem, and he used to have to take a bottle of diluted prune juice with benefiber everyday. Good luck!
Fruit2O or Propel... that is how I get myself and family to drink A LOT more water.
If your child is formula fed, maybe he's on the wrong formula.
If your child is breastfed, maybe cutting out commercially processed dairy would help as well as keeping yourself better hydrated.
If you can't get him to take the water straight, like with the medicine dropper or a straw, you could always try ice cubes. My DD LOVES to suck on ice cubes in mesh feeders. Or you could soak a rag in water, and let him suck the water out of it. Just make sure it's a clean rag.
I think it is great you want to avoid juice. Juice is like a gateway drug to sodas and pops later on in life. Personally I would rather my children get the fiber in the fruit along with the nutrients and that only happens if you eat fruit.
If you are using formula, mix a very little into his water so it has a taste. If you are breastfeeding, see about pumping and watering it down.
My suggestion is to get a sippy cup and put water in it and teach him how to use it and have it accessible to him at all times. He will eventually get the hang of it. Both of my girls started with water in sippy cups around 4 months.
