Toddler will not drink water !

[Marsh212]

Hi everyone ,

My LO 16 months will categorically not drink anything other than oat milk ( they're dairy free ). They have been offered this since 6 months and did used to drink a little bit of water but for the last 3/4 months will not drink it .

I have tried to offer it in different cups , that works until baby realises it's water . Have tried watering down the oat milk but baby knows !!!

Have tried offering it in siblings cup , still no avail

Anyone had this experience?

Any tips ?

I'm hoping one day it'll just change 😩😊

TIA

Do you drink water? They tend to want whatever Mummy has got!

I agree. Just a little in the water to take away the water tang.

Have you looked into Air Up cups? They do them for kids. It’s a water bottle with a fruit smelling insert that doesn’t actually flavour the water but tricks your nose/tastebuds into thinking you’re drinking sweet/flavoured water.

It sounds like LO just loves the sweetness and if you find another way to replicate that, you could wean LO off the sugary milk.

My 2yo DS has a strong preference for milk and went through phases of basically not drinking water at all. He also doesn’t like squash or juice.

My recommendation would be to have water available, put it next to them at meals (along with the usual milk) but do not offer it to them and do not mention it. Keep doing it and at some point they will probably get curious and try it.

I put the water in a little espresso mug… if it’s in a beaker like the milk then they are going to compare it to the milk and not like it. If it’s in a different cup it’s easier to accept as something else as well as the milk.