Readers often ask:
How much water do children need to drink every day?
My child doesn’t like to drink water, do I need to worry?
Water is the source of life, drink enough water every day, drinking water is very, very important. For children, this is also a healthy habit that affects them throughout their lives.
However, preschool children may need less water than "you think" .
Because -
I watched a BBC documentary "The Truth about Healthy Eating" before, and was deeply impressed by a clip: the
program team divided the volunteers into four groups, and drank ordinary plain water, fresh orange juice🍹, coffee☕, and milk respectively. 🥛.
Surprisingly, drinking milk is the most hydrating!
A study published in the American Journal of Clinical Nutrition compared the effects of 13 common beverages such as tea, cola, soda, orange juice, and coffee on human body hydration status. That is to see which beverage has a better "hydration" effect. .
The results found that whole milk has the same effect as oral rehydration salts (ORS) in maintaining body fluid balance skim milk performs even better. Anyway, it is better than drinking plain water directly!
This is nothing unusual in the industry. Lamenting the good hydration effect of milk, as early as more than 10 years ago, some scholars suggested milk-based drinks or milk permeate (a by-product of milk ultrafiltration) as a substitute for traditional sports drinks. Isn’t
a bit counter-intuitive? Life experience from childhood to adulthood has told us that white water is the most hydrating and thirst-quenching👍, but in fact, a more accurate statement should be: the hydrating effect of white water is the "baseline".
When some bodies need to replenish water quickly, such as when a lot of sweating, diarrhea, vomiting and dehydration occur after exercise, drinking plain water is inefficient.
The reason is that white water lacks some additional items that can strengthen to maintain body fluid balance - electrolytes and calories containing nutrients .
As for milk🥛:
Milk contains more electrolytes sodium and potassium that "absorb" water like a sponge, so you don't drink it in vain and lose it too quickly.
In addition, the rich protein, lactose , and milk fat in milk will slow down the speed of gastric emptying. These nutrients will be absorbed by the gastrointestinal tract little by little, which also helps to slow down the excretion of water in the milk into the urine. .
The moisture content of milk is also very up to standard, reaching about 8%.
We can compare and see that the "hydrating ingredients" of milk are very similar to oral rehydration salts (water + electrolytes + sugar) and sports drinks. These substances can "lock" the water you drink very well🔒 In the body, to achieve the effect of replenishing water:
A cup of milk 👆
A bag of oral rehydration salts 👆
Sports drink 👆
Is there another reason to insist on drinking milk! Tons of water replenishment ~
But it should be noted that when a child has diarrhea or vomiting, using oral rehydration salt to replenish body fluid loss is the only option, and it should not be other "amateur" drinks.
months ago Before the baby is six months old, breast milk or formula milk can provide all the nutrients the baby needs, including water💧.
· ✏ ·
For children who are 6 months old, whether it is hot weather, fever, or diarrhea, feed milk (breast milk and formula milk) under any situation where you think they should drink water.
In 2019, a representative group of experts from four key national health and nutrition organizations in the United States formulated a comprehensive beverage recommendation for healthy eating habits of infants and young children aged 30 to 5 years old, which again emphasized :
For children under 6 months old Drinking extra water doesn't bring any benefits❌. The kidneys of young babies are not yet mature. Drinking water will put a burden on the kidneys, leading to electrolyte imbalance . In severe cases, it can also cause life-threatening hyponatremia (hyponatremia).
htmlAfter 16 months,After adding complementary foods at six months, you can give your baby water, but the fluid your baby consumes should still be breast milk or formula milk..
· Expert group’s recommendations on water intake ·
-6 months: does not require additional drinking water.
-12 months: consume 120-240ml of drinking water (tap water cooled after boiling) during meal times every day.
-3 years old (12-36 months): 240-960ml of drinking water per day.
-5 years old (37-60 months): needs 360-1200ml of fluoridated drinking water every day.This amount of water seems to be a lot. According to this standard, many children may not drink enough water. Take the capacity of common drinks as an example:
But in fact, the amount of plain water you give your children to drink does not need to be that much.
To give a simple example, if a 3-year-old child does not drink milk or other drinks within a day, in order to maintain sufficient water, recommends drinking 4 cups of water, but if he drinks 2 cups of milk in a day, then drink 2 cups of water is enough to meet your daily hydration needs.
Adults
In the same way, we adults don’t need to drink 8 glasses of water every day (about the amount of 4 bottles of ordinary mineral water):
An individual’s demand for water changes every day due to physical activity, climate and diet. The "8 cups" amount of water is just a reference range (" Dietary Guidelines for Chinese Residents " recommends that adults with light physical activity drink 1500ml-1700ml of water every day, about 7-8 cups), the specific amount of water to drink depends on Other beverages to be consumed throughout the day.
Although it is very important to provide plain water to babies over 6 months old to ensure that they are adequately hydrated every day, this does not mean that there is a need to specify how much water the child must drink every day.
We can do the following five aspects in life:
1. Provide plain water multiple times a day
We provide plain water to the baby after 6 months. The more important meaning is actually: Let the baby learn to use a cup and raise it Get into the habit of drinking plain water. This kind of hydration is best for oral health.
In order to keep the baby's mouth clean after teething, a cup filled with plain water can be provided every time after eating, especially after complementary food and formula milk, so that the baby can gradually adapt and learn to drink from the cup. This can also clean your mouth and protect your teeth.
The amount of water to drink can be provided to the baby (for example, after each meal) when the amount of milk is satisfied, and the baby can decide how much to drink. is the same as complementary food. It can be provided once a day at first, and gradually increase the frequency, such as 3-4 times a day.
