Help! My child does not like to drink water.

Regardless if your child is an athlete or not, keeping hydrated is essential! Our bodies lose water through breathing, sweating and digestion. Sufficient fluid intake and staying hydrated throughout the day helps improve a child’s mood, memory, and attention span.

It can be challenging to get your kids to drink enough plain water, especially if they are constantly active. The wide variety of sugared or carbonated drink easily attainable makes it more difficult to get them to drink plain water. However, drinking plain water is healthier and it is friendlier on the wallet too, don’t you think?

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Recommended water intake for children

To stay well hydrated, children are recommended to drinking amounts of water according to their age. According to the Singapore Health Promotion Board, children between the ages of 3 – 6 years old are recommended to drink about 1 litre or 3 – 5 glasses of water daily.

What can I do to encourage my kid to drink more water?

Drinking water does not have to be mundane and boring! Here are some tips to entice your child into staying hydrated and healthy.

Start early and make drinking water a habit

Experts suggest waiting till your baby have started on solid food or around the 6 months mark. Once your baby starts drinking water, offer a little at a time. You could either start by putting water in the milk bottle (make sure you monitor and limit how much he/she is taking). Alternatively, you could use a straw sippy cup- this will make good practice for when your baby is transitioning into a Sippy cup for all his/her beverages. Skip the spout sippy cup if you could – read here to find out why.

Our Evorie Tritan milk bottle comes with an option where you can add on a gravity straw attachment with the adaptive teat that allows an easier transition from bottle feeding to drinking from a straw.

Lead by example

The best way to instill water drinking habits in your child is to develop them together. The fastest way for your child to learn is to follow in your footsteps and imitate what you do. Make it a point to drink water with your child, maybe add in a little cheer every time you do so. Create a fun little routine with your child so that they will be excited when its time for your little water breaks.

Get a smaller bottle

With a smaller sized bottle, your child will find it easier to hold and drink. Our customers have also feedback that their little ones tend to drink a lot more with a smaller bottle. The little ones feel a greater sense of achievement whenever they finished a bottle. You could further reinforce this positive habit by rewarding them with a sticker or a high five when they present their empty bottle to you. Encourage them to learn how to refill their bottle (with your assistance) and remind them that they are doing a good job.

Award-winning 200ml Tritan Sippy Cups

Choose attractive/colourful water bottles

Your child will be more inclined to reach for their water bottle if it is more eye-catching. Bright colours and eye-catching prints help. Let them choose their favourite colours or prints and remind them to hydrate themselves throughout the day.

Our Evorie Tritan 200ml Sippy Cups and Evorie Tritan 300ml Water bottles are specially designed to look sleek and colourful while remaining leak proof, lasting and easy to clean. We have also created designer stickers to make drinking fun for your little ones!

  Evorie Designer Sticker set

Evorie Tritan 300ml Water Bottle

 

Adding fruits into the water

If all the above still don’t quite work, you could try making the plain water more appealing by infusing fresh fruits into the water. Simply pop some frozen fruits such as blackberries, strawberries, raspberries and blueberries into your water and it will not only keep your water cold but can also add some flavour to it.

Finally, kids between 6-36 months are highly active and learn by experimenting and that includes throwing! So, be sure to get a sippy cup or water bottle that is not only leakproof but also near indestructible!

 

Learn what safety standards you should look out for when purchasing feeding bottles and sippy cups.
Find out here why we think Tritan is the ideal material for baby bottles and Sippy Cup!
Check out our range of Tritan-made baby feeding bottles and  sippy cups here!