how much water for a child??

[MrsReber]

Our Elementary school is promoting some programs to help children learn good, healthy habits. One thing they want the kids to do is to drink more water. First of all, my kids mostly drink water. They ask for it. I tried to give them water and juice pouches for lunch, but they told me to forget the juice pouches!

Anyhow, here's my problem. They're telling all the kids that they need to drink 8 8oz glasses of water each day. I know that's the average for an adult and if someone is active, they need more. However, I am concerned that 64 oz of water may be too much for the younger kids. DD weighs 40 lbs (she's 6) and DS weighs about 45 lbs.

While I understand the good intentions behind the program, I'm just a bit concerned about the amount of water they're encouraging her to consume (the teacher is trying to help them out with meeting goals for the program.) I explained to DD that too much of anything is not good, so I'm holding her back on drinking the full 8 glasses and told her I'd get some input. I was thinking of calling the people who run the program. It just started this week. Does anyone know how much is safe for a 40lb kid??

Thanks.

[JulieM]

I check several websites and they all indicate 8 glasses per day, but to me, that seems too generic. There should be some formula by weight I'd think. Here's what I found at dietician.com:

"At birth, 75% of the body weight of a child is water. This decreases to approximately 60% by age 10. To put this on a practical level, infants ages birth to two years (6 to 26 pounds), should have three to six cups of water per day. Children age's two to 12 years (26 to 100 pounds), should have four to eight cups of water per day.

Since the amount of fluid required per day is determined by your body temperature, the ability of your kidneys to remove wastes and sweating, a second guideline would be helpful. When your child goes to the bathroom, his/her urine should be light yellow or colorless and odorless, unless it is the first urine after getting up in morning. Also check infants soiled diapers for urine color and odor."

[MrsReber]

Thanks for the input. That's very helpful. I agree, though, 4-8 is bit generic when I'm dealing with a 40 lb child. I think I'll try to keep her around 6. She's been trying to drink more, which of course means more trips to the bathroom and it seemed like a bit much to me.

[JulieM]

Thanks for the input. That's very helpful. I agree, though, 4-8 is bit generic when I'm dealing with a 40 lb child. I think I'll try to keep her around 6. She's been trying to drink more, which of course means more trips to the bathroom and it seemed like a bit much to me.
I agree with you. If an adult is supposed to have 8 glasses of water per day, how does it compute that a 26 lb child should have 4? Unless somehow the fact that their bodies are comprised of more water somehow gives them a greater need. You pose a good question and it would seem it would be x amount of water per x pounds. Then there are the issues of environmental temperature and physical activity.

It seems like it would be a relevant question for adults as well, since adult weight ranges from something like 110 lbs to hundreds of pounds.:confused:

[valchemist]

I am no expert and haven't even done much reading. but I have heard more recently that the eight 8 oz glasses of water per day isn't even necessary for an adult, nevermind a kid. I agree that it sounds like way too much for a little kid.

anyway, just throwing in my 2 cents even though it obviously isn't based on ANYTHING significant!

[Couperine]

DH is a pediatrician, and he said that that's too much to use as a set rule (not that he gave me a rule to follow for kids). He also said, however, that if your children's kidneys are working fine, the 64 oz shouldn't hurt them.

Back to my opinion though, my DS is almost 3 and 32 lbs, and he drinks maybe 30-40 oz per day. It just depends on what he wants - he has a water cup that he uses at the fridge to get water if he gets thirsty, but most days, he just drinks what I give him.

Hope this helps - DH is trying out a new computer game and it's hard to get a coherent thought from him this am. ;)

[lindrusso]

I am no expert and haven't even done much reading. but I have heard more recently that the eight 8 oz glasses of water per day isn't even necessary for an adult, nevermind a kid. I agree that it sounds like way too much for a little kid.

anyway, just throwing in my 2 cents even though it obviously isn't based on ANYTHING significant!

I agree Val.

I just don't get the whole water hype. I think that if you listen to your body, you're going to be okay. That rule follows for so many other things in life - eat when you're hungry, etc., that I really feel in my non-doctor, non-professional gut ;) that the same principles can be applied to how many liquids we consume. I know that some claim we don't know we're thirsty until we're dehydrated, but I'm skeptical - my gut tells me that nature/God built our bodies better than that.

Obviously there would be exceptions to this - like working hard in really hot weather and illnesses that include diarrhea, vomiting and/or high fever.

