Best ways to keep baby hydrated in hot weather

When Baby Girl was born last year we were in the middle of a heat wave, and in the first few weeks I was constantly stressing about the room temperature and checking her fontanelle for signs of dehydration. This year, I’m slightly less panicky, but I’m now also lucky to have received advice on how to keep baby cool from an expert. Mary van der Westhuizen, nutrition adviser for Lulubaby, shares her top tips:

• Babies are not as efficient as we are at cooling themselves down by sweating and they can’t tell us when they are too hot. Therefore, seek the shade, dress them lightly and always wear a sun hat!

• Offer cooled boiled water as a drink for formula-fed babies in between meals. Do not dilute their formula feed.

• A fully breastfed baby should not need extra drinks of water because breast milk provides them with the fluid they need. Breast milk is cleverly designed to be more thirst quenching at the beginning of a feed (you can see that it is a thinner consistency and more plentiful). Your baby may need more regular feeds in hot weather, just as we drink more regularly when it’s hot. It is important that the breastfeeding mother increases her fluid intake to keep herself hydrated too.

• For older babies who are fully weaned, try to encourage drinking water. Remember that fruit and vegetables have high water content so it’s good to encourage these as part of their diet in the heat. Good tip: freeze orange or apple juice in ice lolly moulds.

Tags: Beach holiday, Bottle-feeding, Breastfeeding, Cooled boiled water, Dehydration, Drinking water, Fontanelle, Hydration, Lulubaby, Room temperature, Shade, Sun, Weaning