How do you know if you are drinking enough water during pregnancy?

Mandy Sacher

Child nutrition expert and mother of two, Mandy Sacher, is a Paediatric Nutritionist and SOS Feeding Consultant. Her private practice focuses on prenatal and childhood nutrition, helping parents and mums-to-be feed their children healthy, nourishing foods right from the start. Mandy’s philosophy is simple: train children’s taste buds to enjoy nourishing, nutritionally beneficial foods early as possible to ensure optimal development and establishment of lifelong healthy eating behaviours. After the birth of her first child in 2010, Mandy became increasingly aware of the lack of nutritionally sound information available to first-time parents. She was alarmed at the amount of baby and toddler foods marketed as ‘healthy’ when the sugar, salt and preservative contents were overly high. Mandy realised the journey to junk food can begin with the squeezie yoghurts we are fed or the teething rusks given to us. Mandy’s career in children’s health spans more than a decade – in 2006, she, along with other paediatric experts, founded the MEND Programme, an independent, not-for-profit organisation established to research and prevent obesity in children. Mandy and her colleagues at MEND developed one of the world’s only proven weight-loss treatments for obese children, now based on ten years of research and clinical trials. For the past five years Mandy has consulted to daycares on implementing more nutritious whole food menu plans and also privately to parents with children of all ages. Wholesome Child’s nutritional workshops are held at preschools, mother’s groups, non-profit organisations and medical practices.

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Updated on Jun 14, 2024 · 2 mins read

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How do you know if you are drinking enough water during pregnancy?

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Water is the ultimate source of nourishment for almost every area of your physical health, and especially during pregnancy. Water helps with energy, digestion, maintaining body temperature and blood pressure, and plenty more.

For some, getting their daily amount of water is a challenge, but hydration is even more important during pregnancy as your body needs even more fluids to help it grow and develop your baby.

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How much water should I be drinking?

A good aim is to drink enough water throughout the day (at least 2 litres) to avoid dehydration, even if this means more trips to the bathroom. Keep an eye on your fluid levels by checking the colour of your urine. Dark yellow urine means you may have mild dehydration.

A good note to keep in mind – the darker colour the more severe dehydration. A very light colour indicates that you have healthy hydration levels.

You may also urinate less than normal if you are dehydrated. Dehydration is never a good thing as it can lead to further health problems/complications – neither of which you want!

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Be aware of these signs of dehydration:

Constipation
Thirst and hunger
Low blood pressure
Headache
Nausea
Tiredness
Dry, flaky and cracked skin

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Struggling to get enough water? Here are some tips!

1. Put fruit in your water! Add strawberries, raspberries, lemon, or lime to give it some extra flavour.

2. Listen to your body – if you’re ever craving water you should definitely be drinking some.

3. Avoid becoming overheated as much as possible

4. Eat more fruits and veggies; they have plenty of water in them as well.

5. Cut caffeine out of your diet

6. Switch to sparkling water or tea if they taste better. Try to add anything water-based to your rotation!

With a few simple changes, you can easily add more water to your diet. Stay conscious of how much you’re giving your body by checking your urine colour and other symptoms.

At the end of the day, having enough water is one of the most important things you can do when you’re pregnant. On the bright side, there are other amazing benefits of drinking water too, like smooth skin and more energy, so get drinking!