Hydration is important for growing children, meanwhile, most kids never notice when they are thirsty. So what’s the recommended water intake for kids and how do you ensure that they take enough of it when they are in school or daycare especially in a country like Nigeria where the weather is red hot?
The rule is that children age one to three years should be drinking 1-1.5 litres of fluid per day. This is important because toddlers are easily dehydrated.
How then do you know if your child is drinking enough water?
It can be hard to ensure your child takes enough water as you can’t always be around them, they may be in school or daycare. One of the best ways to tell is by the colour of his urine, if your child’s urine is colourless or light-colored then he’s taking enough water.
Children don’t usually notice when they are thirsty so they might not drink water and when they finally realise they are thirsty, they might already be mildly dehydrated.
Give your child a big water bottle so he can drink whenever he likes. You can get one that can be hung on his shoulders and which has a zipper on top this will encourage them to drink water.
Also, cChildren can get water from drinks and other foods like fruit juice, fruits and infant formula but it’s important they drink plain water too. If your child doesn’t like drinking water, you can dilute their juice with water.
Although, you should encourage your child to drink plain unflavoured water as it’s more healthy. You also need to know that too much water isn’t good either, it’s called water intoxication, hyper-hydration or water poisoning. When there’s too much water in the body it offsets the balance of electrolytes in the brain.
So never force your child to drink too much water.
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