Drinking Too Much Water????????

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My son is 19 months old and seems to drink an enormous amount of water. As weel as a morning and night bottle of milk (both c7fl oz) he drinks between 1 1/2 and two pints of water a day!

The result of this is that he wets through the top of his nappy and soaks his jimjams, meaning he wakes up crying (wouldn't you).

We have always used Pampers but have also recently tried Huggies just to see if they worked any better (they didn't). His night time nappy is one size larger than his normal nappy in the hope that it absorbs more water but unfortunately it appears to not be working.

We have tried taking his water away from him after his evening meal at c1700 but he still wets through.

It dosen't seem right to take a vital part of his diet away (for a small part of the day) just to aid his sleep but my partner and i are at our wits end.

What can we do?

At 19 months does he empty his bladder randomly or when full?

How frequently should he be emptying his bladder?

How long does it take for the water to pass through his system?

Any help would be greatly received.

I think it's fabulous that your little guy is already in the good habit of drinking so much water. Water is so healthy - it helps detoxify a person's body. I don't think a person over 6 months old could drink "too much water".

Unfortunately, my son also drinks too much just before bed - for some reason that's when he feels the thirst. It's a quandary, night time sleeping is when a lot of little people sleep and are not awakened by the need to pee until it's out. An ECE friend of mine still has her just turned 5 year old son in diapers at night - he just doesn't wake when he has to go.

I agree, waking up wet is horrible in the middle of the night - so disruptive and uncomfortable.

The bladder can hold a lot. I know when my kids go to the washroom (6 and 4), if we are going out after a little while and I ask them to try again and they can get more out. Of course, as a child gets older they have the control to "hold it". My 4 year old, if he is really interested in something, will wait, and wait, and wait untill the last minute - then it's Niagara Falls. If he goes when he first feels it, then some will come out, but not as much as if he waits a long time.

Two ideas:
Try 2 diapers, one on top of the other - someone told me once that they did that and it worked for them.
Also, we've been trying to get our little guy to drink earlier, so that he can pee a lot of it out before going to bed - that way he doesn't pee like a racehorse during the night in his diaper.

Christine
www.loving-attachment-parenting.com

Yes, you can drink too much water. It can dilute your blood and cause death. I'm not saying that your son is drinking anywhere near enough for that to happen, but I think it's dangerous to say, as above, that there's no such thing as drinking too much water.

Children can take on too much water quite easily, and it sounds like your son is drinking more than it considered normal. For a child your son's age, 20oz of fluid daily would be more than ample. Have you taken him to the doctors? Excessive drinking and weeing can be a sign of diabetes and I'm sure it's not, but it's better to be safe than sorry. :)

Usually, storing up urine and then letting it allll go is a sign of being ready for potty training, but as your son is so young, it's more likely that it's just because his bladder is always full to bursting point.

Take him to the doctor and talk over your concerns. He can answer all your questions and dip his urine to check for any problems. HTH :)

My LO really dropped how much he drank when we swapped to cups instead of bottles - have you thought of trying that?

Jellybeansontoast just said it. Excessive thirst can be diabetes. I hope not but I would have your son checked for this ASAP.

I was concerned when I read the title but I see others have mentioned diabetes as well.

I think you would be best off taking him to the GP just in case. I hope it isn't anything wrong, let us know how you get on x