Episode 52: Diving Into Hydration: for babies, kids and teens

Episode 52: Diving Into Hydration: for babies, kids and teens

Hello there! In this episode of The Easy Feed Podcast, we’re tackling a topic that often flies under the radar but is absolutely critical—hydration. From babies to teens, staying hydrated is vital for their physical and mental well-being. Dehydration can sneak up on our kids, and recognising the signs early can make all the difference.

I’m sharing practical advice on hydration for all ages, plus tips on how to ensure your children are drinking enough—without the sugar-loaded drinks.

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Links
https://nourishwithkarina.com/feedingbabies
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Highlights:

"Diving into Hydration for Babies, Kids and Teens" (00:00)
Importance of Water in Children's Health (02:22.68)
Understanding Dehydration in Children (04:45.056)
Dehydration in Children and Teenagers (07:04.482)
Child Nutrition Tips and Feeding Routine (09:28.686)
Child Hydration Guidelines (11:51.778)
Limiting Child Consumption of Soft Drinks and Sports Drinks (14:13.034)
Understanding Children's Drinking Habits (16:39.906)
Increased Hydration in Children (19:01.058)

Show notes

READ TRANSCRIPT

Show Notes

I’m sharing practical advice on hydration for all ages, plus tips on how to ensure your children are drinking enough—without the sugar-loaded drinks.

Highlights from this episode:

1. Why hydration is critical for kids Understanding how dehydration impacts physical and cognitive health, from concentration to mood swings.

2. Spotting the signs of dehydration Learn the key indicators of dehydration for babies, toddlers, and teens—and when to take action.

3. Tailored fluid needs by age Discover age-specific guidelines for how much water kids need daily, from babies to teens.

4. Drinks to avoid and healthier swaps The best hydration choices for kids, plus why sugary drinks and caffeine should stay off the menu.

5. Hydration hacks for busy families Tips to encourage regular water consumption and make hydration a habit in your household.

Hydration doesn’t need to be complicated, and by the end of this episode, you’ll have the tools to keep your family happy, hydrated, and healthy.

Show Notes:

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Discover delicious and easy recipes for kids on my website: Nourish with Karina.

Tune in now and join me on this hydration journey! 🌟 Thanks for listening! Don’t forget to leave a review and share this episode with a fellow mum. 💛

"Diving into Hydration for Babies, Kids and Teens" (00:00)
You're listening to the Easy Feed Podcast, episode number 52, diving into hydration for babies, kids and teens. Hi there, I'm Karina Savage and with over 20 years experience feeding children, including my own, I've learnt all the secrets that busy mums need to get their children eating better and actually enjoying healthy foods. So a huge welcome to the Easy Feed Podcast.

Well, hello there. Welcome back. It's good to have you. Today we are talking about hydration. A topic that I don't think is probably talked about enough and can have significant effects on our children without even realizing if they're a little bit dehydrated, it can affect their mood. It can definitely affect their bowels and we really need to be mindful of it. I mean, we need to be mindful of it for ourselves too.

But we also need to be mindful of it for our children, especially young children. Babies and children are at a high risk of dehydration compared to adults for a number of reasons. First of all, they have an increased body surface area to mass index. So they are more likely to be dehydrated or to become dehydrated than adults. So they're at higher risk. They also lose more fluid through their skin.

And they usually, especially kids, do more physical activity during the day than adults. So for a number of reasons, we do need to be paying attention, especially when it's hot and humid. So we're going to dive into the amount that they need a little bit later, but I just want to start by saying they are more at risk than adults. And so we just need to be paying attention, especially when it's hot. Hydration plays a vital role in our children's health and impacts everything from physical development to

cognitive function. Being dehydrated affects how you think. And I remember this right back when I did sports science and the impact of dehydration on an athlete's ability to make smart decisions during play, like for example, for tennis player that were dehydrated, it impacted their decision-making skills, which can make or break a point and therefore a game. So it definitely impacts your cognition and your cognitive function. And that can impact

Importance of Water in Children's Health (02:22.68)
concentration for our children. Water is the foundation of health and it's especially critical. Our body is made up of 60 to 75 % water. Young children is more like 70, 75 % and adults are more like 60%. It depends on your age and size. But when we are properly hydrated, these things happen. We have good body temperature regulation.

because water helps to maintain a stable internal temperature in our body and it helps to prevent overheating during times of activity, sport, running around in the backyard, jumping on the trampoline, especially when it's hot and humid. Water is also important for nutrient transport. Water transports essential nutrients to cells and helps to remove waste products in our body. It's important for brain function, as I mentioned before.

