Toddler not drinking or weeing enough

[Sophiekates92]

Hi, I am concerned about my 2 year old daughter (3 in March) I have tried everything to get her to drink more but she has no interest, even in juices/ milkshakes etc. but I’m more concerned that she doesn’t wee much as a result. Generally she will only wee 3 times in a 24 hour period, she can go up to 14 hours without a wee at night! I have seen a GP who wasn’t concerned at all and he checked her urine for infection and that was fine. Should I be concerned? Or is bladder control ok for that age especially as she doesn’t drink much. Any advice would be much appreciated as it really does worry me. Thank you.

I think if your GP isn't worried then everything is ok.

Is her pee quite pale colour or very dark? That is usually a good indicator of hydration (pale pee being better than dark pee).

Can you offer food with a high water content? Soup, jelly, lots of gravy or sauce, custard/yoghurt and watery foods like melon and cucumber.

This website is a great resource for all things bladder and bowel.
https://eric.org.uk/childrens-bladders/

https://eric.org.uk/childrens-bladders/how-to-get-kids-to-drink-more-water/

Thanks for your advice. Her wee is always dark so always dehydrated :(
she does eat a lot of fruit and jelly and things like that so I guess some hydration from that. But id say she has 200ml of liquid a day and that website recommends 900 so she’s not getting anywhere near enough

Thank you, there are some good tips on here

I've just potty trained my daughter and am having the same issue. It's very stressful!

Straws are the only thing that will entice my granddaughter to drink. Luckily I still have a large pack of multi coloured plastic ones leftover from a craft project years ago, so each one gets lots of uses and rinses. She’s not keen on the paper ones…. But you can still buy plastic crazy straws which are fun.

Has the GP checked her for fluid in her ears and overly large tonsils and adenoids. They can all make swallowing tricky, and swallowing fluid in particular

I agree with @Yougetmoreofwhatyoufocuson regarding straws anything that looks interesting or fun to use! Maybe also a special cup, ice lolly's, or a sticker reward chart?

Sorry to hear that :( makes it worse when you read how much they should be drinking! Hopefully it’s just a phase after potting training and they will grow out of it x

thanks, I never thought of this so I will get this checked out. She does only take tiny sips !!