How to feed water to babies

Many babies are very resistant to drinking water when their mothers feed them. Some babies will spit out the water when they taste it and then refuse to drink it at all, which makes the mothers very anxious. Because if the baby does not drink water and only drinks breast milk or formula, it may cause internal inflammation, so it is still necessary to feed the baby some water. Many new parents don’t know how to feed water to their babies. Here are some tips that you can try.

The best water for babies to drink is of course boiled water. Boiled water that is cooled to 20-25°C not only contains calcium, magnesium and other elements that are beneficial to the baby's body, but also has specific biological activity. It is very close to the characteristics of cell fluid in the human body, and can easily penetrate the cell membrane and enter the cell. It can promote metabolism and enhance the baby's immune function. Therefore, artificially fed babies should drink more boiled water.

It should be noted that the boiled water that babies drink must be fresh. Boiled water that has been exposed to the air for more than 4 hours, boiled water that has been stored for a long time, boiled water that has been repeatedly poured out, or water that has been repeatedly boiled is not good for the baby's health and should not be given to the baby.

Generally speaking, the amount of physiological water a baby needs is 150-200 ml per kilogram of body weight per day. Excluding the water in formula milk and complementary foods, this is the amount your baby should drink in a day. This calculation method is more scientific, but not easy to operate. In fact, mothers can determine how much water their baby needs by observing their baby's urine: if the baby's urine is yellow and the frequency of urination has decreased significantly, it means that the baby is dehydrated and the baby should drink more water; if the baby's urination is normal and the baby is unwilling to drink water after being fed, it means that the baby is not dehydrated and there is no need to force the baby to drink.

Generally, parents should give their babies water between feedings. Do not give your baby water within 1 hour before meals, during meals, or before going to bed, so as not to dilute the gastric juice and affect the baby's digestion and sleep. If parents find that their baby's lips are dry and they keep licking their lips with their tongue, it means that the baby is thirsty and they should give the baby water. In addition, when you take your baby outdoors for a long time, you should give your baby some water after bathing him or her and after he or she wakes up to meet his or her water needs in a timely manner.