How Much Water Children and Babies Have to Drink per Day

Pediatricians recommend that in infants with exclusive breastfeeding, it is necessary to start giving them water when they start complementary feeding, at 6 months of age, because breast milk contains all the water that the baby needs to stay hydrated.

In the case of babies who take infant formula or who supplement breastfeeding with infant formulas, they should be offered water so that they can cover all the fluid requirements that your body needs.

Amount of Water According to the Baby's Weight

The amount of water the baby needs to drink daily should be calculated taking into account the child's weight. See the table below:

Water should be offered several times a day, taking into account the amount of water that is present in the soup and in fruit juices. However, it is necessary that the baby also get used to drinking only water, which has no color or taste.

Amount of Water According to the Baby's age

Some pediatricians believe that the amount of water that the baby needs should be calculated according to his age so:

• Up to 6 Months old

The baby who takes exclusive breastfeeding until 6 months of age does not need water, because 88% of the breast milk is water and has everything the baby needs to quench thirst and appetite. In this way, whenever the mother breastfeeds, the baby is drinking water through the milk.

The average daily water requirement for healthy babies up to 6 months of age is about 700 ml. In cases where the baby is fed only with powdered milk, it is necessary to give about 100 to 200 ml of water a day approximately to cover their water needs.

• From 6 to 12 Months old

From 6 months with the introduction of complementary feeding, the baby's water requirement is about 800 ml per day, being that at least about 600 ml should be offered in the form of liquids such as milk, juice or water .

• 1 to 3 years

Children between 1 and 3 years old need to drink about 1.3 liters of water or liquids a day.

• 4 to 8 years old

Children between 4 and 8 years old need to drink about 1.7 liters of water or liquids a day.

It should be noted that these recommendations are aimed at a healthy child or baby who does not have dehydration due to diarrhea or other health problems. So if the baby has vomiting or diarrhea the fluid intake should be greater. In this case, the ideal is to observe the amount of liquids lost through vomiting and diarrhea to offer this same amount of water or homemade serum.

In the summer, the amount of water or liquids offered to the child should be increased, to compensate for the loss of fluids through sweating and avoid dehydration.