How much water should a 11 year old drink a day

Q: How much should an 11 year old drink a day?

As a general rule, heres how much H2O kids should drink every day: Toddlers: 2 to 4 cups. 4-8 years: 5 cups. 9 -13 years: 7 to 8 cups.

While drinking when we feel like it is a good guideline for adults, don’t wait for your child to speak up about being thirsty. It’s important to offer plenty of water and hydrating foods throughout the day to stay ahead of the dehydration monster, which can bring about symptoms like dizziness, fatigue, and headaches.

Table of Contents Show

Water Is #1!
When to Drink Up
Serve Up Water-Rich Foods
Use the Lunch Box Trick
Do You Know the Signs of Dehydration?
Water, Soda, and Calories in Kids
Water Intake and Calorie Intake by Race
Related: Kids are becoming less active
Related: Sugary Drinks & Heart Disease
Key Takeaways
How much should an 11 year old drink a day?
How much water should a 11 year old drink a day ml?
Can a child drink too much water?
How many cups of water should a 12 year old drink a day?

But how much water is enough? How about sports drinks promising extra hydration? We share the scoop on the best ways to stay hydrated this summer and keep the fun going all day long.

Water Is #1!

Other beverages like coconut water and juice can help towards daily liquid intake, but good ol’ water is best for hydration according to the American Academy of Pediatrics, which is pointed in it's advice to parents: "[E]nergy drinks for kids should be crossed off the family grocery list." Many sports drinks that sound healthy contain ingredients kids don't need, like sugar and caffeine. If you want to add flavor to water, try adding a squeezing a wedge of fresh lemon, lime, or orange into it.

For children who may not be able to communicate their thirst, monitoring water intake and boosting good drinking habits is vital for healthy summer fun. As a rule of thumb, children should drink at least six cups of water a day.

For more specific suggested beverage intake, the Institute of Medicine of the National Academies recommends:

1-3 years: about 4 cups
4 - 8 years: about 5 cups
9-13 years: about 8 cups for boys, about 7 cups for girls
14-18 years: about 11 cups for boys, about 8 cups for girls

When to Drink Up

Make sure kids drink water 30 minutes before a fun summer activity, like swimming or outdoor games on a hot day, and follow up every 15 to 20 minutes with more water.

Serve Up Water-Rich Foods

There’s a reason watermelon is a classic at summer picnics and barbecues—they’re 91% water! Other delicious and hydrating summer foods include berries, apples, cherries, grapes, oranges, tomatoes, cucumbers, pineapples, and even leafy greens like spinach and arugula.

See a trend? Your daily dose of fruits and vegetables actually helps your hydration habit in addition to all the antioxidant and vitamin benefits. Eat up!

Use the Lunch Box Trick

Many kids prefer drinking cold water to room-temperature water, and there’s a multitasking way to add some refreshing water to their midday meal. When you’re heading off to school, day camp, or a family adventure, pack a frozen water bottle in your kid’s lunchbox. It’ll keep the foods fresh and supply a cool sip once it melts by lunchtime.

Do You Know the Signs of Dehydration?

The American Academy of Pediatrics recommends notifying your family doctor if you notice any of the following symptoms of mild to moderate dehydration:

Plays less than usual
Urinates less frequently
Parched, dry mouth
Fewer tears when crying
Sunken soft spot of the head in an infant or toddler

Safety Eating Caring For Kids KinderCare Cooks Summer Toddler Pre-K Kindergarten School Age Health Out And About With Kids

Figure 1: How Much Water Should Kids Drink? According to the Institute of Medicine of the National Academies, kids should be drinking more water as they grow older. Kids aged 4-8 should be drinking 5 8oz cups of fluids a day. Girls ages 9-13 should be drinking 7 cups of fluids a day. Boys ages 9-13 should be drinking 8 cups of fluids a day. Girls ages 14 and older should be drinking 8 cups of fluids a day, and boys should be drinking 11 cups a day.

The Institute of Medicine of the National Academies, one of the most preeminant institutions in medicine, conducted a large study looking into just how much fluid girls and boys need to drink as they grow older.

Reseachers published over 100 pages of data and research on water intake alone to come up with the above guidelines on how much water kids should be drinking every day.

