Is your toddler drinking enough water? How much water intake of your toddler? Is optimal water intake necessary for a toddler? If you have been inquisitive about such questions, we do have some answers listed out for you.
Water is a very important and crucial part in each and every person’s life. It is a very essential part of the diet. All the chemical reactions that take place in the body are dependent on proper hydration in the body. Without water, life is just impossible.
Well, in this article, you will get to know the level of fluid requirements for toddler and the benefits of drinking water for toddlers.
How Much Water Should A Toddler Drink?
As I mentioned above, water is a very important and crucial part in each and everyone’s life. It is a very essential part of one’s diet. All the chemical reactions take place in the body are dependent on water.
Without water, life is just impossible. It helps a lot in the growth and development of the baby.
As per USDA, (R) children in the age group of 1 to 3 should drink around five and a half cups of water every day.
The water may be in form of other beverages such as milk, juice, sports drinks and soft drinks and even in foods, such as yogurt and ice cream and caffeinated beverages like coffee and tea also contribute to the body’s water needs as the same way as plain water does for a toddler.
But as per The American Association of Pediatricians (AAP), (R) it is best advised to limit juice, flavored milk to just 4-6 ounces a day. The parents should give 100% juice from the real fruits rather than soft drinks or soda or any tetra pack of fruit juice. In case of the flavored milk, the AAP urges to stick to low fat, low sugar milk.
The level of water fluid intake for babies also depends upon the state of climate and environment. If the climate is hot or summer like, then the toddler should drink the water twice more than the normal standard per day. The water will help to prevent dehydration and exhaustion. It all depends upon the situation and environment.
One thing you should keep in mind is that during dry climate, you should feed or give more water to the toddler in more frequency.
[Read: When to introduce water to babies]
Amount of Water Intake in Kids
It’s impossible to set a single requirement for how much water a kid needs each day. The amount of water need depends on how much your kids eat, what the weather is, and how active your kids are. So, instead of setting an estimated average requirement for water, much like with other nutrients, the Institute of Medicine has set an adequate intake of water (R) such as-
- Kids aged 2 to 3 should drink 2 glass (480 milliliters) every day.
- Kids 4 through 8 should have 2½ glasses (600 milliliters) per day.
- Kids 9 and older should have 3 glass or more (720 milliliters) per day.
How To Know If A Toddler Is Having Enough Water?
There are ample numbers of ways that can be able to figure out to know whether your toddler is drinking too much water or not? Some of the ways include:
1. Urine And Bowel Movement:
From the urine and bowel movement, you can easily figure out whether your toddler is drinking enough water or not. The colour of the urine of your toddler will give you all the answers about the intake of water. The frequency of urine is also more when the toddler drinks at about 6-7 times in a day and the vice verse can be the recommended daily water intake for toddler.
2. Mood:
Water has a direct influence on your state of mind. As I told earlier, water is a very important and crucial part in each and everyone’s life. It is a very essential part of our diet.
If the intake of water is not appropriate, then the toddler may feel tired and low energy. The toddler may appear sleepy and irritable.
3. Physical Appearance:
The water intake for toddler is dependent on the appearance of the toddler. Water only keeps the face and skin glowing. The eyes may become sunken; the skin may become skinny and dry in case the toddler doesn’t drink enough water.
Benefits Of Drinking Enough Water For Toddler:
The benefits of drinking water for toddler is endless as it helps in many ways including:
1. Reduces Consumption of Sugary Beverages:
Water keeps the toddler away from drinking more sugary drinks that are available in the market Sharron Dalton reports in her book, “Our Overweight Children,” that making “water readily available to the children may reduce how many sugary drinks she consumes”. You should provide the child with a refillable water bottle when they feel thirsty rather than giving them a beverage. Waters keeps them healthy.
2. Prevent Dehydration:
The water helps to prevent dehydration and exhaustion. It carries out all of the functions that allow the toddler to learn, grow and be physically active. During summer, it helps a lot to keep the baby physically active and prevent dehydration.
3. Flushes Out Toxins and Carries Nutrients:
Water plays a major role in the toddler’s body. Water helps to get rid of toxins from the toddler’s body. It also keeps the toddler away from illness and sickness. As per MayoClinic, when the child replenishes her body with water, the nutrients they consume from food are more likely to be efficiently transported to all of her internal organs through the help of water only.
4. Water Saves Calories:
Nothing works great to saves calories as water does. This is because water has no calories. It is free from fat, sugar, carbohydrates and all short of calories. Water always has positive effects on the body of a toddler as it helps in proper growth and development.
