How to get 18 mo to drink more water?

[HettyMeg]

My lo drinks about a cup of water a day total plus a couple of cups of milk. Have recently found out she should be having 3-4 cups of water! Anyone got any tips?

Has she got a favourite animal or character? My daughter is Peppa obsessed and always wants to drink water from her little Peppa cup!

There is no 'should'. Your dd will drink what she needs. My dd isn't a big drinker and neither am I. Dh and ds drink much more in the way of fluids than the 2 of us.

Add 1-2 oz water to each cup of milk

Why would you do that?
Either give more milk if that's what she'll drink or trust that she is taking sufficient fluids for her needs (unless she is actually is dehydrated)

Is she having plenty of wet nappies OP? Does she show any signs of dehydration?

Put them in the bath 😁 DD usually turned herwas obsessed with drinking the bathwater

Have you tried a toy tea set? You can also make your own ice lollies if they would have them.

They also get liquid from food, so he may be getting far more than you realise.
Those guidelines are just guidelines, every child is different. Look at the colour of his wee and compare it against a chart on the internet to see if he is drinking enough. The chances are he is.

It’s what my HV advised we do for dd once she was over 12m as she wouldn’t drink any water only milk , she told us to add 1-2 oz of water to each bottle of milk as otherwise dd would get dehydrated and constipated so thats what we did

Try using drinking straws.

My 20 month old drinks about the same. I wouldn't worry about it unless her nappies are dry.

He enjoys drinking from an open cup and drinking from straws. Just provide plenty of opportunities to have a drink and let her judge for herself. If she's playing, offer it occasionally as she might just be busy and not think- something we all do!

I find he also likes to pour his own drinks so try having a small jug at the table just for her to do her own pouring.

A fun cup with a straw worked for mine, something like this;

https://groceries.asda.com/product/kids-dining/marvel-spider-man-twisty-straw-tumbler/1000383156134?&cmpid=ppcghsgooglegle----dskwid--dm&skwcid=AL!11432!3!!!!x!!&gad=1&gclid=Cj0KCQjwyLGjBhDKARIsAFRNgW-8xY22eLsQDu9eMN0Zhho6dOGDA9QhdcaY6FsrZMYWs28V59tb1tEaAjyaEALww_wcB&gclsrc=aw.ds

Also came to suggest a fun twisty straw cup :)

All the interesting cups! Fancy straws, character cups/bottles, different colours etc. Also, when my eldest was this kind of age she wanted to do everything I was doing, so I bought some plastic "glasses" that looked like glass and would just carry one full of water around the house with me or put it on the side next to me etc, and she would often want a drink of Mummy's drink.

I let him drink from my water bottle which has a straw. He felt like it was a 'treat' sharing mummy's drink, and then he wanted to get a bottle of his own, and now a few years later he drinks plenty of water a day.