I know I'm one of the few that think this way, but it goes against my natural instincts to force feed myself water - and that's what it feels like I'm doing if I try to keep to the 64 ounces.

[JulieM]

On the one hand, I think it's good to encourage kids to drink water. I've noticed my grandson will not stop what he's doing to drink water, but if I ask him if he'd like some water he'll often say yes, so that tells me that playing is more important to him at the moment than being thirsty.

However, it seems like forcing them to drink more than they want is not a good idea.

[MrsReber]

Thanks for all the input. My kids are active in that they don't sit still all that much. They don't go around running all the time and sweating a lot or anything- they just move a lot. However, I have never known them to drink 64 oz of water in a day. I took DD to the doctor about 8 months ago and he did test her urine because she seemed to have to use the bathroom a lot. It really boiled down to a sort of nervous bladder issue- nothing to be treated and something that would (and did) go away. He did a couple of tests so I know everything is working well. But she was never a kid to drink all that much. She'll go through at least 24 oz of water or watered down juice in a day, but not much more. I just feel that she's very in tune with her body. She never over eats and will stop eating when she's full. I don't want to create a problem with her analyzing how much she eats/drinks. I'd rather she just stay in tune with her body's signals--- not the "clean your plate" mentality that I grew up with. I don't force my kids to eat "one more bite" unless I know they're telling me they're full so they can have dessert- I don't tell them to drink water since they will usually get a cup on their own and IO prefer they use their own judgement (within reason, of course! No candy for dinnner or anything like that).

They gave all the kids these logs to fill out and there are prize incentives that go along with it. DD can be quite competitive so she is taking the water thing quite seriously. I thought that might be a bit much for a child who weighs so little. I am glad to hear it won't hurt if they're kidneys are functioning properly. I know that too much water can affect the sodium levels. That's mostly what I was worried about. I understand the thoughts behind the program- get the kids moving and eating healthier. I know they can't tailor it to each individual child, either, since the school is k-6. I'm sure many of the 6th graders would do well to drink more water, but they are also about twice the size of my kids.

[testkitchen45]

That rule follows for so many other things in life - eat when you're hungry, etc., that I really feel in my non-doctor, non-professional gut ;) that the same principles can be applied to how many liquids we consume. I know that some claim we don't know we're thirsty until we're dehydrated, but I'm skeptical - my gut tells me that nature/God built our bodies better than that.

I'm with you. I think God gave us a hunger sensation, and a thirst sensation, for a reason. They work.

However, those sensations can be circumvented or ignored. A playing child may (as the OP said) ignore feeling thirsty b/c he wants to keep playing. Not a big deal--I think he'll make up for it later--unless it's hot out, & then it becomes a safety issue. Or take someone like my mom, with whom we kids have constant discussions b/c she is not taking in enough calories. She says she doesn't get hungry, but I think that she has ignored/suppressed or circumvented normal hunger for so long that she's messed up this system. I think the playing child can be offered water (not force-fed) to remind him "oh, yeah; I'm thirsty"; adults are a little more tricky.

[lindrusso]

Hmmm....I've been thinking - maybe it isn't a bad idea to drink regularly throughout the day, making sure to keep yourself hydrated rather than letting it get to the point where you're really thirsty because you can get a bit dehydrated and not feel 100%. Perhaps that's what the experts are after - keeping a constant state of hydration and not big swings one way or the other - kind of like you do for meals/snacks to avoid low blood sugar levels.

However, I don't think it has to be a large amount or a set amount for everyone. It's the forcing yourself to drink large amounts constantly all day long that I don't agree with. When the whole water thing first became the hot topic of the day, I did try to drink close to the 64 ounces they were recommending - I just couldn't do it, it was way too much. That's what didn't make sense to me.

I also think it's important to drink WATER and not sugary drinks like so many people do.

I really am surprised that anyone would recommend that much for a child though..........

[TKay]

I'm no expert here either, but I think I heard that drinking 64 ounces of water is not necessary (adult or child). Your body needs that much fluid, but you can get it from other sources. There's water in fruit and the foods we eat. We get water from juices and other drinks. So, adding 64 ounces of drinking water on top of that is not what that 8 glasses a day thing is really about. I'm thinking it was Dr. Oz on Oprah who said this, but I'm not sure.

Back to the OT, I would think that much water would be too much for a child and I completely understand your concerns. My older ds would take the logs seriously too and want to follow them to a tee. I agree that encouraging the consumption of pure water is a good thing (and maybe completely new for some children), but for those competitive kids, it could be a bit much.

Good luck.