can't get my toddler to drink at all!!!

[pentorch]

hello,

I am new to mums net and am looking for any advise to get my 14 month old to drink anything other than his first bottle of milk in the morning. Basically, he will drink about 6-7 oz of milk from a bottle when he first wakes and then nothing all day untill bed (and yes I do know that at 14 months he shouldnt still be on a bottle, but thats the only way I can get fluid in him!).

I have tried water, juice and milk from sippy cups/ soft spout cups/ cups with straws, but he really rejects having them near his mouth, and would rather just "water" the carpet. I have left them aroud the house within reach in the hopes he will just help himself, but he still won't drink from them, even if I take a drink first.

I cant beleive he isnt just plain thirsty, though he does eat a little fruit. He is now getting quite constipated, and I am getting Q stressed. Any suggestions welcomed as I am running out of ideas!!!!

Have you tried a normal cup (ie completely open) and helped him to sip from it? I know its not really ideal and a sippy cup or similar would be much more helpful, but I think some children go straight onto cups from bottles.

In the short term would he have an ice-lolly? It will get fluid in him while you resolve the cup issue.

Ds2 went straight on to an open cup. He doesn't like compromise.

My ds1 was the same. We just kept going and tried every cup on the market until we found one he liked, it was called a nuby and has a soft spout rather than hard. He now at age 4 drinks more than anyone I know and has done since he was about 2 :)

When DS was a similar age, he also stopped drinking. I think we ended up syringing water into his mouth with a Nurofen syringe. Desperate measures but it worked. Have you also thought about offering "juicy" fruit, such as melon or orange which may up his water content. Our HV was great at reassuring us about the amount of liquid that small children get from their meals, so if he's eating, maybe more gravy or more "liquid" meals.

Oh, and it will pass. It's just a phase before they move on to refusing to eat any meals other than breakfast

We have phases of this too with both of mine! Is he still having wet nappies? If so then you can be v reassured he's getting enough.

We tried baby food pouches (the smoothie ones) or lots of watery fruit like watermelon or yogurts. DS would go for ice lollies, ice cubes or ice cream but DD is more stubborn.

Agree with the cup thing. My cupboard is FULL of rejected cups but I eventually found one they both liked.

as a short term measure have you tried using a fruit shoot/ sports type bottle (this is how i'm tricking encouraging my daughter to drink more water in the heat, she'll have anything as long as it looks like a fruit shoot!

thanks everyone, loads of ideas to try. Really glad to hear we are not the only ones who have resorted to the syringe thing! Reasuring that they all get past it eventually too!!

My son is 15 months and will not drink all day other than his bottle in morning and at bedtime, tried everything! He sometimes will take a few gulps of water out of his bottle before quickly realising its not milk and pushing it away, think il try ice lolly idea! And he also has tried to drink out of his big sisters cup- never even thought that he might just skip the baby cup ! X

Have you tried water in a bottle?

Agree with sassh my dd would not drink from anything but a bottle with water in it for a while so that's what I let her do until, she indicated to us she was happy to drink from the camelbak water bottles and a doidy cup. At 20 months she will happily drink from anything vaguely cup shaped or with a straw.

My DD didn't really start drinking until I offered squash or juice. She went from about 1/4 cup of water plus milk to about 5 cups of squash a day. I think it's ok along as it's low sugar, they brush teeth often and they are active. Well it's more important for me to have then hydrated rather than anything else. I persevered with water for months then couldn't believe how much she drank once she actually liked it. She will drink from any container.

You can start trying squash then gradually water it down. Or try making the water a bit colder - tap water can taste a bit from unless cool/ice cold.