Daycare not offering water

Meery82

Our daycare said they serve either milk or juice with lunch and their afternoon snack. When I asked if they offer water throughout the day, they said no. I thought this was a bit concerning. DS will run around and play at home, get thirsty, and chug water from his sippy. And I can almost guarantee he is getting more fluids at home already. The daycare handbook said that water is made available at the child's request. DS is 19 months and too young to make a request. What do you think?

LoCarb

Perfectly rational request; especially after play time outside.

emberlee3

I think for the toddlers, water is upon request. My DD is 19 months and she can ask for water. You could teach your LO to sign if he can't say water. The preschool has water fountains inside and on the playground, so the older kids always have access to water.

dizzycooks

I wouldn't worry about it too much.  Other kids will ask for water and your child will see and make his desire known.  Teach him the sign (does he sign for milk?) and they can sub in water between meals.  That said, I don't offer DD much between meals and we don't haul water bottles around all day, even in the summer.  Now she's just started asking for 'wa wa' occassionally when she sees a fountain, it will happen if he has a true need.

welly01

This would concern me.  Our DC offers milk AND water at breakfast and lunch and water and juice (which we decline) for snack.  I drink water throughout the day and I feel like kids should have the same opportunity.  When DS is with us, I always have a sippy of water to offer him. I wish DC would offer water throughout the day.  Anyway, I would definitely speak to the director and request that water be offered at all meals.

jf198400

Are they providing the milk and juice or giving the kids the sippy cups you send in? DS is in toddler room and they will give them their sippy cups, that we send, at breakfast, lunch, snacks, after outdoor time. I would think you could send him a water sippy and just ask them to give it to him. When DS's milk cup is empty, they refill with water.

Ecy

It seems crazy to me that they would offer juice before water. My DD only drinks water and maybe one-two cups of milk a day but no juice whatsoever. This would be a huge problem for me and I would request to bring in my own cup with water.

Leap08

Our daycare serves milk with meals and water with snacks and upon request. The only time they do juice is during a class party. Personally, I wouldn't want my kids to drink that much juice. I'd see if they could substitute the juice at snack with water.

aglenn

We had this issue in the toddler room with both kids. They serve milk with meals and snacks and neither of my kids really like milk, so they will sip it but not drink much.  Then they are super thirsty by the end of the day.  DD is old enough to get her own water during the day now (they keep it accessible for older kids) but in the toddler room obviously it is not kept within reach.  I carry water in the car for them to have at pick up, and DS is able to ask for water now when he needs it.  It annoyed me with both kids but it wasn't long before they were able to ask.

traveltheworld

I agree it seems odd that your DC would offer juice.  DS's DC offers milk with breakfast and lunch, water for afternoon snack.  I don't think he knows how to ask for water but I figure since he'd be offered a drink every 2 - 3 hours, he'd be fine.

Meery82

DS does not know how to sign. We do not take our own sippies to daycare. They provide them. I don't like the juice idea either. Juice is a rare treat in our house. He gets milk and water. The daycare doesn't really serve the healthiest of food, IMO. I can kind of understand because it can be expensive, but I think they could do better. I feed DS mostly healthy food at home. I think I may ask that they at least give him water in place of the juice.

traveltheworld

Meery82 said:

DS does not know how to sign. We do not take our own sippies to daycare. They provide them. I don't like the juice idea either. Juice is a rare treat in our house. He gets milk and water. The daycare doesn't really serve the healthiest of food, IMO. I can kind of understand because it can be expensive, but I think they could do better. I feed DS mostly healthy food at home. I think I may ask that they at least give him water in place of the juice.

That's what I'd do (ask for water instead of juice).  Our DC prides itself on healthy food, but I tasted some of the "home-made cookies" they made a few times and they were loaded with sugar.  We just told them to limit 1 cookie for DS.

emberlee3

Meery82 said:

DS does not know how to sign. We do not take our own sippies to daycare. They provide them. I don't like the juice idea either. Juice is a rare treat in our house. He gets milk and water. The daycare doesn't really serve the healthiest of food, IMO. I can kind of understand because it can be expensive, but I think they could do better. I feed DS mostly healthy food at home. I think I may ask that they at least give him water in place of the juice.

But at 19 months, he should be capable of communicating his needs through signs or words or pointing or something.  I think it's fine to request water instead of juice.  DD's classroom had us bring a sippy cup for water, and they keep it filled all day.  She asks for it when she is thirsty.

Mustardseed2007

Yeah I'd ask them to give him water instead of juice. I can't imagine they would object to that, it's cheaper even!

Our daycare doesn't do sippy cups (Montessori) otherwise I would bring a large sippy cup of water to start the day. However, I haven't worried about his water intake too much even though he isn't one that I would expect would ask for water - it's just not something he would stop to ask for, he's simply too busy, lol.

The reason I don't worry is because they have snack 3 times a day (for those that stay to 6) and then they give water; and lunch they offer water or milk. So that's 3 times a day plus lunch time where I know they have liquids offered to them. Also DS is 2 and still in diapers and they keep a record of how often he has wet diapers and it seems like he's wet often enough.

Meery82

emberlee3 said:

Meery82 said:

DS does not know how to sign. We do not take our own sippies to daycare. They provide them. I don't like the juice idea either. Juice is a rare treat in our house. He gets milk and water. The daycare doesn't really serve the healthiest of food, IMO. I can kind of understand because it can be expensive, but I think they could do better. I feed DS mostly healthy food at home. I think I may ask that they at least give him water in place of the juice.

But at 19 months, he should be capable of communicating his needs through signs or words or pointing or something.  I think it's fine to request water instead of juice.  DD's classroom had us bring a sippy cup for water, and they keep it filled all day.  She asks for it when she is thirsty.

He can point to his sippy when it is out of his reach and say "Dada!", but I don't think he is capable of communicating that he's thirsty if no sippy or cup is already available. We usually just have one sitting where he can reach it and he grabs it when he needs it.

laurakaz13

DaisyBlinks said:

I'd insist upon water being offered a few times a day. That seems ridiculous. 

This.  They absolutely provide water throughout the day at LO's daycare.  They actually have a 2 yr old sized water fountain as well, so the kids can go get a drink whenever they want.  I find that totally unacceptable, especially during the hot months when they play outside. 

cedenton

Sounds about right. I had to get a doctor's note saying he couldn't have juice. So I assume when the other kids get juice, he gets water. I assume it's a USDA thing since they ours gets a lot of funding for their food from them.

hollygb22

we keep a dedicated sippy at daycare for water only. They provide milk, juice, and filtered water. we decline the juice and bring our own milk since she doesn't drink the type they provide. I wouldn't be happy if she was restricted and not allowed water since its always available at home.

Meery82

cedenton said:

Sounds about right. I had to get a doctor's note saying he couldn't have juice. So I assume when the other kids get juice, he gets water. I assume it's a USDA thing since they ours gets a lot of funding for their food from them.

I did this today.

JWSchwarz

Our ex-daycare was like that. Indicative of other lazy things they did. We left. DS has a drinking fountain in his room now so the kids can get water whenever they want. At 18 mos sometimes they have to remind the child they need water. They could be cranky or whatever and not equate it with being dehydrated. Milk is food, water is for hydration.