How do you get your toddler to drink more?

[Tweakster]

Finn is 15+ mths and not a big drinker    He has a sippy for all meals, and on offer all day long, but yet he hardly drinks anything.  We mainly offer milk or water, he's not a juice fan really.  His diapers are never soaked.  I don't think he's getting more than 12 oz of any liquids, if that.

He sips when he drinks and then throws the cup and goes off and does his 'busy' thing.  If we offer the cup too often he takes it and throws it.  In this heat wave we are having I can't believe he's not thirstier - we are giving him lots of fruit and other stuff with water in it. 

He gets 1x bottle still at bedtime - 8 oz milk.  We were at the nutritionist today and she said they recommend 2x 250 ml/8 oz cups of milk for his age and also some additional milk products in addition to that offering.  If we were to reduce or nix the bedtime bottle he wouldn't be anywhere near that. 

How do you get your kid to drink more?

[JayLeigh]

We have the opposite problem! Roman always is overflowing his diapers, after nap and bed and several changes a day. But he takes a FULL bottle as part of nap and bedtime routine. (I know I know, he shouldnt be SO addicted to the bottle, but he loves water at meals in his sippy cup, drinks quite a bit, but we have to repeatedly put it back on his tray and he knocks it/throws it off regularly, and he 'rediscovers' it and drinks more.

I have even added a few ounces of water in the milk on hot days.

[MummyToBen]

Ben never really drank very much and then we bought him a straw beaker (not to get him to drink more but to get him to fling less liquid around the house  ), but the upshot of it was that he started to drink loads - I think just the novelty of it made a difference, and he thought it was pretty cool to drink from a straw  .  Also, because it's non spill he has it in the carseat/bath  /can carry it around if he's at a playgroup so he's more likely to drink from it more often.  But I think with most of these things, it's pretty random what gets each child to change their habits iyswim?!

He probably is getting enough (it's no fun feeling thirsty so would probably do something about it if he was!) - and perhaps you could try the thing that works with eating i.e. ignoring it, and not offering his cup but just leaving him to it more, and see if it makes any difference.  

Is he like it at nursery?
xx

[firsttimemummy]

If I need DS to drink lots of water (if ill, etc) I put water into a baby bottle and he drinks loads! Also, if he has a straw or sports cap water bottle (or something else he doesn't normally have) he drinks a lot.  DS used to not drink much but over time is slowly drinking more and more ...

[Mashi]

I had this last summer with DS, and he was only a few months younger than Finn is now (but I don't really have this problem any more, he drinks adequately) and it really WAS a case of not wanting to take the time to drink!  I remember last summer taking some toddler gingerbread biscuits (meaning cookies) and soaking them in a rehydration drink (like pedialyte type stuff that you mix with water) and then feeding it to him with a spoon as an attempt to get ANY liquid into him that I could.  I know pedialyte make freezies, maybe he will suck them throughout the day?  I just remember DS at that age (just turned 1 ish) being much like my big old Bouvier dog was....drink a gallon in the morning and a gallon before bed and nothing through the day and nothing, NOTHING that I did could change him. So, I kept it available, and nice and cold, and let him know where it was and just had to assume that if he was thirsty he would drink.  

[Mom to M&M]

Marisa was like that (and still is to some degree). Things that helped were: diluted juice (she liked it, DS prefers diluted coconut water), crazy straws, drinking out of mommy's open cups, ice pops (I made my own with very diluted juice), etc. I also offered some form of "liquid" food every day - yogurt, smoothies, applesauce, etc - for more fluid intake.

[Mom to M&M]

Also, my friend of mine has had success adding a tiny bit (like a teaspoon) of Ovaltine to her son's milk in sippy to get him to drink more. Might go that route myself if DS keeps resisting milk in cup (and then slowly wean it).

[MummyToBen]

Also, my friend of mine has had success adding a tiny bit (like a teaspoon) of Ovaltine to her son's milk in sippy to get him to drink more. Might go that route myself if DS keeps resisting milk in cup (and then slowly wean it).

A tiny bit of vanilla seed paste in warmed milk is LUSH too xx

[koe2moe]

Hey Wendy, over here the recommendation for 1yo is 300ml semi-skimmed milk plus other dairy products.  I was WARNED no more than 300ml!!  I'm googling now to see what's up with that! 

I think you are doing well with giving more fruit and high water content food.  If he doesn't like to drink and the tastes don't interest him, you're better off following his lead.  You can force him to drink anyway.    Lucky Finn getting all these yummy fruit

[squeakersmum]

If I feel like Ben's not had enough to drink during the day I offer him my bottle of water as a 'treat' - does it every time!!

We can also get (very expensive ) pre diluted juice in cartons that is a complete novelty for him.  If DH is around then we usually have to hide his drink because he has squash, albeit fairly weak, and if we don't watch DS will grab it and chug it down!

As pp has said about an open cup - Ben didn't take to the non spill open cup but I give him really small amounts in his own plasic cup that he chose from the shop and he drinks from that well, often asking for more.

[ireneee]

I have the same experience, sometimes I can get dd to drink more if I offer her a different cup. Luckily she is good at drinking from open cups as I had to use these from quite early on as she refused bottles and I've noticed that she will drink loads more water / milk from an open cup as opposed to a sippy cup. Probably as she can gulp it down!!!!!!!

[Mom to M&M]

Hey Wendy, over here the recommendation for 1yo is 300ml semi-skimmed milk plus other dairy products.  I was WARNED no more than 300ml!!  I'm googling now to see what's up with that! 

Wow so they recommend there only 10 ounces (approximately) of semi skimmed at one year? They want full fat here until age 2 and 16-20 ounces...

[DawnE]

Wow, lots of great ideas on here, I'm going to have to try some.

We have tried many things to try to get DS to drink more. He will drink milk, anywhere from 10-16oz a day, but that is about all. Juice, whether diluted or not gets a nasty face. Water is always a struggle. Like you, I try to make sure he gets lots of fruits and veggies a day, and that a drink is always available. Some other things we have tried - giving him different flavours of rice milk, calling out to him and showing him every single time I take a drink of anything (then asking if he would like a drink), trying different sippys, open cups and straw cups, me drinking from a sippy cup (and making sure he sees it). The thing that has worked best for our LO - clapping and cheering every time he has a sip of water. The last couple of days, he will take a couple of big sips, slam his cup down, and start to clap to let me know I should be cheering for him as well. 

[momtonb&ab]

the straw cup was totally the saving grace for us....before that i was hard pressed to get them to drink water at all (milk was less of a problem for ds but dd it was water and milk the problem).  bought some thermos kid sippys with straws and poof, problem solved.

[Tweakster]

We are not having great luck with him drinking more.  He will drink from my water bottle because it's a novelty.

I wonder though, since his ears have been filled with fluid since April, could this cause him discomfort when drinking???