Offer watermelon, strawberries, broccoli, celery, cucumbers and other watery fruits and veggies for snacks. Chaparro recommends five servings of fruits and vegetables each day.
Among choices with high water concentration: melons, grapes, berries, apples and stone fruits such as peaches and plums. Try a fruit platter or applesauce at snack time — or for dessert. “Homemade fruit popsicles or smoothies are a fun treat” and a way to beat the heat, Dunaway Teh says.
The best treatment for mild dehydration is to give your child more fluid to drink, such as water or oral rehydration solutions. Gastrolyte, HYDRAlyte, Pedialyte and Repalyte are different types of oral rehydration solutions (fluids) that can be used to replace fluids and body salts.
Give your child small sips of oral rehydration solution as often as possible, about 1 or 2 teaspoons (5 or 10 milliliters) every few minutes. Babies can continue to breastfeed or take formula, as long as they are not vomiting repeatedly. Older children also can have electrolyte ice pops.
Severe dehydration
In more severe cases of dehydration, your child might need to go to hospital to catch up on fluid loss. In many cases, the safest and quickest way to do this is by via a small tube that goes into your child's nose and then into their stomach. The rehydrating fluids go through this tube.
Kinderlyte is a relatively new product on the market, and it is quickly making a name for itself as a competitor to the Pedialyte brand. This brand is doctor-formulated to provide an effective electrolyte drink option without all of the artificial components.
Mild dehydration due to illness in children over 1 year old
You can also try giving your child water or ice chips. Electrolyte solutions like Pedialyte or Gatorade will help your child replace both fluids and electrolytes that have been lost.
For babies aged 6 months to 2 years, it's best to choose a full-fat plain yogurt to support how quickly they grow (plus additional hydration)! Plain Greek yogurt contains about 81% water and can be a great option too.
“Your child's body needs to replenish the water being lost through sweat, breathing and urination, and water is absolutely the best fluid for that. Unflavored milk is also good — whole milk for toddlers and skim or 1% for kids older than 2.
Milk, broth, applesauce, popsicles, yogurt and Jello are also hydrating. Mix up your routine with an array of hydrating foods. You may also opt to enhance the water you drink, and make it more appetizing by adding mint, basil or slices of citrus fruit or cucumbers. There are plenty of ways to stay hydrated.
If your baby keeps vomiting, switch to a rehydrating solution, such as Pedialyte, which contains sugar and salts. For children six months to one year, it's important not to use water. For children older than one year, use diluted apple juice or sports drink. Dilute the drink with water, using half water and half drink.
Offer frequent sips of diluted fruit juice, Gatorade or milk. Applesauce, soup, and fruit also contain plenty of liquid. Even if your child doesn't have much of an appetite because of their fever, some options might be appealing.
The study tested whether allowing mildly dehydrated children to rehydrate with dilute half-strength apple juice followed by their fluids of choice was as effective as rehydration with an electrolyte solution.
To stay well hydrated, children ages 1-3 years need approximately 4 cups of beverages per day, including water or milk. This increases for older kids to around 5 cups for 4-8 year olds, and 7-8 cups for older children.
Greek yogurt is especially beneficial for hydration due to its high protein content.
Drinking water is the natural and healthy way for a kid to stay hydrated. Plain water doesn't have any calories or energy-boosters like fruit juices and some sodas and sports drinks do. Don't add any sweeteners or flavors.
Pedialyte is generally recommended for children one year of age and over, while Gatorade can be given to children four and over.
A recent study published in the Journal of the American Medical Association found that children suffering from the stomach bug recovered faster when they drank a mixture of water and apple juice, versus an electrolyte-enhanced drink similar to Pedialyte.
The best drink to replace electrolytes is HYDRATE, a whole food, all-natural, organic solution with only 1g of sugar that comes from dehydrated lemon juice. You won't have to bargain with your child to get them to drink it either. This electrolyte drink tastes like homemade lemonade with a light, clean lemon flavor.
Here's how it works: Pedialyte contains sugar, salt, potassium, and water. The water obviously rehydrates you, while the sugar helps pull the salt and potassium into your body to replenish electrolytes that have been lost due to dehydration. That's it.