Nickie is now co-ordinator of 'Water is Cool in School', a national campaign to persuade schools to increase the availability of drinking water. The campaign was launched last year by the Enuresis Resource and Information Centre (ERIC), which advises on bed-wetting and related problems. Perhaps surprisingly, one cure for bed-wetting is to drink more, not less.
A survey of 192 schools by researchers at the University of Leeds, published by Yorkshire Water last month, found that 42 per cent of pupils did not have access to drinking water during the school day. Of those who did, 44 per cent could only obtain a drink from the toilet area.
Medical advisors to the 'Water is Cool' campaign say that primary school children need to drink at least six to eight glasses of water a day, and more in hot weather or when they are active. Mild dehydration can contribute to poor concentration, reduced physical and mental performance, urinary tract infections and kidney problems. Yet children may be reluctant to drink water from a dirty fountain or a tap in the school lavatories, often the only places available. Consequently, some children drink nothing at all at school.
King's Park Primary School in Bournemouth, which used to have just two fountains in its lavatories, has now put in mains water in every classroom and lets pupils bring in bottles of water. Deputy head Oriana Dalton says, 'In the reception class we have an area in the classroom where each child has a pop-up bottle. They can walk over any time and get a drink. The children have always been very sensible, they've never misused the water - even though staff discovered that if you press the sides of the bottle you can make a jet!'
Ms Dalton says that feeder nurseries to the school have the same system.
'As long as you can find ways of identifying the bottles - you don't want children sharing - the same system can work with younger children,' she said. Staff can stick on names, digital photos of the children or pictures of animals or objects, like a teddy bear, to individualise the bottles.
Pupils in Angus, Scotland, where the council is spending 25,000 to update water supplies, are also being encouraged to bring in sports-type bottles and 'drink like David Beckham'. Contrary to expectations, when children drink more they ask to go to the loo less often, because drinking more gives them better bladder control.
Although adults seem to be more aware of the fluid needs of children under five, Dr David Milford, a paediatric kidney specialist at the Children's Hospital in Birmingham, estimates that a four-year-old needs about six glasses of water a day and a three-year-old needs four. 'Up to two years of age, infants need the equivalent of three to four glasses of water a day,'
he says.
It is preferable for children to drink water rather than juices or milk for three reasons, says Dr Milford. Water gets rid of excessive amounts of salt in our increasingly high-salt diets. It can also reduce the concentration of calcium in the urine. Best of all, it contains no calories or sugar.
'Even low-sugar drinks will taste sweet and could give a child a taste for sweet foods, which in turn may contribute to obesity and dental decay,' he says.
However, there is a disadvantage in too much focus on increased fluid intake. 'Younger children can develop a habit of compulsive water drinking so that they won't eat solid food,' says Dr Milford. 'Children shouldn't be encouraged to drink when they don't want to. A drink at mealtimes and once between meals should be adequate. They don't need to drink every hour. Our bodies are designed not to need water all the time.'
For details of the water campaign see www.eric.org.uk
