Does Your Child Drink Enough Water?
Did you know that children and adolescents are mildly dehydrated due to insufficient fluid intake?
A study has found that many young people don't drink any water at all as part of their fluid intake. Children, like adults, require a lot of water to get through the day-to-day chores. For parents, it can be challenging to figure out how much water their children need to stay hydrated.
Take a look at the importance of water and how much your child should be drinking daily.
Why Should Children Drink Water?
A child's diet would be incomplete without adequate amounts of clean, fresh drinking water. It's critical for regular bowel movements and avoiding infections in the urinary tract and stones in the kidney.
The temperature of our bodies is also controlled by water. When kids don't drink enough water, their bodies use sweat evaporation to keep themselves cool. Their bodies cannot produce enough sweat to keep them cool if they are dehydrated. The brain sends a signal to the sweat glands to produce sweat when our bodies heat up due to a hot day or physical activity.
Symptoms of Water Depletion (Dehydration)
A child is dehydrated when they lose more fluid than they consume, and their body lacks enough water to function. Physical activity, vomiting, diarrhea, fever, and insufficient water intake are all potential causes of dehydration.
Symptoms of infant dehydration
Infant dehydration symptoms include-
- Fewer wet diapers
- Increased signs of exhaustion
- No tears
- The baby's head has a "fontanelle" (a depressed soft spot).
A child won't realize they're thirsty until they're dehydrated, so watch them closely. This applies to active children and warm weather. The following characterizes dehydration in children-
