AIBU - nursery not helping child drink water...

[Daisysteiner22]

My toddler has always been super super fussy with both food and drink, to the point where we simply cannot convince her to drink still water AT ALL. She would rather be dehydrated than drink it, she's just entirely unbothered! She started a new nursery a few weeks ago and their guidelines state that they only offer water or milk. i flagged this as an issue right at the start and we said we'd work through it and see how she goes copying the other children and with their encouragement.

Well, it's not working. i have asked them to provide her with sparkling water (brought in from home or they provide and i'll give them an extra fiver a month, i don't care!), which she will just about tolerate, and they're still saying no... Is this unreasonable of them, or is it a case of their rules are sacrosanct and they can't bend them? their house, their rules, take it or leave it?

They've given me guff about nutritional guidelines, which is clearly nonsense as it's sparking water and not vodka, and also about other children asking for some, which is something they'd have to manage in any instance of dietary need, so they should know what to do. I feel that they're judging us as parents for having given into her fussiness (i quite simply don't care enough to force her to drink what she doesn't want - she's healthy and happy and there are bigger battles to fight!) and just want us to fall in line. they're prioritising their own arbitrary guidelines over my child's welfare and i'm starting to feel very sad about it, as all other elements are working well, but this is too fundamental to let go.

any opinions greatly received. thanks for letting me rant! :O)

Can they not just put the sparkling water into her own drinking cup out of the sight of the other children?

At my son's nursery they each have their 'own' cup/beaker which they can access whenever they want in the room. Then at meal times they have water in open cups.

How old is she?

Will she drink milk?

You'll have the same problem at school and I very much doubt they'll accommodate to her taste... These days they see it as part of their duty to educate on "healthy intake"...

i see no reason why they can't put it in a cup out of sight of the other children and have suggested this, and they're saying the other children might still see it. which is frankly silly.

and she will drink milk, but i thought drinking too much milk was dodgy for their digestion (or have i made that up?)... we could go for that i suppose but they'd not suggested it. Thank you for the prompt (which i really should have considered...) :O)

DS was like that. I provided juice and they made him very dilute juice it was better than the alternative of a dehydrated child.

He is at school now and will happily drink water now but at that point he would refuse and I wasn't having him going all day without. Thankfully he went to a sensible nursery!

Age makes a difference - if she and her peers are around 3 they do have a point "nuts make Fred ill so we don't eat nuts around him" or S' s family don't eat pork so she has chicken" is one thing but explaining to a 3 yo that her friend is allowed fizzy water because she doesn't like still is different - it is a bit of a grey area to claim carbonation is a dietary need and I wouldn't like to have to enforce fizzy water for just one child either!

Milk is fine. If she were to drink so much milk in a day that it affected her digestion, then it doesn't sound like there would be much concern about her liquid intake.

Surely if she's had a big drink with you in the morning before she goes in and one (or more!) big drinks at home afterwards-she's doing ok. Then two drinks of milk when she's there?

thanks for the different perspectives all - feeling slightly less irate about it all now :O)

The nursery I work in have been working with the school dental service and have been advised to offer only milk or water. Not carbonated water, not flavoured water, but just plain water.

There has also been further guidance recently from either DFE or Ofsted regarding food and drinks available in nurseries, so it mighty e Roth seeing if you can get a copy of that.

How many hours a day is your dd at nursery?

I would just let her drink Milk there. You can give her water at home morning and evening and all weekend

I'm not sure their healthy eating guidelines would allow them to give fizzy water as it is acidic and almost as bad for teeth as cola and other fizzy drinks. I think sticking to milk is the best option in that situation.

Does carbonated water have sodium in it or am I completely making that up?!

Anyway, it might be best to keep persevering to see if you can crack this as I know DD's school does not let children have diluted squash etc instead of water.

Blimey - that's a big typo!

It should say "might be worth seeing if you can get a copy".

I run a nursery and we have a water and milk only policy too
I wouldn't give a child fizzy water.
Ime children drink what they are given
I have had many children who only drink water at nursery and wont touch it at home. Because they know we mean what we sayand the other cchildren are drinking it
I have not had a child die of thirst or dehydration yet
We only have milk at snack and mealtimes. They can't have it in a cup to access all day, like they do the water. It goes off and we also have children with milk allergies so its a hazard.
If you insisted your child was to have just fizzy water I would tell you that we only offer tap water because once the other children realise your child has something different in their bottle, they would all be drinking out of her bottle. Which is a hazard again.