5 Ways to Improve Your Child’s Water Intake

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Eyinade Eweje

Helping your child acquire a taste for water is not only essential for optimal nutrition, it is crucial to ensuring lost body fluids are continually replenished and your child’s brain stays properly hydrated to ensure better cognitive function. It may also help keep them burn excess calories, keep them at a healthy weight and improve kidney and liver function.

Find 5 effective ways to help your child improve their water intake and stay well hydrated…

1. Offer a glass of water first thing in the morning and a bit before breakfast. Starting your child’s day and yours with a few glasses of water rehydrates the brain and body in general, flushes out toxins, may improve energy level and fosters proper biochemical balance.

2. Offer lots of water-rich foods. Help your child develop a love for water-rich soups, fruits, vegetables, and milk. Water leaf, spinach, watermelon, homemade pineapple and orange juices, coconut water are a few tasty options. Aim to make these a part of regular meals as well as their lunchbox and offer lots of plain water in place of fizzy drinks.

3. Watch out for water robbers. Coffees, teas and other beverages which contain caffeine often have a diuretic effect, making the body eliminate more water. Drinks containing lots of sugar may also reduce the absorption of water from the intestines. In the same vein, consuming juices with high sorbitol content such as pear or prune juice in large quantity can cause diarrhea-like stools and increase water loss from the intestines. They may also experience similar symptoms if they consume too much apple juice.

Talk to them about the importance of drinking water regularly, model good hydration habits and offer them water at regular intervals during the day.

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4. Help them make water a regular companion. Never forget to add a bottle of water to their nutritious lunch pack, always have bottles of water in the car, take some with you when going to the park, going for a walk or other outings with them. You may also keep a water bottle on your child’s nightstand and encourage them to drink some during the night after bathroom visits.

5. Curb consumption of processed fruit drinks & juices. There are varieties of so called healthy fruit drinks and juices filled with corn syrup as well as chemical colourings and flavour, some of which have not been proven to be safe. Children may refuse to drink plain water if you constantly make these drinks available to them.

During meals, offer plain water in place of fruit drinks, carbonated drinks and fruit juices. Opt instead for homemade fruit juices, smoothies and make plain water more appealing by adding a slice of lemon or coconut water.

If you consume tap water, your child may refuse to drink as much as his body requires because of its chlorine taste. Adding a squirt of lemon juice to each glass of water before offering it may make it more appealing.