After the summer, the weather became hot, and all the children in the community downstairs and in the park were all out.
Along with the children's frolicking, there is also a group of worried grandparents chasing behind:
It's been half a day, drink some water
Look at your sweaty head, come and get some water
……
Especially for toddlers, the elders are afraid that the child is thirsty and does not know how to express, follow behind the baby's ass, bend over and hunch over, the kettle cup does not leave the hand, every few minutes there will be a round of "baby, obedient, come to drink water."
The older children struggled and ran away, and the little babies could only close their mouths tightly and shake their heads from side to side, making the elders very anxious:
How come this child doesn't like to drink water, how easy it is to "catch fire"...
Fear of being "on fire"
"Drinking Water Compulsive Disorder"
Image source: Visual China
Some elders are always worried about their children's lack of water, and always worry about letting their children drink water.
Especially when he saw that the child was sweating and urine was yellow, the alarm was immediately pulled full: "Oops! It's on fire! Drink more water!"
The question is, is "urine yellow" really because the child is "on fire"?
We have repeated the science many times, "fire" is just a folk custom, not a disease.
Normally, urine should be pale yellow to golden yellow and almost transparent. The more you drink, the clearer the urine becomes.
When the child is crazy to play, due to sweating caused by a short period of body fluid loss, the human body will increase antidiuretic hormone and aldosterone, increase the reabsorption of water, at this time the urine is in a concentrated state, that is, urine yellowing.
Image source: Visual China
This physiological urine yellowing and disease has nothing to do with it, generally can be restored through dietary regulation, do not hold the mentality of drinking water can "fire" to force children to drink more water, some parents even insist on letting children drink water, see the urine become colorless and transparent to be at ease, in fact, it is really unnecessary.
In fact, the child sleeps normally for a night, the urine is also yellow in the morning, and I have not seen anyone who is not yellow in the morning urine, and also get up in the middle of the night on an alarm clock to drink more water.
There is also a kind of thirst, which is "the old man feels thirsty for the baby".
Many elderly people, because of their age, suffer from hyperthyroidism, diabetes and other endocrine metabolic diseases, will often feel thirsty, this time will also feel that the child is thirsty, and "the elderly are afraid of cold and feel that the child is cold" is a similar situation.
We can understand the care of our elders for our children, and we cannot deny the importance of water for human health. But for children to drink water, what we really need to figure out is:
Drink enough water ≠ drink plenty of water
Kids don't think about it
So easy to run out of water
Image source: Visual China
Whether the child is dehydrated is mainly related to the child's basal metabolic rate, food calorie intake, food nature, urination frequency, sweating, respiratory rate, activity on the day and ambient temperature, and is not a fixed value.
In general, children generally do not lack too much water because:
Babies before 6 months of age can get plenty of water because of the water content in breast milk of up to 85% to 90%, so they can get plenty of water without additional feeding;
Babies aged 6 to 12 months, in the case of sufficient milk, complementary foods also contain a certain amount of water, but not every child needs to drink water, it is recommended to evaluate according to the actual situation;
Babies over the age of 1 have a richer diet and can get water from a variety of sources, including milk, yogurt, fruits, vegetables, and more.
Now that the weather is hot, the baby loves to sweat, but from time to time to eat some fruit, drink some yogurt, are also at any time to replenish water.
If you are still entangled, it is better to take a look at the suggestions of authoritative institutions such as the American Academy of Pediatrics, the Nutrition Committee of the American Academy of Pediatrics, and the Chinese Nutrition Society:
6 months ago baby, breast milk and formula contains water, can meet the child's daily metabolic water needs, so generally do not need to feed additional boiled water;
After the addition of complementary foods at about 6 months, with the increase in the energy density of complementary foods, the additional demand for water also increases, at this time, infants should be allowed to develop a healthy habit of drinking boiled water;
During the period of 12 months of age after the child adds complementary foods, parents can pour a small amount of boiled water into a cup and feed it to the child, but do not force the child to drink water. Even if your child refuses to drink water, they don't need to worry, they may prefer to drink milk to replenish the water they need;
1 to 3 years old baby, the diet structure is more and more abundant, according to the "Chinese residents dietary nutrient reference intake" (2013 edition) recommended daily intake of 1300 mL of water, roughly calculate the amount of milk removal and three meals a day to provide water, the remaining about 300 mL of water may need to be supplemented by drinking water.
The amount of water here is actually a quantitative or reference value, as long as the baby has the habit of drinking water, parents do not need to worry about the baby will be short of water, and there is no need to obsess about "forcing the child to drink water".
Always force the child to drink water
It's a distraction to concentration
Image source: Stand Cool Helo
In fact, for the child's eating and drinking problems, what we parents can do is to create a good eating environment as much as possible, provide food and water to the baby, and what to eat, how much to eat, how much to drink, the baby has its own ideas.
Seriously, instead of forcing children to drink more water, it is better to cultivate children to develop the habit of drinking water.
There are also elders who will say:
Isn't urging your child to drink water to teach him to develop habits?
Urging children to drink water is quietly destroying children's concentration.
Children's brains are not fully mature, and the focus time is limited. When he is playing with the toy selflessly, but the elder insists on feeding water, then the concentration focused on the toy will be interrupted, and it is likely that the water is not drunk, and the mind is not on the toy.
The child's concentration is always interrupted again and again by the urge to drink water. In the long run, there is no benefit to the maintenance and cultivation of concentration, and it will also directly affect a child's ability to maintain concentration.
As a parent, when your child is focusing on playing with toys and reading picture books, don't bother him easily because of "drinking one more sip of water".
Moreover, eating and drinking should be a relaxed and happy thing, the choice and initiative of drinking water also belongs to children, always chanting in the ear to drink more water, drink more water, drink more water, will only make children more resistant to drinking water, and over time they will not take the initiative to drink water.
This article is expert
Fan Yunzhu
Collaborating experts
Hangzhou Lilac Clinic Pediatric Attending Physician
Shen Xiabing
Audit specialists
The first batch of registered dietitians in China
Xu Minjie
Audit specialists
Registered Dietitian in China
Master of Nutrition at the State University of New York at Buffalo
Planning and production
Curated: Beautiful
Producer: Astro Boy
Title image source: Visual China