Drinks

Encourage your child to drink regularly throughout the day and if they are still using a bottle, work at moving them towards a cup. 

Getting a special cup or water bottle for them can sometimes help, as can reward charts or sticker charts to encourage them to move away from the bottle.

Water and milk are the best choice of drinks for children. 

Milk

From the age of two years you can give semi-skimmed milk to your child.  Most children should not have skimmed milk until they are five years old.

Milk is a good source of calcium but should be limited to a maximum of a pint a day as it can fill your child up, meaning they won’t want to eat their meals and it can put them at a higher risk of constipation.

Water and flavourings

If your child is not keen on plain water you can add a little sugar-free squash or fruit juice to the water to flavour it, but gradually decrease the quantity so that they eventually accept the plain water. Keep fruit juice and squash to mealtimes only.  Alternatively you could add some frozen berries or slices of fruit to the water bottle to add a little flavour!

Smoothies and fizzy juice

One small glass of fruit juice or a smoothie (150ml) per day can count as one of their “five-a-day” but don’t give more than this as these drinks are high in natural sugars, they should not be given between meals because of the impact this can have on their teeth.

Young children should not have fizzy drinks or energy drinks – these should be avoided.