3 year old excessive thirst

[ShallWeGoToTheFirepit]

Hi everyone.

My 3 year old DD has always been a big drinker. She guzzled her bottles and milk as a baby and always drank lots of water and milk.

I never thought anything of it until preschool mentioned it to me recently.

Since then (on Friday) I have kept a tally of how many drinks she has. She mostly drinks water or milk, with the occasional squash or diluted fresh juice.

She has had 14 drinks today in total, she has a large munchkin cup if you know the one I mean, so it's quite a big cup rather than a small beaker.

When she does drink each drink, she will more often or not guzzle them down. She does pee very often and her pee is clear. I honestly thought it was just good hydration!

Is this normal? Or anything to worry about? No other symptoms of anything, otherwise a very strapping healthy preschooler. She is slightly on the smaller side, but I am petite and she's plotting on her charts correctly. I'm now worried about over hydration.

Thank you!

@shallwegotothefirepit definitely get her checked esp with family history of hypoglycaemia.
My daughter drinks ridiculous amounts and eats a lot and she's currently waiting to be seen by an Endocrinologist. She had weird hypos in the morning where she doesn't wake up and when we wake her she's shaking and not with it. We got given a blood glucose machine from the GP and her blood sugars are coming back low so we give her sugary food and she's back up and fine mostly. She's been sick a couple times once she's eaten but her episodes aren't regular. She also gets very clammy and sweaty. She gets them a couple times a month but not everyday. Last month it lasted for several days in a row with 2 a&e trips but no further tests were done. I was told wait for Endocrinologist.

I hope your daughter is OK.

I had no idea the link, I didn't know that she was even drinking excessive amounts.

I sure am kicking myself now I feel horrendously guilty, but hindsight is a wonderful thing and I am absolutely getting her checked tomorrow. It's the first thing ill do as soon as it opens, is submit an econsult

I also did a first aid course when DD was a baby which covered basic diabetic emergencies but no mention of excessive thirst in children at all.

Hypoglycaemia is not a symptom of diabetes, except where someone with insulin dependent diabetes has taken too much insulin. Un-diagnosed diabetes causes hyperglycaemia.

As others have stated, OP, you should get an appointment with the GP tomorrow to rule out either diabetes mellitus or insipidus.

Thank you @SnakesAndArrows, I'll be doing the econsult 1st thing.

Our GP is
Pretty good and we've always been seen the same day luckily, so she should get seen tomorrow going by the historic appointments.

That is a huge amount of fluid for a little person in a day.

For comparison my kids would typically have drained two or three tommee tippee sippy cups in a 24 hour period alongside meals. Neither were very bothered about fluids at other times. They are on the ‘not drinking enough’ side of things but are otherwise fit and well.

I hope they can get her seen soon.

there are non-diabetic causes of excessive thirst but she def needs checking out for diabetes.

I've just googled this to see what this is and it says that it can be caused by a brain tumour.

DD started having absent like episodes a few weeks ago, they're not too worried about it as I have a history of seizures but she's being seen by paeds neuro Friday.

I'm not petrified it's caused by a brain tumour along with this excessive thirst / diabetes insipidus caused by a brain tumour.

Oh god why have I waited so long I am so stupid. I'm so so glad I posted here. I'm now utterly terrified about my baby 😭

Oh you poor thing, try to stop googling and wait for doctor tomorrow. Seizures may be a totally separate issue if you have them too. You're not stupid, how could you know, you have no comparison. It's good that nursery raised it for you.

I’m sorry you’ve been worried by this thread, excessive thirst can be a symptom of diabetes but equally if she has been like this since a baby it might also just be a habit she has gotten into where she is always drinking. It doesn’t sound like she had any other symptoms of diabetes so hopefully it is just habit and, if not, hopefully you have caught it relatively early. A brain tumour is probably the least likely explanation so please do try not to worry about that, I hope the GP takes you seriously though and that you get the answers you need.

Just for reassurance one of mine is a thirsty child - easily downs a 500ml water bottle and asks for a refill in a morning. We had her checked out and it was nothing at all - no diabetes, nothing.

Definitely worth checking out with the GP, but just some reassurance that some kids are just made that way. And if it is diabetes, you'll catch it tomorrow and it'll get sorted. Try not to worry.

Sorry- I'm clearly no expert. I should have said signs of

The signs of type 1 diabetes are: polydipsia, drinking a lot, polyuria, peeing a lot, polyphasia, munching a lot.
She needs to be tested to rule it out.

The chances are that it’s not diabetes- type 1 untreated for that long would more likely lead to a very unwell child! It is not like type 2 diabetes.

Yes there are a few other weird and wonderful things but the fact that she is thriving means that she is unlikely dangerously unwell. If she is having some sort of absences then it could be as a result of the drinking or a cause (low sodium or similar) but it’s great that you already have things in motion and they will pick up anything of issue fairly easily related to this with some blood tests and maybe an MRI.

I am glad you are getting her looked at but hopefully she is just like me and a guzzler since day dot!

You meant to say ‘hope your daughter is ok OP, this sounds like a worrying time. Great you’re getting her checked out.’ Right?

Thank you @DefyingGravitas.

Shes being seen this morning by our GP which is good news!

@ShallWeGoToTheFirepit I'm sure everything will be absolutely fine, please do update us if you can!

Glad she's getting checked out. A friend's son has diabetes insipidus (also called water diabetes) and had quite the battle to get him diagnosed so I'd specifically mention your concerns about that to the GP.

Hopefully it's just her habit, but definitely the right thing to get her checked out.

Perhaps might be reassuring to you that one of my boys drank 4 litres a day at this age too. Constantly had water with him. Had all the tests, not diabetic. He does however have sensory differences and i think it was a lot to do with sensory regulation for him; the sucking/swallowing was giving him feedback he needed. Saw an Occupational Therapist trained in sensory integration and slowly the drinking lessened. First thing id do is change the cup, see does she drink as much from an open top cup, if not, maube its sensory feedback related.
Good that you got her checked by GP.

Thank you, that's really reassuring!

By the looks of this thread there's a few guzzlers so I'm really hoping it's that.

She's being seen at 11.30 for a finger prick test and urine sample so will report back shortly after.

Oh leave her alone!

We all just make the best decisions we can with the information we have at the time ... and hindsight gives us perfect vision.

I have avp deficiency formerly known as diabetes insipidus. This is one of the biggest symptoms

I have this. Diabetes insipidus is now avp deficiency

Hello every one!

We are back home. Everything seems okay. The doctor did say it's a very large amount for her to drink especially for her small size. They did the urine dip check and obs. The urine was normal, with no protein or keytones or sugar which is great news.

She did comment that her urine should always have a bit of yellow in, even just a tinge. As DDs urine literally looks like tap water so she could be slightly over hydrated.

She said keep an eye on the amounts and if her drinking increases, she will book a blood test. I will try and decrease the fluid amount after dinner to help with toileting in the night.

Will mention it to paeds on Friday but all is well, thank goodness.

I expect they'll test for diabetes insipidus, which can't be done without a blood test.

Good news that she hasn't got diabetes mellitus, though.

Does anyone know of water diabetes shows in a urine dip test?