5. Water is Good for Whole Body:
Drinking enough water boosts the internal metabolism and helps the body to properly break down food in case of toddler as well as adults. Science says that 70% of human body consists of water. The majority of the blood and every cell in the body are composed of water. Human body simply needs enough water to function properly. From this evidence, you can know how important water is in our life, especially during the initial stages of life.
How To Make Toddler Drink More Water:
Making a toddler drink more water can be done with the following tactics:
1. Introduce the Fun Element:
The toddler water bottle or glass should be fun and attractive as that can add a brownie point for the toddler to drink more amount of water. Sippy cups or straw cups with your child’s favorite cartoon characters will be a good idea for the water fluid intake for toddler.
2. Make Water Readily Available:
The water should be always kept hand to mouth in case of a toddler as this will help to have a keen interest in drinking water. As the toddler is busy with a lot of stuff around them, this will act as a checklist for the toddler to drink water.
3. Offer Healthy Alternatives:
Apart from water, it is very important to give them some other kind of healthy alternative beverages like milk, juice, sports drinks and soft drinks and even in foods, such as yogurt and ice cream and caffeinated beverages like coffee and tea so they aren’t bored with drinking just water.
4. Lead By Examples:
The toddler loves to imitate you or others. They mostly do things that you do. So, if you want to improve daily water intake for a toddler, then the best thing you can do so is lead by example. Drink water often in front of your toddler and they will surely follow you. This practice will make the toddler drink more water.
Types Of Healthy Drinks You Can Give To Your Toddler:
Some of the healthy drinks that you can give your toddler are as follows-
1. Fruit Punch
Ingredients:
- Orange juice -2 cups
- Pineapple juice – 1 cup
- Apples finely chopped – 1 apple
- Ice cubes
- Ginger (optional)
How To Make:
- Mix both orange and pineapple juices together in a bowl and add the finely chopped apple to it.
- Pour this juice mixture into a pitcher.
- Garnish it with ginger, if your kid likes it.
- Refrigerate for 20-25 mins
2. Green Magic:
Ingredients:
- A few leaves of spinach
- 1 cup of strawberries
- 1/2 tablespoon lemon
- 1/2tbsp honey
- Mint leaves
How To Make:
- Blend the greens and strawberries together.
- Add some ginger and blend it again.
- Add honey to it and garnish with some mint leaves.
3. Banana Smoothies:
Ingredients
- Cinnamon
- Nutmeg
- Milk
- Condensed Milk
- Cardamom
- Bananas
- Honey
How To Make:
- Grate some cinnamon, cardamom and nutmeg in milk and bring it to a boil on low heat.
- Add honey and condensed milk to it and let it cool in room temperature.
- Add the spiced milk into a blender with some chopped ripe bananas and blend till it is smooth.
- Served it to the kids.
4. Coconut Water:
Ingredients:
- 3 cups of coconut water
- 1 cup water
- 1/2 cup freshly squeezed lime juice
- 1/4 teaspoon salt
- 2tbsp raw honey
How To Make:
- Mix all the ingredients well.
- Serve it chilled.
5. Tangy Electrolyte Drink:
Ingredients:
- 1/2 cup orange juice
- 1/4 cup lemon juice
- 2 cups of water or raw coconut water
- 2 tbsp honey or maple syrup
- 1/8 tsp table salts
How To Make:
- Mix all the ingredients well.
- Refrigerate it and served.
6. Cranberry-Raspberry Punch:
Ingredients:
- Ginger ale
- Cranberry juice
- Raspberry sorbet
How To Make:
- Take equal parts of ginger ale and juices both cranberry and raspberry in a large bowl and mix.
- Add the raspberry sherbet to this bowl and watch it fizzing.
- Top it up with some fresh raspberries for garnishing.
- Serve it chill.
7. Melon Berry Squash:
Ingredients:
- 3 cups of cut watermelon
- 1 cup of strawberries or raspberries
- 1 teaspoon lemon
- 1 tablespoon honey
How To Make:
- Add all the ingredients in a blender and blend well.
- Serve chilled.
8. Mango Milkshake:
Ingredients
- 1 cup milk
- 1/2 cup ripe mango, cleaned and cut into cubes
How To Make:
- Blend milk and mango pieces to a smooth consistency.
- Serve chilled.
It’s impossible to set a single requirement for how much water the kids need each day. The amount of water intake depends on how much your kids eat, what the weather is, and how active your kids are.
