How much water should my 16 month old be drinking?

[@llli*lovinmommyhood]

He's having very irregular bowel movements and is also constipated. Im thinking there might be an emotional aspect involved, meaning poops are scary for him. Ever since he started solids he's had constipation issues...some painful ones early on.

I've tried so many things. I don't know what else to try. He eats and likes almost every veggie and fruit I offer. Right now prunes, peaches and oatmeal are part of his daily diet. (I vary with other things like pears..and the other P's). This helps a lil bit...but every other time he goes, he's having to push. I've also just started adding a little bit of ground flax seed to some of his homemade puréed foods.

So I'm wondering if he's not drinking enough water??

BTW, he still nurses A LOT. Like every 2 hours...sometimes every hour or so.

Thx so much!

[@llli*esthervegan]

My youngest child also had a very difficult time producing easy to move solid waste. even when I increased fruits and veggies.
Part of our problem was that she ate foods given to her by others, like my mom, my in laws..etc.
I pleaded with people not to give her products made with white flour b/c it turned to glue in her gut.
every so often , under her doctors advice I used an infant enema just to help her go.

[@llli*phi]

Diluted juice somehow works better than solid fruits and veggies for my son. He's on iron supplements, so he gets constipated easily. I don't generally like to give him juice, but it is the most effective way to get things moving (his doctor and I both don't much like interventions unless they are absolutely necessary). I give him 2-3 ounces of juice mixed with 2-3 ounces of water every day or every other day. By 16 months I was giving him water whenever he asked for it, which is often as he loves water.

[@llli*saidah]

this is my dd (17 months) to a T. we do the flaxseed meal too, but I don't know how much it's helped. what has helped noticeably is a ton of blueberries. remember that giving extra fiber only works if there's adequate liquid intake (otherwise fiber works against you). I always have a sippy of water available for her so she can drink when she wants to (and she still nurses as much as your LO) and I mix one sippy of half water - half juice (100% pear, prune, or peach) in the morning and serve it with her meals.
your doctor could determine if more than a dietary intervention is needed, and sometimes it is while their digestive tracts are still normalizing.

[@llli*auderey]

remember that giving extra fiber only works if there's adequate liquid intake (otherwise fiber works against you).

thank you! i couldn't for the life of me figure this out before, but that makes perfect sense.

[@llli*lovinmommyhood]

Thank you so much for the feedback! My DS might not be drinking enough water....especially like PP mentioned...the fiber could be working against us. But then again...he definitely is drinking a lot of BM. I'll keep offering the water too though.

And I just bought blueberries. Let's see how those work for him.
I might have to try juice too...(even tho I REALLY wanted to avoid giving him juice)

Thx again!

[@llli*phi]

I really didn't want to give juice either, but it works for my son and I figure it's better than an enema, packaged laxative, or other such intervention. I only need to give it once a day (diluted with water) or every other day, and my son still loves his water (much prefers it to the juice in fact) so it hasn't done any harm.

[@llli*lovinmommyhood]

I really didn't want to give juice either, but it works for my son and I figure it's better than an enema, packaged laxative, or other such intervention. I only need to give it once a day (diluted with water) or every other day, and my son still loves his water (much prefers it to the juice in fact) so it hasn't done any harm.

So true...better juice than other interventions. Good to hear...hope my son reacts the same

[@llli*saidah]

Thank you so much for the feedback! But then again...he definitely is drinking a lot of BM. I'll keep offering the water too though.

I thought the same thing with my LO, so I don't know if my supply is just lower due to solid intake and the natural weaning process or maybe because of all the drive-by nursing she does instead of full-on nursing sessions or what. since you live in ca like I do and it's getting hot here now, I'd just keep water available for him to drink when he wants to and maybe offer high-water fruits like watermelon too. the blueberries are super high in fiber (and you have the added fun of bluish/purple poop... I know TMI!). I was very happy to find that adding water to her day didn't reduce her nursing (which I was afraid of).