how much water/liquid does your 3 year old drink in a day?

[traceofinsanity]

My 3.5 yo ds has bowel issues as a results of a neurological problem. We have been advised that in order for any of the meds (laxatives) he takes for this to work he needs to be drinking at least 1 litre of liquids a day. This seems like an awful lot to me and we have been trying hard to get him to drink this for the last 6 weeks but it's like torture! He's missing out on a lot of play time as he's just sat at the table with his drinks all the time and we're both getting really stressed out by it (plus I don't actually see that it's making a difference to the poo situation).

I've asked the hospital specialists if there's anything else we can try but they say no medicines will work if he's not drinking enough.

My older dd has never drunk anything like a litre a day, perhaps unless it's really hot and she's been running around lots. Just wondering what other 3.5 yo drink as a guide?

Ds drank loads, Dd didn't (and still doesn't). Does he need to be at the table? Just give him a sports cup and let him take it about with him

My children are 10 and 13 and a nightmare with drinking! (I know that doesn't really help)

I would try getting liquid in him in different ways, ice lollies, squash, casseroles with extra watery gravy.

Does he like ice cubes in drinks? What do the specialists say about fruit?

Yoghurt, custard eye all count as fluids. So does jelly. Ice lollies is a great idea too.

My little boy really struggles to sufficient fluid down and we've had to be creative. Dietician suggested all the above.

*etc

Thanks
Yes we've tried the sports cap option but he just tends to ignore it most of the time. Soup is a great option for him as he loves it and will have quite a lot, but then tends to have less actual drink for the rest of the day. I'd say he normally drinks about 500mls a day if left to his own devices so not too bad imo (certainly more than dd ever drank!).
He doesn't eat loads of fruit, but some, and meals tend to include lots of veg and sauce/gravy. And I often add extra cold water/milk to it to try and cool it down quickly.
I think perhaps trying to increase his fruit intake may help a bit, thanks madsprocker, I'll give it a try.

Oh yes and I love the ice lolly / jelly ideas too (and I'm sure he will ).

We did ice lollies on the way to school and free will when at home to a degree (let them make a batch with fruit at the weekend) smoothies. I had a soda stream we had some funny fizzy drinks fizzy milk is not good

I also bought loads of fancy straws that were funny shapes they drink loads from them on front of tv

Reading this with interest as I have the same issue with DS2 (4 next month). He won't drink anywhere near enough and I feel as though I spend all day nagging the poor boy. He also refuses to drink anything with Movicol in it as it 'tastes bad'. V frustrating as he has got so constipated that toilet training has gone backwards and he is soiling constantly. He needs this fixing before school starts in September. He won't touch most veg, soup, yoghurt if it has 'bits' in, custard, won't drink cows milk.

My DS will drink fruit juice or diluted juice quite well, though I then worry about his teeth. Will try getting some fancy straws as I've tried all manner of sippy cups, sports caps, mugs with minions on, etc. I'll give ice lollies a try, too.

The whole juice/ teeth thing is hard, as my oldest ds13 has really bad teeth, partly to do with fruit juice. I think you just have to weigh up which is more important.
Good luck!