22 month old - nightime drinking dilemma

[decaffeinated]

Hello,

My 22 month old is going through a phase of waking up about 4 times a night thirsty.

We've not put cups in bed with him so far as we've thought that he'll probably forget to snap the lid shut and end up sleeping in a puddle of water and waking us up as a result, but has anyone else experienced this and come up with a good solution / know of a good product?

We think that a rabbit hutch style water bottle would do the job, but haven't seen any in the shops

We've a new baby on the way in 7 weeks, and desperate to get him sleeping properly again so are willing to try anything!

Thanks

Can you get 'any way up' type beakers that don't spill?

I would also be asking other questions:

• Is this really thirst or a call for attention?
• Is he dehydrated because he's either not drinking regularly during the day or the room is too hot/too many covers etc
• Has he increased daytime drinking too? And if so is it worth a visit to the gp to rule out things like diabetes? (DISCLIAMER!! I am not qualified to make this kind of judgement at all - it was just something that popped into my head PLEASE don't panic and think this is def what's wrong!)

Good luck

I am not qualified in any way either, but I too would be concerned if my child seemed more thirsty than usual.

My 19MO wakes up every night (and I hate to be the bearer of bad news but has done so since my DD (now 6MO) was born) for milk but I just hand him the bottle and leave him again.

That usually is enough.

have you tried controlled crying. my ds was doing this i had him checked over by gp for diabetes, thyroid ect he got the all clear so cc was the only answer. i also put a night light in his room because they begin to have nightmares at this age. he now sleeps fine till 6.30am good luck

we leave an anyway up cup in bed , I have put a strip of glow in the dark tape on it so it can be found in the dark. works a treat for us.

I leave a spouty cup on the bedside table and DS (2.5) drinks from it in the night then puts it back. He played with it once and soaked his bed, but I think he learned that it was not a good idea as he hasn't done it since! Also you can get bed guards with a pocket in the mesh to put a drink in

Thanks for your suggestions - think it probably is a plan to get him checked out to rule out anything, although he hasn't really changed his daytime drinking habits lately and always drinks a fair amount.

He's quite a 'hot' person, too, and we've had the heating on more as it's been nippy, and he has a floppy larynx (larygomalacia), so perhaps this makes him more thirsty.

We're going to the paediatrician in a couple of weeks, so I think we'll see how he goes til then, and raise it with them.

In the meantime, guess we've just got to get through it and hope it's just a phase!

DD1 still has an anyway up cup in bed with her at night - she's 6!