How much should a 2 year old be drinking ?

[Scatterbrain]

Hi everyone,

I'm just wondering how much my 27 month old DD should be drinking in a day ?

The reason I ask is that as you may have read on other threads I am having a problem with her waking twice a night to wee (11pm & 5am roughly) as she refuses to wee in her nappy anymore - and I am reluctant to restrict her drinks as I don't think she drinks that much !

She has two Avent beakers of milk a day and usually two "sippy cups" of very dilute juice. She sometimes also has sips of tea, OJ etc from our cups - but not usually a large amount. She wees a lot and it's always nice and dilute and she doesn't suffer from constipation - so I don't think there's a problem - but I do want to get a full nights sleep again one day - so am wondering about restricting drinks after 4 - 4.30pm.

What do you think ?

Thanks

Hi Scatterbrain. I must say I'm not that sure that restricting drinks makes that much difference one way or the other. I've had good times and awful times with my kids' night dryness but it really hasn't seemed to correlate with their fluid intake. Could you leave a potty by her bed or is she still in a cot?

Still in a cot and refuses to sleep in her bed I'm afraid !

Tough one... Potty in cot sounds like a recipe for disaster!
Sounds like there are only 3 choices and none of them good!

1. Move her into the hated bed and leave a potty out
2. leave her in cot but INSIST she wears a nappy
3. Put up with current situation

Aaaarrrggghh. Sounds bleak now I've typed it out! Hope someone else will come up with a brainwave for you!

I read somewhere(might be Toddler Taming) that restricting drinks is counter productive, can produce more wee at the wrong times. Anyway I would think that it will cause upset, and might start her waking for a drink instead !!!

I'd have thought trying for a transfer to a bed might be better. I bought ds favourite tv character duvet covers and so on to entice. would that help??

It doesn't really sound like she's drinking too much to me.

Try to entice her into a bed. I've heard of people holding a "new bed party" to celebrate the move with balloons, streamers and brand new bedlinen etc.

This may not solve the problem of night time wees though as DS1 took a good few months to be "trained" into going by himself without shouting "I need a wee!" at the top of his voice

I assume you insist she has a bed time wee?

Hey it could be worse - you could be changing wet sheets twice a night!

Sorry just trying to look on the bright side! I assume she is potty trained during the day...I agree with the bed idea. If you make a big deal of it, shop for it together, let her try it out, big girl bed etc...then take the cot down and put it away out of sight. If she knows it is not an option, then she will have no choice. Of course you may have a tough few nights - but then she may just surprise you too. The main thing is not to let her into your bed, and to be ruthless in putting her back to bed, no matter how many times it takes or how horribly tired you are! But if it means she can take herself to the loo, it would be worth it in the long run, yes?

I don't think drinking too much is the problem, and at least she is waking to do a wee so it seems the signals are working. Restricting drinks in the evening doesn't help - in fact, it is better to stretch the bladder towards capacity rather than leaving it smaller so it feels full sooner. The body should concentrate urine during the night. Does her morning wee seem darker? (It should.) Does she have access to a drink during the night? Maybe try giving her more water in the afternoon, and leave the diluted juice for a morning drink, and see what happens. Good luck!

Why not take her out before you go to bed?

Hi CAM, I wondered about "lifting her" as the books say - but the trouble is that she hates being awoken and is very very hard to settle again - which is why I've tended to wait till she awakes naturally. Maybe I'll try lifting tonight - but I'm coming to the conclusion that moving to the bed is the key here.

My dd got out of bed herself in the middle of the night once when I tried not lifting her but then fell over and bumped her head as she was tired! So I carried on lifting her.

I would just give her a few sips of drink before bed rather then a whole cup full if you feel she is thirsty. This should be enough to satisfy her thirst. Depending on what time you put her to bed maybe you can restrict her drinking 1 hr before bedtime.

I personally wouldn't recommend the waking her up to go, as I think it interferes with her learning to wake up by herself if she needs to go...but I guess it has worked for CAM. As you say, she's not a bedwetter, and does already wake when she gets the urge to wee, so I would agree about the bed. Take the cot away, and then she will just have to accept her "new" bed!