Water for children and seniors: amounts, tricks, warning signs

Guide values by age

These are guide values from the German Nutrition Society (DGE) for normal days. In heat, during sport, and with fever and diarrhoea, the need rises markedly. Babies under six months who are breastfed or bottle-fed generally need no additional water.

What helps children to drink

• A cup of their own that they chose themselves, or a bottle with a favourite design.
• Water always visible on the table, at every meal and while playing.
• Fixed rituals: a glass after getting up, one after school, one before brushing their teeth.
• Flavour without sugar: a slice of orange, a few berries, cucumber. See Water that tastes good.
• Set an example. Children drink what their parents drink.

What helps seniors to drink

The sense of thirst fades with age, some medicines are dehydrating, and anyone who does not want to get up at night deliberately drinks less in the evening. The consequences are dizziness, confusion, constipation and falls, which are often not linked to drinking at all. What helps: drinks within reach, a drinking plan with ticks, soups and water-rich fruit, and a glass with every tablet. The Drink tracker also works as a tally sheet on the fridge.

Warning signs that call for action

In children: fewer than four wet nappies a day, sunken eyes, dry lips, crying without tears, drowsiness. In older people: sudden confusion, dark urine, a skin fold on the back of the hand that stays standing, low blood pressure, weakness. In both cases, get them drinking at once, and with fever or vomiting have a doctor check.

Which water for babies

Tap water is suitable for infant food if it comes from a fresh pipe (let it run briefly in the morning) and is boiled during the first half year. With lead pipes in an old building or a private well, it is better to use a mineral water labelled “suitable for infant food”. More in the article Old pipes.