Leaving water with a toddler at night

[Imeg]

My 17 month old sometimes wakes up apparently because he's thirsty as he will drink water and then go back to sleep. I just wondered whether I can leave a non-spill cup of water for him in his cot so he can help himself? Although I'm not generally overly anxious about his safety, I've always followed advice in terms of no bumpers etc, and the only thing in his cot is a teddy which he's only had in there for the last month or so. He wears a sleeping bag. Now that he's older I'm not sure I can see a problem with leaving water with him, but just wondered whether anyone has done this or sees any potential risks? I suppose it's possible he works out how to unscrew the top but I'm still not sure it's dangerous, he might just end up a bit wet?

[FungusTheBogeymam]

I'd just let him ask for water when he's thirsty, as long as he goes back to sleep well enough afterwards.

It's probably better for him to have a decent drink when he's thirsty, rather than having a sip, going back to sleep, then waking up thirsty again because he didn't have a proper drink the first time. Plus I think he's probably a bit little to be left unsupervised with a sippy cup - if he works out how to unscrew the top, there are small parts which can come away from some of those cups and they might be a choking hazard.

[IDontWantToBuildASnowman]

Both my children had Tommee Tippee Explora sipper cups with water in on bedside cabinets from when they moved to beds. They still do now even at 4 and 6 as they often take a drink and let it drop into bed with them, so there are no spills. On hot nights I personally think it's essential that they have access to a drink if they are thirsty at night, and letting them help themselves encourages independence IMO.

[wotamidoing]

I've found the best non spill ones are the really basic tommee tippee where the spout flips up and down. All the valve type ones seem to leak for me. However, your toddler needs to be able to flip it up for themself. Mine could do that fairly early, about 18mo I think, so we've always left water in his bed that way. Took a bit longer before he was reliably closing it again after drinking, so we did have the odd wet bed. I'm someone who finds it really hard to go back to sleep without a drink though, so I've always felt it's necessary. The basic cups have no really small parts either. The worst I think he can do is bash his head on it a bit, but I don't think he's ever done it, or not badly enough to complain anyway!

[BertieBotts]

Yes sounds fine to me. Use one which doesn't drip though.

Must be only water, no milk and defo no juice as bad for teeth.

[DirtyWeeRascal]

I have left the Tommee Tippee sporty cups in both of my DS's cots from around 12 months. They both like a drink of water in the night (as do I!) and these cups are non spill so no mess to clean up

[Imeg]

Thank you for your comments, the point about small parts is a good one: I have two non-spill cups and one does have a small detachable valve so if I do leave him anything I'll definitely avoid that one. I'm pretty sure he wouldn't close the spout again after drinking on the basic ones (he loves opening and closing them but it would be pure chance whether it was left open or closed!).
Thank you, I couldn't work out if it was a ridiculous idea or not so it's good to hear others have done it.

[poocatcherchampion]

We do.

Dh takes them up when we go to bed which means the only opportunity for them spraying them about is the morning not the evening. And thry do. But it has been so hot (on hols) we couldn't not give them access to water when thry need it.

Nearly 2 and 3 yo.

[Imeg]

PS once he's old enough to be able to ask for a drink in words then that would be fine, but the problem at the moment is it's hard to work out whether he's woken up and chattering because he's thirsty (in which case I'd want to go into him sooner rather than later and give him some water) or whether he's just woken up early because he's a toddler (in which case I'd ignore him until our cut-off time of 6.30am). Sometimes I've gone in in case he was thirsty and I think I've woken him up more. So I was thinking if he had water with him I could just ignore him without worrying if he's thirsty. He does say some words but nothing for drink/water yet.

[WanderingTrolley1]

I leave water in a sippee cup for my 1 and 2 year olds.