1Yo Won't Drink Water

Stop stressing, stop worrying, and stop mixing it with juice. I’d pull juice back altogether honestly, that’s just setting the stage for poor habits as far as sugar goes, which you already seem aware of. Put two sippy cups out with each meal, one with milk, one with water, and leave him alone - at this age he needs to sit at table/high chair for meals - not grazing. Between meals, I’d keep a sippy of water out that he can access himself at anytime. Offer the water sippy with snacks. He will eventually drink when he’s thirsty, but I wouldn’t go all nuts counting ounces... he may be 2 or 3 or 4 before he “likes” water.

slices of lemon, lime, strawberries, cucumber, watermelon, and mint are a few thing i can think to add a little flavor without adding a ton of sugar.
just make sure whatever you put in the water is something the child has had before and does not have a reaction to.
with both my kids i would give them ice cubes in a teether meshy. they would suck on the ice, and get little water that way, then they always had access to a sippy cup or fun straw drinking cup with ice water.meal time was the water only. since they were breastfed and i was not about to start doing that at dinner time just so they could have milk...
encourage it, model it, and offer it often. work on the diet to fix the hard stools and you should be good to go!

None of mine ever drank much water at that age.

Usually if they were having firm BM's, we changed their diet a bit (ETA: apples, prunes usually helped if ours were having hard stools). You can review foods that are constipating, and try eliminating those or cutting back. (Diane - right, Applesauce can constipate but I think apples were ok ... just check on this, it's been a while.. )

When we did give juice, we did more like 1/4 juice to 3/4 water. We also had to use the very non-acidic apple juice (there was one brand our children preferred over the others). It was far less 'tart' tasting I think.

I wouldn't stress over it - just keep offering it. We usually just had a sippy cup with water and if they got a 'glug' out of it from time to time, we were happy. We kept one with them at all times (stroller, etc.)

I'd be more concerned with diet (maybe even your formula formulation) or cereal type you use (iron in it?) and just modify things a bit to see if that makes a difference. That was usually the thing with ours. And sometimes they do get a bit constipated as happens .. find your 'go-to' food that helps with that. Sometimes those little jars of prunes for babies can help relieve it in the mean time.

Hopefully that helps :) Not all babies like water though .. mine did not until pre-school age when they had 'fun' water bottles and everyone else had them.

When I introduced water to my kids it was around 7-9 months of age. In the beginning it was mostly "play" lol. I used a sippy cup with the plug thing removed. I would only fill the cup about 1/4-1/3 full and then put an ice cube in it. I would give it to them anytime they were in the high chair. By one year old they had gotten the hang of it. So I would advise trying that and just stick to pure water NOT juices! Later on as a treat I would put some fresh lemon juice in it. My kids thought that was lemonade until they were like 5 or so haha! They still think that's funny. And later on when giving juice always water it down. :)

Also, I'm no doc, but 6 ounces seems like a lot for a one year old at every meal.

just water down the formula. give him the regular strength at meals, but water down any drinks you give him in a cup and keep watering it further and further until he's drinking all water.
khairete
S.

I'd go to water-rich foods, which will provide the liquid as well as much-needed fiber. Watermelon and cucumbers are excellent, so are prunes. Berries aren't bad, clementine slices are good - all if you cut them up, of course. If you have to flavor the water with anything, try a little prune juice and not nutrient-free apple juice.

I disagree with applesauce as suggested below. The typical "BRAT" diet for kids with diarrhea is "Bananas, Rice, Applesauce, Toast." Save those for when a kid has an intestinal bug and has really loose stools - the opposite of what you're dealing with. So stay away from applesauce and bananas, as well as cheese, which increase constipation! If you do any rice, do high-fiber brown rice.

Do you ever make oven fries or sweet potato fries? Cut up an Idaho potato, peel and all, either into wedges or into chunks, and toss with a little olive oil or canola oil, then bake in the oven for 20-30 minutes depending on the size of the pieces. You can do this with sweet potatoes too.

When my kid was this age, we were doing finger foods for breakfast. I made high fiber French toast and pancakes. For pancakes, add in berries or cup up prunes (small pieces) and add in something like wheat germ or wheat bran. If you use a mix like Bisquik, add another egg for moisture to compensate for the added fiber. It's delicious! Add in some ground flax seed too - healthy fat plus fiber. Make a bunch, then freeze the extras between layers of waxed paper and just pop them out and reheat as needed. You can put a small amount of real maple syrup on for flavor and no high fructose corn syrup as is in the cheap "pancake syrups." For French toast, use a high fiber bread with a lot of holes, and mix protein powder in the liquid, which gets into the little cavities and boosts the protein content.

If you are not yet into things like chicken fingers, put them on your list - cut fingers or "nugget" sized pieces you cut yourself from larger pieces, dip in beaten egg, and then in a mix of high fiber bread crumb type products - again, wheat germ, bran, flax seed and even finely chopped nuts (almonds, etc.) whenever it's time to introduce them. Quick fry in a healthy oil until browned and crispy on the outside, then finish in the oven. You'd be surprised how much fiber you can add to regular foods to make them healthy.

Most of the moms are struggled with this so don't worry. My son also didn't like to drinks water I tried to alter his cup in every time and saw a new one he got interested to drink. Apple prune juice is very good. I used it.

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Most of the moms are struggled with this so don't worry. My son also didn't like to drinks water I tried to alter his cup in every time and saw a new one he got interested to drink. Apple prune juice is very good. I used it.

My children always wanted whatever I was drinking. Do you drink water? Sometimes it's not just about the taste, sometimes it's about the temperature of the water. Some children like icy cold water vs cold water vs room temp water vs slightly hot water. Try various water temps. It could be about the taste so try different bottled waters as well as filtered tap water.As others have said, stop mixing the water with juice and/or formula. The goal is to drink water.

It's hard to get a 1 year old to drink 6 ounces of water per meal. For the constipation, try feeding him stage 1 prunes. My kids had constipation issues, too, and the prunes really helped. Also, get him to move (walking, crawling, anything). That also helps with constipation.

Here's the thing, if you're messing with his regular drinks he's going to refuse them and then what, he'll be drinking less. Adding more water to his formula means that he's eating water instead of eating nutrients. So choose where to add more water.

I think offering him water is good. I filled the cup with ice then used bottled water, our city water isn't yummy, and that temperature was so different the kids liked it.

A normal serving of juice, per day, is only 4 ounces for a toddler. For an adult it's only 8 ounces. But when you're trying to help him soften his stool you can give him a little more I think, IF you're using the right juice mix.

I used to go to the baby section and buy those little Gerber juices and give the kids apple prune juice. They loved it and it's already properly mixed.

The ones in the infant department are for ages 6 months up so I'd let them have a couple of them in a sippy cup.

If you can't find them anywhere I think you could give him apple juice and prune juice mixed with there being more apple than prune but I don't know how much the ratio should be.

https://www.target.com/p/gerber-100-juice-apple-prune-jui...

In addition to everything already mentioned, start adding more baby-safe hydrating foods. Add watermelon, peaches, cantaloupe, cucumbers, etc to every meal. There are lists of hydrating foods on the internet. I would also start adding more water to his formula, since he is willing to drink that. Hopefully this will help his bowel movements.