Two year old daughter won't drink water or juice

[DizzyWolf21]

My LG is 2, and when she was 6-8 months old, she would drink water or baby juice. But since then, she flatly refuses both! and at two, we really want her to start drinking. She screams, cries, kicks, just by holding the bottle out to her! we have tried introducing pink straws, cups, her usual bottle. Telling her it's nice or drinking it ourselves doesn't work either because she doesn't seem to understand what we say to her yet. We've asked the doctor and HV for advice, they aren't exactly helpful. The whole 'Kid won't let herself dehydrate' doesn't seem to apply with my daughter either. We're at our wits end :(

PS, don't know if I've put this in the right place.

Will she drink milk?

Yes, she drinks milk

It's a mad idea but what about freezing some juice/squash into lollies instead? Would she like those do you think?

We've tried ice lollies, they don't work either :/

if she drinks milk then she won't dehydrate
at 2 she shouldn't be having bottles at all

I know she shouldn't be on bottles at this age, but when we try and use something else, she won't have any of it, we've been trying to get her off bottles for a while now. Plus we want her to drink something during the day, not just morning and night time, which is when she gets milk

Mine is smaller than yours, and seems to have an aversion to all the various sippy cups etc (yes, I think I have bought every one on the market).

She likes boob, and has never got the hang of a bottle or cup. I am currently trying to work out how the hell to stop boob when she won't actually drink from anything else.

She will have a few sips of water from a doidy cup in her high chair, although most of it seems to run back out of her mouth. She also happily slurps the swimming pool, bath water and sucks a soggy flannel when we do after-meal-clean up.

Does your DD do any of those? If so, I expect she will be getting some hydration albeit with slightly manly water

Also, is it a problem she only drinks milk? - i.e. is her size ok? My DD is small so if I had your problem I would be quite happy, milk being high calorie and good for you etc, plus, its not boob! Have you tried watering it down at all see if you can move her along to water that way?

manky, not manly
damn autocorrect

No, DD doesn't do any of those things. Tried watering milk down, we've tried everything we can think of, to be honest. Her size and height are fine. We believe she should be drinking something in the afternoon instead of just milk on a morning and night before bed

am i missing something? i am sure i am-mine are older now and so all this kind of things seems a long time a go.

why can't she have milk in the afternoon?

if you put a cup of milk in front of her and just leave it, she might getused to it. get her used to a cup first and then once she is happy with a cup start trying with water.

Will she drink milk in the afternoon too? Does she suffer from constipation at all? If her stools are of a good consistency and she's energetic, weeing regularly etc, then she's probably drinking enough. Don't forget that you get some of your fluids from food too.

She's 2. I'd honestly tell her it's a cup from now on. Off morning, afternoon and evening milk in a sippy cup. Put a cup of water on the table with every meal and snack.

Within 48 hours and probably a lot less, she's highly likely to be drinking from a cup.

Does she go to nursery? Does she manage a cup there?

Watery foods? Melon, cucumber, etc.

I think the milk is giving her plenty enough fluids. My 23 month old doesn't have milk am/eve and drinks surprisingly little during the day. When he was on bottles he would drink nothing at all in the day. I wouldn't worry if she's pooing ok or decrease the amount of milk and she'll prob start taking water

My nearly 6 year old ds still drinks mostly milk. He won't drink any fruit squash drinks and has probably drunk no more than 1 litre of orange fruit juice in his whole life.

He does drink water and tea (mostly milk!) now too, but until he was 15 months he didn't eat either. He's a very healthy active little boy, so I wouldn't worry if I were you.

Does she show signs of dehydration?
It sounds like you have tried lots of good ideas, I think trying some of them again might work. How about both having matching cups and just casually having them near you both during the day, you drinking the same that's in her cup all day long, for a good week and seeing if she gets used to having it around having some sips. Maybe tackle getting rid of the bottles after the water war is won. Also offer lots of fluid filled foods which will help with hydration.
I think also be kind to yourself, making big changes with toddlers is hard, there will be tears and you will have to be tough at times, but boundaries make children feel secure and safe, you will get there :)