So adequate hydration enhances concentration, memory, mood, which as I said, is crucial for learning and development. It's important for digestion and metabolism. Water is necessary for digesting food, absorbing nutrients and maintaining healthy metabolism. And it's also important for physical performance. So muscles and joints need water to function effectively, especially during sports. So when kids don't drink enough fluid,

they are at risk of dehydration and it can be mild, moderate or severe dehydration. Dehydration essentially occurs when the body loses more fluid than it takes in and in children this can happen quickly. So when they're really active, when it's really hot, when they've been sick, they are all factors that can contribute to dehydration. So we've got mild dehydration which can cause

Lethargy, they can just feel tired. They might have a bit of a headache. They may not think as clearly as they normally would. Those are signs of mild dehydration. Moderate dehydration gets a little more serious and they can start to feel dizzy. They can get dry skin. They can have an increased heart rate and they can have darker colored wee. So I remember when I was a sports dietician, I used to always talk to athletes about looking at the color of their wee.

Understanding Dehydration in Children (04:45.056)
And there was actually a Gatorade Wee Chart and it was really light pale yellow was good. And then when it got a bit darker, you're a bit dehydrated. And then when it got kind of really orangey, you were very dehydrated. Now I need to put a little disclaimer in here. If you have a multivitamin and you pee out what you don't need, then you will have that more colored urine and that's not dehydration. That's just the multivitamin.

Now in cases of severe dehydration, and this is usually only, well, mainly occurs in times of sickness, but it can sometimes occur if children are running around all day and they drink no water. I'd say that's more on the rare side. Usually that would only be mild to moderate dehydration, but severe dehydration can be quite dangerous. It can result in confusion, rapid breathing.

sunken eyes and really if not treated properly can be life threatening. Most of the time though, as a parent you would pick up dehydration at the mild or moderate stage, but it's important to get on top of because it's not good if left untreated. Now, recognising the signs of dehydration is crucial because you need to understand whether you need to do anything or not. And the signs of dehydration definitely do vary by age.

So in babies, some of the signs of dehydration or the signs that they're at risk of becoming dehydrated are when they have less than six wet nappies per 24 hours. And also when you go to change a nappy and it's not very heavy, it's quite light. They may have dry mouth or lips or their skin may be dry. They may have very little tears when crying if they're dehydrated.

And they may have sunken soft spot on the head, that fontanelle, which closes over towards, you know, their first year, but that could be another sign of dehydration. And that's in babies. In toddlers and young children, again, their skin may be dry or it might be cooler. They may be tired or irritable. They may have sunken eyes too. And they may have wee that's quite dark yellow.

Dehydration in Children and Teenagers (07:04.482)
Or they may not go to the toilet very often at all. In older children and teenagers, they will often experience headaches, dizziness or lightheadedness, weakness, and also it will affect their performance and running around. So they may not be able to do as much as they would normally be able to do or think as clearly as they normally would if they're in like a ball sport game because you know, they're dehydrated and their cognitive function's impaired. So.

If you find that your child is very dehydrated and I'll talk about, you know, just what normal amounts of fluid are later. But if you find that your child is quite dehydrated, then what we need to do is make sure that if you can manage it at home, then go and get some hydrolite and give your child what we call oral rehydration solution. And hydrolite is something that has fluid, also electrolytes and a bit of glucose to help rehydrate the body.

And that's really important. It's really important that you don't just do water. If they're really dehydrated, you need that oral rehydration solution, such as Hydrolyte, all of the ingredients that you need to help maximise that rehydration state for your child. You also want to encourage them to drink small amounts regularly so that they're not feeling sick by drinking a huge amount, but they're able to consistently rehydrate over that time.

If you've got a bubba, then you just need to continue breastfeeding or if they've got milk feeds for formula fed, then continue formula. That's really the most important thing alongside the oral rehydration solution. So keep giving them their milk feeds and if they're feeding really well, they're breastfeeding really well, then that's great. But you do need to also try to give them some hydro like that oral rehydration solution just to help them along with their hydration. But definitely continuing breastfeeding is very important.

to maintain that hydration and to help them gain weight. If your child is really sick and they're vomiting, is really unwell or really dehydrated and you can't seem to get anywhere with the oral rehydration solution. You just can't seem to get them to have the fluids that they need. They just can't keep them down. Then you need to seek medical attention quickly. And that's probably going to involve taking them to hospital because you need to make sure that they start to rehydrate. Okay.

