It is said that women are made of water, in fact, the real water is made of children. The smaller the baby, the more total body fluids, the total body fluids of full-term children accounted for 72% to 78% of body weight. The baby needs a lot of water, mainly because of rapid growth and development, a lot of activity, the body’s metabolism is vigorous. The mother and father will ask, such a “water doll”, usually do not need extra water? If you do, how much should you drink? Can newborns drink water? No! Baby’s kidney function is far less powerful than that of adults, and the younger the baby is, the more immature the kidney’s concentration and dilution functions are. Too much water intake will instead increase the burden on the kidneys, and will also affect milk intake and growth. How old can I drink water? The World Health Organization and the American Academy of Pediatrics do not recommend giving extra water to babies under 6 months of age. In other words, if you want to give your baby water, wait until after 6 months, when your baby has added complementary foods! I read a post on the internet earlier, “My child is 3 months old and has been following the book and not feeding him water. Once I saw that the crying was serious and the lips were dry, my mother-in-law gave the baby water and then stopped crying. Now it does not feel like anything is happening to the child.” It is not absolute about not being able to drink water at 6 months, as will be explained below. How much water does a baby need to drink every day? For children younger than 1 year old, the daily water requirement is 120~160ml/kg; for children 1~3 years old, the daily water requirement is 100~140ml/kg; for children 4~9 years old, the daily water requirement is 70~110ml/kg; for children 10~14 years old, the daily water requirement is 50~90ml/kg. (The above data is from the 9th edition of Pediatrics) The water requirement here refers to the daily intake of fluids. In the case of no supplementation before 6 months of age, it is calculated according to the amount of milk. For example, for a 3-month-old baby weighing 6 kg, the daily water requirement is 720 ml to 960 ml. If the baby can eat 750 ml of milk per day, it means that the amount of fluid is sufficient today. After 6 months of age, babies who start to add complementary foods, in addition to the amount of milk, should not ignore the amount of liquid contained in complementary foods, the water contained in rice flour, vegetables and fruits. These can not be precisely calculated, you can follow the approximate amount estimated. 6 months just started to add complementary foods to add a small amount, do not drink too much, 50 ~ 100ml per day. There are these signals, indicating that the baby needs to drink water 6 months can not drink water is not absolute, there are also special circumstances. If the baby has the following signals, it means that the baby is in need of hydration, this time to let the baby drink water. These situations are also suitable for mothers and fathers who are over 6 months old and do not know how to calculate the amount of water to drink. 1, when the baby has a high fever, pay attention to the hydration, to help the temperature recede; 2, when the baby has diarrhea, vomiting phenomenon, pay attention to the hydration, to avoid electrolyte disorders; 3, when the summer high temperature sweating more, also pay attention to the intake of water; 4, without taking any drugs, when the urine becomes obviously yellow. If your baby is less than 6 months old and encounters the above situation, you can feed your baby 10ml~30ml of water between two feedings, in small sips, or with a spoon. Do babies need to drink “baby water”? There is no organization or study that requires baby water to be used for babies or to make milk powder and supplements, and there is no clear indication of the benefits of this water. The main thing is that it is “expensive”! Mineral water is also not suitable for babies, because mineral water contains a lot of minerals, the baby’s kidney development is not mature, will increase the burden on the baby’s kidneys. The most suitable water for babies is the tap water after purification and boiling. Babies do not like to drink water, can drink juice or sugar water? Juice contains less nutrition than fresh fruit, no dietary fiber, big vitamin loss, and the high sugar content in juice is easy to cause tooth decay. 6 months to 1 year old, it is the period of small milk teeth eruption, drinking juice makes baby have more risk of tooth decay. Therefore, it is better to wash a fruit and give it to baby directly to chew. The same is true for sugar water, which not only contains high sugar content, but also has certain influence on the development of baby’s sense of taste, and may even cause picky eating and partial eating in the future, and teeth are also easy to be decayed. How to make babies love drinking water? 1, and baby play drinking games You can find two small cups, pour the same amount of water in the two small cups, a cup for the baby, a cup for themselves, and then play “Cheers” game with the baby. 2, parents to “teach by example” rather than just “words” Any habit development, the role of parents are crucial. When you drink water, intentionally come to the baby, while making exaggerated movements, to attract his attention. Parents are the best teachers for their babies! 3, change the cup Baby’s natural preference for things with animal patterns, parents can try to prepare two or three cups with different animal patterns, rotate feeding baby water, or use different shapes of vessels to fill the water for baby to drink, which will make them feel fresh and interesting, like to drink water.