Flavoured water

[Annabelp]

Ds is a picky eater and at 20 months is exerting his opinions by way of mini tantrums when he isn't given the food he wants/likes.

He is now refusing to drink plain water and will only drink still flavoured water (which is sugar free). Is this ok or should I only give plain water as his main drink? I do the no alternative thing with food but don't want him to go without fluids.

[babyrose]

hi, my lo is 15 months and we gave him water from when we started weaning. now he takes a small amount of diluting juice or orange juice. i think its ok but thats your preference.

HTH

[Annabelp]

Great thanks. Does your lo drink straight water at all now?

[Shiv52]

I stuck to water at that stage.  My thinking would be the odd glass of juice is fine so long as they didn't start refusing water. If my DD started refusing water and demanding juice then I would just get rid of the juice.  Just my preference though.  Now At 3 DD knows she can have juice once a day and is happy with water the rest of the time.  

[babyrose]

yip he still drinks water no problem, i would keep on trying im sure in time your lo will get used to it.

[Lemonthyme]

I stick to water and I would be wary of flavoured waters.  Some of them are just natural flavourings and acid, some contain sweeteners or sugar.  This is one for example:

Carbonated Spring Water, Lemon Juice From Concentrate (1%) , Lime Juice From Concentrate (1%) ,Flavouring , Sweeteners (Aspartame, Acesulfame K) , Preservative (Potassium Sorbate) ,Citric Acid.

Hmm.  Not sure I'd want that inside my son but then I'm a bit obsessive about what he eats!

Personally I would leave a cup of water out (changing it several times) all day and you might find he will take it when he's thirsty.  You can't really do this with juice or flavoured water as the sugar and / or acids will damage his teeth.  Once he sees he's not getting anything else you might find it works.

Last resort, I would use natural fruit juice but watered down loads and only offered at mealtimes but then I'm mean!  ;o)

[*Liz*]

I was going to say the same as pp - I do not like my children having aspartame or saccharin - so for that reason I don't use sugar free anything.

I do use juice etc though - I put fresh juice in their cup and dilute with water - and sometimes I use fresh smoothies etc.

My DD is a BIG drinker and will drink anything, so in some ways it is a shame that she gets juice a lot, but my DS is a very poor drinker and I think there really is nothing wrong with dilute fresh juice if it helps them stay well hydrated.

But all the chemicals?? Yuck and grrrrr  .

[Lemonthyme]

I agree with the PP, only thing I don't like is demonising the word 'chemical'; I know what you mean but there are plenty of natural chemicals out there, like sugar, citric acid, vitamin C (all found in fruit juice).  I still wouldn't give my child artificial sweeteners though.  I'd rather give sugar tbh and I'm a bit of a sugar avoider.  I wouldn't even give him petit filous!

[*Liz*]

Well everything is a chemical if you want to be really technical about it  - down to the plastic in the cups and the wood in the trees.

I meant artificial food additives and just used a generic term - apologies if I wasn't specific enough  .

I personally believe in moderation for LOs - especially when they are having very picky phases. I do use childrens yoghurts, for example, and the odd fruit shoot if we are out and their drinks have run out etc etc.

Back to op's question - no I would not feel comfortable with 'no alternative' to a drink in one of my LOs either - I would just move to using diluted real orange or apple juice - and encourage water as well.

Actually when DS was younger and very fruit juice dependent what I started to do was insist on water a certain times of the day. So after tea all he can have is water or a cup of milk before bed. At meals it is water, but juice for snacks. That way he knows what to expect and that seems to work fine. I think he may have been a bit older than  20 mths when I started this, but it may help if you feel your LOs comprehension level is good enough.

But honestly - just make slow changes until you are doing something you are comfortable with  . We all have different approaches to food etc in our children really  .

[lesliemarie]

I agree with Liz and Lemonthyme.  I don't give the girls sugar free anything.  I also don't give them anything that is a "cocktail".  If it doesn't say 100% juice then they don't get it.  Well DD2 doesn't get it anyway because she is so little.  Now that DD1 is 5 I will let her have one juice box a day (she likes the novelty of having it in the box with the straw) and then she can have two glasses of milk and the rest of the day is water.  If I don't she will drink juice or milk all day long.

I would say if he is refusing water try doing water 7/8 water and 1/8 juice.  That way there is barely anything in it.  Just enough for a little flavour.  Then if you want you can cut the juice out once he starts drinking.  Or this actually worked with DD.  I started giving her water in a sippy cup with ice in it.  She likes her drinks really cold.  She would drink twice as much if it was cold.

[Lemonthyme]

Yeah I did the ice thing when it was really hot and he seemed to like it.

I was only ribbing about the chemical thing; I just used to be a chemist in a former life?

[*Liz*]

I was only ribbing about the chemical thing; I just used to be a chemist in a former life?

LOL. Studied a fair amount of biochemistry in my time as well!

[15milner]

I made the decision long ago to use the 'rocks' organic squash, deciding to make sure I brush teeth as it's full sugar with nothing artificial, preservatives etc. We also have the bottle green squash too.  Andrew will drink more if he sees me add some to his drink, but always really dilute.
A

[Annabelp]

Thanks for all your comments ladies. Turned out to be a lively discussion!

The ice trick seems to have worked in ds drinking water again. I just call it juice :-) That and a Peppa Pig tumbler lol!

[*Liz*]