3 year old doesn't drink enough fluids

[Anonymous]

My 3 year old basically never wants to drink water. We only have water and milk at home...so it's not like she prefers juice or something. Anyway, she drinks 3 cups of milk a day (with meals) but basically avoids water, unless I push her (as in, 'you are not getting storytime till you drink that glass of water!'). She is not constipated or anything, as she eats a lot of fruits and veggies and high-fiber foods. But, she doesn't pee much, and her skin is very dry (despite liberal use of Eucerin cream on her skin two times a day) with occasional eczema flare ups. Plus, she has what is called 'growing pains' which i've read can be exacerbated by not being hydrated.

I try to make the water more interesting for her. We have a soda stream, and she does drink the carbonated water a bit more than regular tap...or i give her lime or orange wedges to flavor her water. Still, it really does not seem normal how little she drinks...and she's too little to really get how important it is.

Any suggestions?

[Anonymous]

Do you let her carry a water bottle around all day? If not, this might help. You could even take her to the store to pick out a cool one, telling her it will be just for water! My son has a fancy one from REI with robots on it as well as a cute green sprouts one in his favorite color. He's almost 3 and also doesn't really drink enough. He drinks maybe 4-6oz of milk or water at meals. However, in between meals I give him his water bottle to take around with him while he's playing. We also now let him take it to bed and he'll drink some while falling asleep.

One other idea - I know some people find water more refreshing when it's fresh from the fridge. I find it too cold and prefer it at room temperature. She may have a preference.

Oh, and one idea to get her to drink more milk (if you want to go that route since she likes it) is to offer her warm milk at snack time - you could add cinnamon on top to make it in, or a drop of vanilla.

[Anonymous]

To make it fun, that should be, on the milk!

[Anonymous]

You could try a "splash" of juice in water. That's what my son thinks of as "juice". I put about an inch of grape juice in his sippy cup, then the rest is water. So he ends up drinking not more than an oz or two of actual juice, but he gets plenty of water.

[Anonymous]

Silly straws.

[Anonymous]

She drinks three cups of milk a day and you don't think she drinks enough? You are nuts. Dry skin has nothing to do with not drinking enough water. That's a myth. It's genetic. Stop torturing her.

[Anonymous]

My sons 'milk' is about 50% water. I just mix together. He has no clue.

[Anonymous]

How do you know that she doesn't drink enough fluids? Does she say she's thirsty but then not drink? What does "doesn't pee much" mean, and what is her pee like when she does pee?

As the PP says, dry skin has nothing to do with drinking enough water, and the 8-glasses-of-water-a-day business is also a myth:

http://www.scientificamerican.com/article/eight-glasses-water-per-day/

[Anonymous]

Sounds just like my three year old twins. They don't drink as much as other 3 year olds, but they would drink more if they needed it. I think your child is fine!

[Anonymous]

My friend had the same with her DD so she began watering down her milk. Worked like a charm.

[Anonymous]

why does she need to drink more water? Sounds like she is getting plenty of fluids from milk and the foods she eats. If she is thirsty I am sure she will drink it. Humans are designed to not let themselves dehydrate.

We have all just been conditioned to think we need to be drinking water constantly. Maybe in part by makers of bottled water? As I kid I never carried water around with me or had a waterbottle at school like kids do these days. Even 20 yrs ago adults were not walking around with water in their hands all the time.

[Anonymous]

Sounds like plenty to me. Unless she is sick, I wouldn't worry about dehydration.

[Anonymous]

OP here. Thanks everyone for your responses.

I had no idea that water consumption didn't contribute to dry skin, so thanks for that....that was what I was always told as a kid myself about my dry skin....and yeah, i also never drank water as a kid either.

So the reasons I worry: she pees maybe 4-5 times a day, and its often dark (i should have mentioned that). Also, she's got asthma and takes an inhaled steroid twice a day, which needs to be followed up by a fluid, to prevent thrush. I say this because it's hard to get her to drink any water after this too. Finally, please the biggest issue is the leg pains in the middle of the night. Supposedly, keeping hydrated helps with this.

Honestly, i'm just a mom trying to look out for her kid. it would be nice if people wouldn't say i was torturing her!

[Anonymous]

I have a child who never feels thirsty--she also had a speech delay and lots of other motor issues so I think it is related to low muscle tone in her mouth area. We had a reward chart for drinking X cups of water a day. We also used these thick "bubble tea" straws for her water (look on amazon)--it helped her get more water in with less effort/time.

[Anonymous]

OP, food (especially fruit) contains most of the water we need as mammals. You might want to cut back on all the high fiber because it actually absorbs water in the body. If her urine is dark she may have too much sugar. 3 cups of fluid is a lot for a child. It can affect appetite to drink that much.