Child Nutrition Tips and Feeding Routine (09:28.686)
So that's, guess, the worst case, but hopefully, you know, you don't get to that stage. And what we can do is just make sure that they're hydrated well, most of the time anyway. Look, I mean, we're all, I'm sure we're all prone to dehydration and, know, I'm sure there's been times when you look at your wee and you're like, wow, I need to drink some more water. Or, you know, you go to the toilet and you need to do a poo and it's quite hard and pebbly and you're like, wow, I need to drink some more water. you know, we're all at.

You know, risk of being a bit dehydrated from time to time. But I think the most important thing is that we set up a routine where our children have plenty of opportunity to drink good fluids. And we'll talk about the best fluids in a minute. Okay. We're just going to pause for a second because I've got something super exciting to share with you. It's starting on the 1st of January. It's free. It's available to you. I'm going to be sharing.

Every day, a nutrition tip that is messaged straight to your phone. It's called 30 days of nutrition tips. Every day, you're going to get simple, practical inspiration to help feed your children more easily so that you have a healthier and more nourished family by the end of the month. It's designed to make feeding your kids easier and more enjoyable one tip at a time. So as I said, registration is now open.

I can't wait. Head to the link in the show notes to sign up and we'll get started on January 1. All right, back to the podcast. So what do kids need? Well, a baby under six months just needs the fluid from breast milk or their formula feeds. You don't need to give them water. Above the age of six months, so six to 12 months, you can start to introduce small amounts of water alongside their solid foods. But this is really just to get

them used to drinking some water. It's not like they have to drink the water because they're still predominantly going to get most of their nutrition from the milk feeds. Once your child becomes a toddler in that one to three year old age group, you need to aim for roughly a liter of fluid per day. So that's about four cups of fluid. And look, that will be some milk feeds probably, and a bit of water as well. It depends on your child, depends whether they've weaned.

Child Hydration Guidelines (11:51.778)
depends whether they're still having a big milk intake, but around four cups or a liter of fluid per day is the goal or the guide. But look, having said that, if it's hot and your child's really active, they're going to need more. So it's just about being mindful of what your child needs because every single person will have different fluid needs based on their age, their weight, their activity level and the temperature and humidity around them. So it's very individualized. You can never go.

Oh, I've had my four cups or you've had your four cups, so we should be right. Like it's very personalized. So be mindful of that with these guidelines here. These are rough guidelines. So for a four to eight year old child, about five cups, about 1.2 liters of fluid per day. A nine to 13 year old child, roughly seven to eight cups. So it was about, you know, 1.6 to 1.9 liters a day. I mean, for boys probably getting closer to.

two, two and 2.4, something like that. So girls probably about seven to eight and boys about eight to 10. Again, it depends on their age, their weight, their activity level. But if you kind of have around eightish in your head, that's a good start for nine to 13 year old kids. And then 14 to 18 year olds need, you know, a good nine to 11 cups a day. So, you know, they're getting to more like adult requirements then between two, two and a half liters a day.

Now it's really important that kids mostly drink water. That is always the best choice for hydration. We don't want them guzzling a whole lot of soft drink or fruit juice. We really want them to stick to water as much as possible because that's going to be the best choice for hydration. Unless they're dehydrated and you've got to get that all rehydration solution into them. Now milk does provide hydration along with essential nutrients like calcium and vitamin D, but

Really at the end of the day, most of the hydration fluid should be water and diluted juice or fresh orange juice. If they're having, you know, half a cup a day, that's okay. They can have that if that's, and with juice, look, think a hundred percent fresh juice is okay sometimes. I wouldn't say it's great to have every day, but a bit of fresh juice here and there is completely fine, especially when they're sick. love a hundred percent fresh orange juice when they're sick.

Limiting Child Consumption of Soft Drinks and Sports Drinks (14:13.034)
And then, you know, other times if they're having a bit of juice, look with young children, I would always say dilute it. And that can be a strategy too, if they're not drinking well, then you can offer them some diluted juice. But on the whole, we want to make it a little bit of the diluted juice or juice and mostly water. No soft drinks have a place, I don't feel, in a child's day, especially any child under the age of 16 shouldn't be having any soft drinks. And sports drinks should really be reserved for really hot days.

or days where your child is having multiple activities back to back where they're really active for hours upon hours on end. If they're just going out to play one hour of sport, they don't need a Gatorade or a Parade. They can just have food beforehand and water during, and then food afterwards to replace the carbohydrates. But if it's back to back, it's a soccer tournament or, you know, it's an ongoing, like if it's a two and a half hour tennis game.

then yeah, it might be beneficial to have a sports drink or you have water and banana or muesli bars and things like that. So you can definitely get it from food as well. So drinks to avoid is number one, soft drinks. Number two, fruit drinks that are not hundred percent fruit juice because both of those are unhealthy for our children and can cause them to have big sugar rushes. And that's just not good for their behaviour, their mood, their concentration or their metabolism.

