I have a friend who is 12 weeks pregnant and said she's bad about drinking enough water. She's tried Gatorade and is trying to stay away from caffeine. She doesn't like water, which is a side effect of the pregnancy because she used to drink it all the time, or the Gatorade. Does anyone have any non-caffeine drinks that I can suggest to her?
Thanks, in advance!
Will she drink any water with lemon, cut up strawberries or sparkling water that is flavored? That is what helped me tremendously. Have her try that.
She needs to stay away from Gatorade. It's not a juice, it's a fitness drink meant to replace electrolytes lost after a heavy workout and can be harmful if you don't need it. I'd also stay away from the Crystal Light someone mentioned, diet drinks with artificial sweeteners like Aspertame and Splenda are also not recommended for pregnancy. Really what she needs is the water, and she needs to make herself drink it. It's not something you can do for her. Buy her a pretty reusable, environmentally friendly water bottle. She can throw a shot of juice or caffeine free iced tea or some fresh fruit in it, but really, she just needs to train herself to drink water throughout the day.
have her try mio in her water or crystal light
The weather will start getting warmer soon so my suggestion would be to make home made Popsicles using various juices. It's how I keep my kid hydrated when she's sick. She stopps wanting to drink but she'll suck on a juice pop! (Grape is favorite. Orange juice is second favorite. Cranberry is my favorite!)
Juice
De-caff iced tea?
Flavored waters? (non-effervescent)
Pink lemonade
How about fruit that has a lot of water content? (Watermelon?)
How about fruit smoothies? (Homemade..strawberry?)
Hope that helps.
I would look into the flavored waters. I drank a lot of koolaid, but you have to be careful with the sugar. It's better to go with sweetened ones over the artificially sweetened ones though. I'm not sure becuase they didn't have it around when i was pregnant but you could also check into the Mio water flavoring, or just straight store bought fruit infused waters. Good luck!
Propel is great tasting and highly recomended to my late mil when she had cancer. it has the same qualities of gatorade not the sugar amounts though. we buy some flavored water at Sams that is the nock off vs of that. Our kids love it too. Fruit2 O is the name of that drink. Other than that icy cold water in a cup with a straw. Sonic 42 oz big girl drink and sip on that all day.
Suggest that she get lemon juice or other juice additives to flavor the water naturally. That might help. I also liked my water COLD (ice) and found I did better if I got up once to get a large glass/container and kept it at my desk vs getting little cups. If I went to use the restroom, I'd get a refill.
Crystal Light makes a line of "Pure" mixes that are sweetened with a commercial version of Stevia and have no artificial colors - they're delicious! I find that one "stick" of mix is enough for two large glasses of water (so maybe 24-30 oz total).
Gatorade is flavored salt water and can effect blood pressure, especially in a pregnant woman.
Anything that is see through, like tea, juice (100%), water with lemon or some other natural flavors, jello, broth, etc....are all forms of a liquid diet. Think of a time when someone you know had surgery and could not eat solids yet. The things they brought on the tray are foods and drinks a person can have to replace fluids.
She needs to stay away from artificial sweeteners and artificial food replacements like fake fat in ice cream. Those things are poison to the body and not healthy in any way.
As long as she is not drinking something carbonated every time to quench her thirst I think she could drink an occasional pop too.
I would stay away from artificially sweetened stuff. Suggest those little skinny packets of flavoring for water that do not use artificial sweeteners. Target's brand, Archer Farms, has some (apple pear is my favorite) that uses Stevia instead of the artificial stuff and it is only 10 calories per serving. It even has vitamin C and a little vitamin A, E and calcium.
Try it with a splash of juice . Or what about caffeine free tea with lemon ,she can have it iced or hot. I have also heard to eat your water. Eat fruits ,veggies , soups,etc.
During our pregnancy classes, they mentioned that an aversion to water was pretty common during pregnancy. The nurse said that as long as diabetes was not an issue that kool aide, fruit juices and popsicles were a good alternative to water. They mentioned to avoid artificial sweeteners and drinks like Gatorade and Powerade (I think salt content was the concern there, but I am not certain).
tell her to drink water with some slices of lemon and lime. or Mio.
I have been drinking flavored seltzers. Water and soda taste "wrong" to me this pregnancy and juices (in general) make me queasy. I also have more success staying hydrated if I dilute Crystal Light into my water (just a little bit) each time!
Decaff iced tea is a real treat too!
I see several recommendations for the cut up fruit but a different twist would be to utlize sparkling water with frozen strawberries (fresh ones, not the kind you buy in a bag that is all syrupy) dropped in. I have added them to wine (obviously, not during pregnancy) and it is a nice treat!
Nothing with artificial sweetener. How about some decaf, flavored iced tea (not processed stuff, actual tea bags). Tazo has tons of fun flavors and not too expensive. She can make a big pitcher of it and sweeten with sugar or drink it unsweetened over ice. Lemonade is a good one too.
When I was pregnant both times I had to drink whatever I could keep down. It changed all the time. Water pretty much always made me throw up, but I remember doing Gatorade, Vitamin Water, Slurppees, Diet Coke, Sprite, tea, fruit pops, etc. I was at the point where I didn't worry about the fake sugar, and I did caffeine free, but it was so hard to keep liquids down that my doc said drink what I could when I could. This will probably pass and she'll be sick from something else next week or the week after. Tell her its only for a little while.