These are meant to be general guidelines. Drinking when thirsty is typically just fine.

Beverages such as soda, juice, and energy drinks count towards the "cups." However, as the research below shows, water is truly the best drink.

Source: Dietary Reference Intakes for Water, Potassium, Sodium, Chloride, and Sulfate

Water, Soda, and Calories in Kids

Figure 2: Water, Soda, and Calories in Kids. 1/5 kids in America do not drink any water at all. Kids who drank water also drank fewer calories from sugary drinks. The blue line represents the caloric intake from sugary beverages among kids who drink water. The orange line represents caloric intake from kids who don't drink water. The areas around the lines represent the margins of error.

A new study confirms what moms and schoolteachers have known for centuries. When it comes to beverages, water is best.

Kids today are bombarded with ads promoting the latest beverages. This has generated billions for the beverage industry. However, these beverages often loaded with sugar and empty calories.

1/5 kids in America do not drink any water at all, according to this study.

As kids grow older, they tend to drink more calories from sugary beverages. Kids who don't drink any water, not surprisingly, drink even more calories from sugary beverages such as soda.

After age 12, kids who don't drink water at all drank nearly 300 calories a day from sugary beverages. Given that a pound of fat contains 3,500 calories, this additional intake can lead to a lot of extra pounds in a year.

Source: Association of Caloric Intake From Sugar-Sweetened Beverages With Water Intake Among US Children and Young Adults in the 2011-2016 National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey

Water Intake and Calorie Intake by Race

Figure 3: Water Intake and Calorie Intake by Race. 1/5 kids in America do not drink any water at all. Kids who drank water also drank fewer calories from sugary drinks. The "disparity" in calorie intake from sugary beverages was greater in white kids. White kids who did not drink water drank more than 100 calories more per day from sugary beverages.

Researchers also looked at trends based on race, and found that white children of all ages who did not drink water took in far more calories from sugary beverages. Kids who drank water drank around 100 calories from beverages. However white and black kids who did not drink water drank over 200 calories a day from sugary drinks.

Source: Association of Caloric Intake From Sugar-Sweetened Beverages With Water Intake Among US Children and Young Adults in the 2011-2016 National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey

Along with calories from sugary beverages, kids inactivity may also be contributing to childhood obesity.

A study that followed kids from ages 6-12 found that kids became far less active by age 11. Kids spend more time sitting and less time moving around. 6 year olds spend far more time moving than sitting. By age 12, this nearly reverses with kids spending nearly as much time sitting as they do moving. Girls in particular are at risk of being too sedentary.

A study on adults has shown that diet soda may be healthier than sugary soda.

A new study has linked sugary drink consumption with an increased risk of death. Researchers followed over 100,000 healthcare professionals over several decades. They found that drinking diet drinks may significantly reduce mortality risk.

Diet Soda vs Regular Soda

Full Article

Key Takeaways

This research confirms that kids should be drinking more water. At the very least, they should be drinker fewer sugary beverages. Sugars in drinks add to obesity and fat, without offering significant nutritional benefits.

This is a significant issue that pediatricians are concerned about. As a leading pediatrician writes:

“

On average, children are consuming over 30 gallons of sugary drinks every year. This is enough to fill a bathtub, and it doesn't even include added sugars from food. As a pediatrician, I am concerned that these sweetened drinks pose real – and preventable - risks to our children's health, including tooth decay, diabetes, obesity and heart disease. We need broad public policy solutions to reduce children's access to cheap sugary drinks.

How much should an 11 year old drink a day?

As a general rule, here's how much H2O kids should drink every day: Toddlers: 2 to 4 cups. 4-8 years: 5 cups. 9 -13 years: 7 to 8 cups.

How much water should a 11 year old drink a day ml?

While the amount of water a child needs depends on many different factors including their age, gender, the weather and how much physical activity they do, it is advised that children aged 4-13 years old should aim to drink 5-8 200ml glasses of water per day, on top of the water provided by food sources.

Can a child drink too much water?

Fortunately, actual overhydration — the kind that creates health problems — is rare. However, it's possible (though uncommon) for your child to overdo it to the point where they experience so-called water intoxication. This can lead to hyponatremia, a serious imbalance of sodium in your toddler's system.