7 month old baby water v. milk question

[Lochie]

Can anyone give me advice?! should I be giving my 6.5 month old baby water when he has his solids? I am currently giving him a solid 'meal' twice a day and he refuses water and still wants milk with the food. But my mother in law INSISTS that he'll get dehydrated if I don't give him water with solids (she looked very smug as if 'point proven' when his poo got very hard, suggesting he had constipation due to lack of water). However my HV seemed to imply still giving milk as it makes up most of his calories at this age. Any advice gratefully received....am happy to give him water but he doesn't like it and I don't know how important it is!!!

[missd]

Yes you are meant to be giving them some water. Not too much but he will take as much as he needs. Think the idea is to give him most of his meal first and then offer him some water. Milk is obviously first and foremost but water with meals is also important.

[minder]

I would offer him water with his food - the milk will make him eat less too.

At this age it's better to give bottles of milk in between mealtimes - that prob what the Health Visitor means.

[Pickle]

I started offering water with meals when weaning started (in a Tommee Tippee cup), but it wasn't until my kids were about 10 months old that they actually started drinking any. Try not to worry too much.

Edited to add: when I started weaning I didn't offer milk with solids - I would always offer milk feeds at separate times.

[nunheadmum]

I would say at 7 months, don't worry too much about getting it right. I think the comments above about keeping solids and milk separate are right - or only give milk after solids. He'll still be getting most of his calories from milk and it's more important that he enjoys experimenting with solids than worrying about doing it right. He'll get there in the end.

If he doesn't take water and his poos are hard, maybe try a little more fruit or make his solids more liquid.

[KatsuQueen]

I was worried too because my son was the same, but he seemed to be OK. He drinks a little bit now, but only a bit. I tried giving minikatsu water with his solids but he never knew what to do with it. He just used to play with the beaker or blow bubbles in the water. I was worried, but he was still drinking his milk (I didn;t give him milk at mealtimes) and eating fruit purees etc so no problems with his poo. Although he did go red and grunt with a screwed-up face when he was pooping, which I thought was funny (bad Mummy!)

He only really started "drinking" a few weeks ago (he's now 14 months) and only has a few sips at a time. He does still drink a lot of milk everyday though.

[sophiechristophy]

This depends on whether you are giving your baby formula or breast milk? If you are giving your baby breast milk, you don't need to supplement with water to stop him from being dehydrated when you are weaning. If it is formula, you can offer a little water if you want (or if he is getting constipated). There is water in milk, so you are giving him 'water' in a sense when you give him milk.

Another thing to consider is that your baby's stomach is still really small, and what you don't want to do is let him fill up on water or milk, rather than his meal! So best to offer the food first, and liquid after.

Hope that helps! :)

[Fuschia]

But DEF don't start giving juice just because he's not keen in water. Once you do that, the battle to get him on to water will be lost!

Just offer water and the time will come when he takes it

[Lochie]

Thanks everyone that is soooo useful. I will plough on with the water then although he cunningly seems to dribble most of it down his front to avoid drinking it, little tyke!

[EDmummy]

Lochie, they all dribble it out at the beginning. If baby is breastfed then drinking from a beaker is a whole new experience to get used to.

[snowboarder]

Baby snowboarder got the hang of the tommy tippee cup really quickly after a lengthy 'sip for mummy, sip for baby' (repeat) lunch session. Only started using the cup himself at about 10 months though.

There are some nuby cups with spouts where the spout is soft (like a bottle teat) - might make him drink more?