2. Beverages only provide milk and plain water
Expert representative groups of four key national health and nutrition organizations in the United States, the Academy of Nutrition and Dietetics (AND), the American Academy of Pediatric Dentists (AAPD), the American Academy of Pediatrics (AAP) and U.S. The Heart Association (AHA) only recommends two drinks for children:
So specifically, how much milk do children need to drink every day?
· The American Academy of Pediatrics recommends ·
If the child is overweight, obese, has dyslipidemia or has a family history of other cardiovascular diseases, with the consent of the pediatrician, low-fat milk can be chosen.
* The daily milk requirements of infants and young children aged 12 to 24 months also depend on complementary food intake. As more and more types of complementary foods are available to children, the need to obtain calories and nutrients from liquid foods such as breast milk, formula, and milk decreases. In other words, if the complementary food is eaten well, the milk can be drank less; if the complementary food is not eaten well, a variety of complementary foods should be provided first, and the insufficient nutrition will be made up for by more milk.
The total daily milk intake for children over two years old is approximately
3. Provide abundant fruits and vegetables
Fresh fruits 🍏 and vegetables 🥗 are not only indispensable and irreplaceable in supplementing vitamins, fiber, minerals, etc., they are also the main force in hydration .
A study at the University of Naples found that some fresh fruits and vegetables can effectively rehydrate our bodies, and the effect is much better than ordinary plain water!
The reason is again, they contain substances that help increase hydration - moisturizing salts, minerals and sugars - in natural, easily absorbed forms.
Fresh fruits and vegetables are originally "made of water", and the water content is generally very high. For example, a cucumber contains 96% water, celery contains 96% water, and is also rich in sodium, potassium, magnesium, calcium, phosphorus, Minerals such as iron and zinc.
Fruits will not lose at all, such as the water-rich watermelon 🍉 containing 92% water and 8% sugar, rich in essential salts such as calcium, magnesium, potassium and sodium, as well as vitamin C, beta-carotene and tomato red Prime .
It is precisely because the water form in milk, fruits and vegetables is very similar to the components of human body solution, so they are easy to be absorbed by the body and can be used efficiently.
4. Understand the healthiness of other beverages
Although plain water and milk are the first choices, there may be times in life when children want to drink beverages. At this time, we must be aware of the healthiness of these "alternative options" , Can they drink it in moderation, or can’t they give it even a sip?
The American Academy of Pediatrics and expert groups from several other health institutions jointly recommend: 100% pure juice 🍹 can be consumed in moderation, and other beverages (including infant milk powder) are not recommended.
Why can’t “pure natural” 100% pure juice be drunk openly?
Because juice contains a lot of liquid free sugars and lacks the cell wall package, they are not essentially different from artificially added sugars.Even if you give your child juice after 12 months, it is best to drink 100% fruit juice occasionally, in small amounts, and sterilized, rather than juice drinks with added sugar.
5. Provide plain water with cups instead of bottles
The American Dental Association and the Australian Government both tend to let children learn to drink water and milk from cups as soon as possible: Start learning at 6 months and quit feeding bottles after 12 months.
We need to help children quit using baby bottles. The most important reason is that long-term use of baby bottles is not good for tooth development and is prone to tooth decay and dental malocclusion ( buck teeth ).
But in fact, these institutions do not recommend that children use straws with leak-proof valves or learning drinking cups to "sip" drinks for a long time. They all recommend choosing a cup without a leak-proof valve, so that if the child drinks, the water will leak out! Let the children learn to control and learn to drink water and milk from real cups.
Some opinions also believe that , using children's water cups will make children no longer want to use ordinary cups, and will hinder children from learning to use ordinary cups. Moreover, there are potential dangers in using leak-proof cups . The biggest risk is that children may injure their mouths from the spout or straw. Everyone needs to carefully consider the possible risks before purchasing and using a water bottle.
can help children learn to use ordinary water cups while using children's water cups!
In addition to asking the child whether he or she is thirsty, we can also use the color of the child's urine and bowel movements to infer whether the child has drank enough water.
As long as the child's urine is light yellow and clear, it means there is no lack of water. If the child is short of water, breastfeed if he is under 36 months old and give water if he is over 6 months old.
Regarding constipation, if the child has less than 2 bowel movements per week, or has a history of fecal retention, it is also necessary to rule out problems with unreasonable daily diet and insufficient water intake. It is usually recommended Increase the intake of fruits, raw vegetables, wheat bran , whole wheat bread and cereals. also recommends adequate intake of liquids other than milk.
You can try to feed your baby some water between meals, and you should also encourage your baby to eat more fruits and vegetables.
There is no need to force children to drink a certain amount, but to provide more to help children develop the habit of drinking water frequently instead of just drinking for a while when they are thirsty. can explain to children why we need to drink water after meals. We can rinse the food in our mouths into our stomachs and eat them by ourselves! Leave nothing for oral bacteria to eat!
After exercising and sweating, tell the children that the cells in the body will be thirsty and quickly give them some replenishment.
In short, provides more plain water to help children drink small amounts and frequently, and develop the habit of drinking plain water. This is what we as parents should insist on.
There is another situation where you need to replenish water in time. You may need to use rehydration salt , such as children with diarrhea, vomiting, high fever, and heavy sweating after exercise.
If your child has diarrhea, be careful not to let your child drink sugary drinks such as juice, fruit drinks or sugar-added rice soup, as well as carbonated drinks etc. to prevent the diarrhea from getting worse.
Reference:
[1] Craig W Berry,S.Tony Wolf,Bob Murray,Hydration Efficacy of a Milk Permeate-Based Oral Hydration Solution,Nutrients. 2020 May; 12(5): 1502.
[2] Ronald J Maughan, Phillip Watson,A randomized trial to assess the potential of different beverages to affect hydration status: development of a beverage hydration index,The American Journal of Clinical Nutrition, Volume 103, Issue 3, March 2016, Pages 717–723,
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