My daughter was born in the California desert, and spent the first five years of her life there. Because of this we have a relationship with hydration that verges on obsession. Neither of us can stand to get into a car to go anywhere without water.

When we are thirsty, it is for water. Nothing else will do.

In fact, when she was a year old, her father tried to put soda in her sippy cup, and she asked him to dump it out and fill it with “agua”.

The water in the area where we lived was sketchy. As recently as a few days ago I received an email from the water provider down there detailing the issue with Chromium-6 in the water. Because of this, I relied on bottled water.

We Don’t Always Feel The Need For Hydration

Now that we are in Western Canada, otherwise known as the Wet Coast, we don’t feel thirst quite as powerfully as we did in California, but I know the climate doesn’t diminish our need for healthy hydration. My daughter is growing like a weed, and the fact is that children need to drink more water than adults in proportion to their body size. While adults are said to be comprised of nearly 50% water, infants are more like 75%, and children about 60%. I send her to school with a bottle of water and she usually needs to re-fill it halfway through the day. I always keep more in the car for days that we stay to hang out at the playground after school.

Children don’t necessarily recognize the early stages of thirst, and this can make them extra vulnerable to becoming dehydrated. Even mild dehydration, can cause tiredness and headaches. It can also diminish the child’s ability to concentrate. It’s up to us as parents to ensure that the first thing our kids drink in the morning is water.

Nestlé Pure Life Natural Spring Water is an essential part of a healthy lifestyle, bottled locally in Ontario and British Columbia, available in four convenient sizes (330 mL, 500 mL, 710 mL, 1.5 L) and Kosher certified.

Tracking Water Intake

Water is already an essential part of our lives, but it’s the beginning of a new year, and I’m determined to do just a little bit better at taking care of my health, and my daughter’s. Toward the end of 2016 I fell ill and had to set aside my fitness program. Now that I’m feeling better, it’s time to get back to running and yoga.

I’m at a certain age, where I’m dealing with peri-menopause and all the lovely effects it brings. I’ve always suffered from dry skin, and now it’s even more of a concern as my estrogen levels decrease. I’ve started using a daily water app to track my water intake. This way I’m accountable and can even set reminders!

I’ve always been prone to headaches, and migraines, and I didn’t realize until recently that dehydration causes headaches, and it can be so easy to get dehydrated. When I have a headache, my go-to drink has always been coffee because I automatically assumed that I needed caffeine. Now I know better and my first line of defense is water.

I trust Nestlé Pure Life Natural Spring Water to be part of my family’s daily routine. Visit madewithnestle.ca/pure-life for fast facts and healthy hydration tips and share your own wellness stories with #DrinkBetterLiveBetter.

This post is sponsored by
madewithnestle.ca/pure-life,
but the opinions are my own.