The other drinks to avoid are caffeinated drinks. So we really want to avoid coffee, tea, energy drinks, especially. And there's been a real problem, I believe, with energy drinks over the past few years, especially those that have come into Australia with such a craze. And so many young children, you know, between the age of 10 and 18 have just been obsessed with getting their hands on these energy drinks that are full of caffeine and sweeteners and

junk and so dangerous for our children. One child almost died with heart palpitations. So be really careful to strongly encourage, encourage, but like set the rules that your child is not allowed these caffeinated drinks. And look, if at home you guys drink a bit of tea or herbal tea, then that's fine. But definitely no coffee, no energy drinks or sports drinks that have that caffeine in it to stay well away from those. So what do we

Understanding Children's Drinking Habits (16:39.906)
do with children that are really poor drinkers. And look, it's really interesting because I've got a daughter and a son and my daughter, they both have very different drinking habits. So my daughter's always been a wateraholic. That's even a word, it's not a word, but I've just created it. No, I'm sure I'm not the first to create it. Anyway, she's always drunk a lot of water and then has to go to the toilet a lot.

Whereas my son doesn't drink much at all, but then when he does, he has a big drink. So she sort of drinks small amounts frequently, whereas he goes between drinks for longer, but then will have a bigger drink. So everyone's got different drinking styles and everyone's thirst patterns are different, but it's important that children are drinking consistently throughout the day and trying to meet those rough targets that I talked about before.

So as I said, a one to three year old, about four cups, a four to eight year old, about five cups, a nine to 13 year old, let's say eight cups, a 14 to 18 year old, let's say 10 cups. What's really eight to 11 cups, but I'm just trying to make it simple in your minds around 10 cups. But you know, it's going to be...

give or take depending on their age. Like if they're a tiny little thing and they don't do much activity, their fluid requirements are going to be lower, a lot lower than a giant, super active teenager that sweats a lot. And again, everyone's a different sweater. Some people sweat heaps, some don't. I remember we used to do sweat testing when I was a sports statistician and you would have these patches that athletes would wear and then you would analyze them later. And some people would...

big sweaters and there were salty sweaters too, so they would lose a lot of salt, sodium, which is what's in the, one of the electrolytes in the oral rehydration solution, the sodium and potassium. And some people would be big sodium losers. whereas others wouldn't, huge variability. So again, it depends on how much they're losing, but at the end of the day, we need to make sure they're drinking regularly. And if they're not meeting anywhere near.

Increased Hydration in Children (19:01.058)
what I've discussed, then I think we need to look at tips to increase their desire to have anything. So you can flavor the water, you can add slices of fruit like lemon or lime or cucumber or mint or strawberries to make it fun, make it a bit flavorsome. You can use fun straws or cups and let the kids pick them to make them more appealing, especially with younger children.

And if you're still really struggling, then you can offer foods that have a high water content. So foods such as watermelon or cucumber, oranges, or even strawberries. Setting routines can be beneficial. So encourage drinking at set times, such as before school or with meals or after playtime. If you're really struggling, perhaps set routines. Creating a hydration chart with stickers to track daily fluid intake if needed. And look, I would go down this path if...

That was a significant contributed to something like constipation. Another thing that you can do is to pop a bit of juice in there to dilute it with juice. And that can sometimes increase acceptance. Another thing that you can do is make really watery ice blocks. So you can puree up watermelon into ice blocks. So you can blend up berries with some yogurt and make ice blocks that way. So that could be another way to try to increase their fluid intake.

Getting kids involved in making these things may help to increase acceptance. It's tricky and it's a work in progress for all of us and it won't, know, different strategies will work for some families compared to others, but there's things that you can try if you need to and see how you go. Let me know what works for you. At the end of the day, I think it's just important to be mindful of the importance of hydration for our children.

And if your children are pretty good drinkers and they drink to thirst throughout the day and they're weeing and pooing fine, then there's not really a need to worry at all. And I certainly don't mean to freak you out by all the risks and, you know, side effects of being extremely dehydrated because at the end of the day, it doesn't happen that often. But I just want you to be aware of, especially if they're sick, the signs of dehydration and what to do. So if you've got any hydration related questions.

Please send me a message. I will definitely get on to answering those. Let me know what you think and please leave me a review. I would love you to leave me a review. Leave me a rating. We'll get this out to more parents and I will chat to you very soon. Have a great week. Bye for now.