How To Keep Your Baby Hydrated
Whether it's winter or summer, a sick baby or toddler who isn't eating or drinking as much as usual is scary for everyone. In this video, I'm going to show you how to keep your baby healthy and hydrated as best as we can. My name is Lindsay, and welcome to the Little Foundations Channel, where I help parents and caregivers give their babies healthy habits from the very start.
As always, you and your medical team know what's best for your baby, so do a mental check before trying any of these tips. For your baby, only you know what's right. First things first, if your baby is sick, you want to tell your medical team right away. And then, you want to keep track of their dirty poopy diapers and their wet diapers. You want to make sure that you're counting how many diapers they're having. If you have any fear, that's a great way to communicate with your medical team what's happening with their hydration.
Of course, in the most extreme situations, we're going to need to go to the hospital to get fluids. If your baby's refusing any food or liquid or if their diapers have significantly changed, it's important that you listen to your medical team and get fluids from the hospital. But if it's not as extreme, let me share with you my top tips and favorite foods for hydration.
Some of my favorite hydrating foods for babies are any kind of drinkable yogurt or plain yogurt. That is always a hit. Watermelon, strawberries, cucumbers, grapes, tomatoes, oranges, peaches, and kiwi. Those are some of the most flavorful and juiciest, most hydrating foods that you can offer your baby, especially during a time when you're concerned about hydration.
Whether you're doing purees or baby-led weaning, mashing it up or cutting it into little pieces, these are great ones to start with. Having your baby eat and play with these foods will encourage them to eat at their own pace when they're feeling up for it.
I'm also going to share with you my top three hydration hacks. Alright, number one, and the most fun, is smoothies. Getting your baby used to smoothies from the very beginning is not only super fun but very useful. Smoothies are so great. You can really load them up with lots of flavors and vitamins and hydrating fruits and vegetables.
Alright, number two, I call this a "bottle buffet". When your baby's not feeling well and not taking their normal amounts of liquids, it's important to give them motivation. So, we can leave lots of bottles and cups and fun water bottles or sippy cups around the house. It's important that it's within reach and it's a motivator. We're not forcing them, but we're encouraging them. Having different things with ice water or different colored water or different shapes of bottles with stickers on it can make it really fun and encourage them to drink during this time when they're not feeling great.
And then, my very favorite, number three, is teaching your baby how to do "cheers". And not only does "cheers" come in handy in times like these when we're worried about hydration, but it's also super adorable.
When we teach our baby how to do cheers, they can cheers us, take a sip, and say, "ahh", that can encourage them to drink anything that's in their cup, swallow it down, and go back for more. If you can encourage them to cheers you and other family members, you'll be less concerned about hydration and more concerned about drinking and having fun.
So, there you have it, my favorite foods and my top tips for hydration. You're doing a great job. Let me know how it's going and reach out if you need anything. Watch this for more baby feeding tips.
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Cheers!
