Reasons why babies don’t drink water

While most of the people don’t drink enough water in a day, it is surprising that water might, in fact be hazardous for babies up to 6 months of age. Even a small quantity might turn fatal and cause serious complications.

Body composition
While adult human beings have 50-55% water in their body, babies have nearly 75% water in their bodies. By pure logic, consuming water is harmful for the baby’s health since it won’t be able to handle this much amount of liquid.

Cellular changes
Similar to what happens in marathoners and athletes, ‘hyponatremia’ occurs when there’s too much water in the body, or water toxicity. By bodily processes, cells are designed to store water and salts together. When there’s excess water and relatively less salt, the cells try to retain more water by absorbing more salt and this leads to reduced salt in the body.

Poorly developed kidneys
In addition to all micro cellular changes, babies have newly formed kidneys which are still growing. Such kidneys cannot handle a huge amount of fluid leading to water toxicity.

Consequences
Water toxicity can lead to some dire consequences including confusion, seizures and brain damage. In worse cases, it might even lead to death.

Prevention
The most obvious part is an absolute ‘NO’ to water for babies until age 6-9 months. Avoid unintentional water intake by adding excessive water in the baby food. Also, while in the pool, make sure the baby doesn’t gulp in much water.

Water is indeed a boon to human life, however, it might just turn lethal for the babies or have serious consequences. Precaution is the only key!