When you’re pregnant, you need more water than the average person in order to form amniotic fluid, produce extra blood, build new tissue, carry nutrients, enhance digestion, and flush out wastes and toxins. Since you need more water during pregnancy, how much is enough? It’s recommended that you drink 8-12 glasses of water a day or 2.3 litres. If your trips to the bathroom are frequent and your urine is pale or colourless, you’re drinking is on track.
If you have a hard time getting enough water every day, here are a few tips to help prevent dehydration:
1. Add flavour to your pitcher.
You can add a whole lot of excitement and flavour by adding cut fresh fruit (grapefruit, strawberries, lemon), veggie slices (cucumber, ginger, celery), and herbs (basil, mint, lavender) in your jug. You can try your own combinations by mix-matching them according to your taste preference. . The longer you let it steep, the tastier each cup will be. And you can play around with different combos, like cucumber-mint or basil-lemon.
2. Drink a glass after every bathroom visit
Start a habit by linking drinking water with one of your most common daily activities—going to the bathroom. Getting up from your desk or bed for a bathroom break? Stop to chug a glass of water. You’ll already be getting up to head to the bathroom, and fill in your jug or bottle before you sit down again. And it will set up a great cycle: The more water you drink, the more you’ll have to go to the bathroom, which means more flushing out of toxins.
3. Sip and then munch
If you are making dinner at home, sip while you cook and prep. If at a restaurant, ask the waiter to fill your glass or bottle with If you’re waiting beside the oven for your lunch to heat up or your toast to pop, drink water while waiting for it. Even if you’re having a short eat, drink that water. It’s just a simple rule that will help you drink more water. Once you establish these little “rules,” you’ll find that you’re doing it almost automatically without having to think about it or put much effort into it at all.
4. Tech to the rescue
Most of us have our phones always handy and we also have the practice of checking them every now and then. Keeping up with how many glasses you’ve finished can be easy (and fun) with the help of mindandmom’s app. Download them to your phone to set daily reminders and alarms. Make sure that you set an achievable target first and then your desired target later to be able to chive it. You might lose interest when you begin with your desired water intake target.
5. On the rocks with extra rocks, please!
If you’re drinking something extra sweet like juice, lemonade, or iced tea, water down your beverage by adding ice or even diluting a cup with some water. You’ll still get the sweetness you’re craving and have some extra water at the same time. If you’re not looking forward to having a less sweet version of the thing you’re drinking, fair enough, and this tip might not be for you.
6. Never lose sight of your bottle/jug
It’s just like sticky notes or the Post-It notes that you put on the fridge, your mum will never miss that. Same principle here. It’s easy to remember to fill up on water when the source is nearby. Keep a gallon jug or large bottle at your desk, by the bed at home, and on the kitchen counter as a constant reminder to drink up. The more you have to look at that water jug, the more you’ll remember to fill it and drink it.
7. Eat Hydrating Foods
One sneaky way to increase the amount of water you consume on a daily basis: eat your H2O. Fruits and vegetables are on average 90% water. That means that two cups of vegetables or one-and-a-half cups of fruit can provide almost two whole cups of water! Eating a healthy mix of foods like spinach, kale, apples, and oranges (just to name a few) is a great way to ensure that you get enough water in your diet. Foods like these can help compensate for a lack of water in your diet, but, under no circumstances, can they replace it. You still need those eight cups of water every day.
8. Fill it up every single time
Every time you let your glass or bottle sit on your desk empty, it stays that way for hours. Sure, you’ll keep telling yourself that you will get up and get more water any second. But do you? Definitely not! But if you make a rule that as soon as you finish a container you have to fill it back up again, well, I doubt you’ll have an empty glass or bottle in your midst for more than a minute or two. You’re just more likely to keep drinking if the glass is full.
9. Get creative
If you use a straw, you will drink faster, which will mean you will drink more. Besides, who doesn’t want a cute accessory to make their task a little more fun and at the same time contribute a little more to the environment? But skip the disposable plastic straws which are flimsy and, of course, not good for the planet. Try some colourful twisty straws or some elegant, sleek-looking stainless steel ones. There’s nothing like putting in creative effort when you can finish the most difficult task of drinking from a bottle of water.
10. Choose your temperature
An ice-cold drink on a hot humid day is truly refreshing. Similarly, who wouldn’t prefer a steaming cup of tea to warm you up on a long winter’s day? As wonderful as those cold and hot liquids can feel, we recommend cool or warm drinks instead, at least until your baby is born.
When you’re pregnant, you already have to contend with morning sickness.
