Flavored Water

My son likes sparkling water with a little juice in it (or just plain), he thinks it's soda. However, if you just stop giving him milk he will eventually drink water. Kids will not die of thirst before drinking water. :)

You know what's funny.. they'll drink when they get thirsty. If that's all he's offered all day he'll drink it.

I have children in my childcare who ONLY drink milk and juice at home NO WATER!!

We only offer water here. At breakfast and lunch they get a glass of milk, and at nap if their parents ask for it. otherwise we have constant water bottles out for each child and they suck it down like crazy.

I made the mistake of offering juice at snack time and they all started asking for it all day long. I have a little girl in my care that oNly drinks milk all day at home as well.Now we don't offer juice we only offer fresh fruits and veggies instead. (obvously the other food groups too!)

Here, she drinks milk at meals and nap. other than that it's water.

He only will drink what you offer. if you stop offering him milk and only offering him water he'll eventually give in.(he'll probably fight with you for a long time, be strong!)

Advice for your younger one start her off with water from the beginning. I learned this from my sister in-law, and my other sister inlaw also did it with her daughter, me with my kids..

We started only putting water in the their sippy cups, and milk in a bottle. And never offering juice. My kids prefer water.

We don't drink much milk in our house tho, I don't think it is that healthy, once in a while they'll get a treat of chocolate milk.

long winded i Know! :) sorry!

and here's my rant on splenda.. you are right to be scared of it

http://www.mercola.com/2000/dec/3/sucralose_dangers.htm

Hi, with all 6 of my kids I have given them water. My youngest is 3 now and we only drink bottled wate (bad pipes)they do have the little bottles of water kid size. I also found that kool-aid has the indeviduale packets you can put in bottled water. There is very little sugar in it. I like using them in my water at work. And with the sugar...id you brush their teeth afterwaords they should not have any problems.
My kids only needed to go to the dentest every 6 months and have healthy teeth.
Hope this helps

vitamin water has as much sugar as a soda. i use a electrolyte replacement drink, similar in function to gatorade, called gookinaid (you can get it at REI or the like). it has 10 grams instead of 35. i use it so my son can have "fun" drinks like his friends but with out the tooth killing consequences. we will even add a tiny pinch of kool aid flavor just for a bit of color. watch for the life water, vitamin water craze. i enjoy them but they have a ton of sugar, they will say a lower sugar amount but there are multiple servings. good luck.

I read that humans need 1/2 their body weight in water per day... So for me i weigh 127 and i need 63.5 ounces per day. What color is his pee? It should be clear to light yellow. I allow my daughter milk with meals but she needs to drink her bottle of water before 3 pm everyday or she will sit down and finish it before any more play time.

(IF YOU ARE CONCERNED ABOUT CALCIUM THEY HAVE CHEWABLE CALCIUM FOR KIDS - I GIVE IT TO MY DAUGHTER ON THE DAYS SHE DOESN'T GET ENOUGH CALCIUM)

Have you thought about propel made by gatorade? it is the on;y water my gaughter would drink when she was 10mo.-1 1/2 it has only a few grams of sugar. It's worth looking into. I hope you find what you are looking for. Good luck.
J.

Hi J.,
Kids can pick all kinds of things for battles. I would give your son water when you feel he's had enough milk. He may protest, but we just let our kids deal with it. We didn't ever cater to our kids with "special kid food" and drinks. If his body truly needs water, he will drink it whether it's his favorite or not. These kinds of issues with food (and drink) can be a real pain, but the way you handle it now will help you out so much as they get older. My girls are now 10 and 12 and they actually want to order salads when we go out to lunch! In contrast, I have nieces and nephews who will still insist on eating what they want (different from what is being served) into their teens. Great job on the juice!

Hi there. I've seen commercials on TV about a water filter that Pur makes that has a fruit flavoring cartridge in it. You attach it to your tap and get filtered tap water with a small amount of the flavor of your choice. I'm not sure if it has Splenda in it or not, but I found the website for the product: http://www.purflavoroptions.com/ Hopefully you can find the info you need there.

Hope that works out to be a solution for you!

Good luck!

How about diluted juice- maybe a quarter of the cup juice and the rest water? That'll sweeten it up naturally- no splenda, no bubbles, no processed sugar. It also won't be as sugary as full strength juice. Maybe try white grape juice, fewer stains that way!!

I agree with Sarah. If he is thirsty enough he will drink it. Although I am a bad example because my son mostly drinks juice and milk too. I only buy the juice that is 100% fruit juice, but still I know I should be more firm on the water thing. I wanted to tell you not to stress on getting too many vitamins, the body will excrete what it doesn't need. :)

My 2 year old son likes sparling water a lot. I will mix it with 1/4 juice or put a splash of lemon or lime juice in it.

I would just try watering down the water slowly, this worked for me.

My son was the same way until he tried this product called Waterlicious and he loves it (me too loooool) . Waterlicious is clear just like water it has no preservatif and it's naturaly flavored. I recommend you to go to waterlicious.com and get you a 4 pack just to try. we love the soccer berry

I'm not so sure I understand what the problem with Splenda is. This website might be of help to you: www.diabeteshealth.com.
My son is 3 and has type 1 diabetes, and we give him Crystal Light (the aspartame, oh no! Totally false accusations, his endocrinologist has said all rumors on artificial sweeteners are just that, rumors!), and we give him Propel water, made by Gatorade. We give him those types of drinks because of their no-carb, or low-carb qualities.
I was too concerned about artificial sweeteners, until I learned of the truth. If you are concerned about what types of beverages are safe for your child, I would check with his pediatrician. I hope the website gives you some helpful information.

Hi J.
I think I need to ask a few questions before tring to help. Why do the Splenda or sugar subs bother you? I have a few things that I give my daughter so she gets enough water but they are not all natural. If the artificial sweetener is the problem then you could try putting honey in the water,lemon,a peppermint,or various different liquid flavorings such as vanilla extract, almond extract ect.ect. Aside from the honey or peppermint this is a way to add flavor without defeating the purpose of the water by adding sugar.Most anything with a sugar sub will make a nice flavoring for water without messing it up with sugar or caffiene. I like to give the kids Crystal Light. Hope this helps Smiles B.