How much should he be drinking, and how to encourage him to drink more?

[Sterla]

DS, who is almost 3, clearly doesn't drink enough going by the ammonia stench from his nappies. I always have water available to him in a sippy/straw cup and have water with every meal, but he's still not drinking enough. Some nappies are wet but smelly, some are barely wet and smelly. How much should a child his age be drinking? I'm sure he's not drinking anywhere near enough. I think the main problem is that he's too busy to drink, always on the go.

Any tips on how I can encourage him to drink more would be greatly appreciated.

[Abigail]

1 to 1.5 litres of water per day. I saw a thread about this not long ago too and thought I would check it out for certain and it is at least 1 litre a day.

You can try reward charts, games where you race one another to drink , plain water icy poles, special cups, special water jugs, having him sip when you sip, what else? Special treats if he gets through so much water. Not pouring it all at once so it doesn't feel like he can't reach the goal so little goals each time.

I think that is most of what we tried. ..didn't work for us we're still stuck at 600 mls much to our dietitians dismay lol.

[JLeigh29]

The 1L includes all fluids, so other liquids (milk) and whatever is in fruits and veges too. DS doesn't drink enough either. I ask him to have a drink every time we leave/enter the rooms where there is a cup, when I have a drink, before we go out, offer his toys a sip too, ask him to 'show his toys how he can drink', ask him whether he wants cold or tap water or water out of Mummy's cup/a grown up cup/water bottle etc

[MrsFabuloso]

I have been told a general 'rule' is about 100ml per kilo. So if he's 12 kg, he should drink 1-1.2ltrs.

[Abigail]

We were told the 1litre is of water alone, milk and environment didn't count.

[Calluna]

Gosh. DS is lucky to drink one 200ml cup a day! Maybe 2 on a hot day. He does still have booby though. Not sure how much milk he gets. But his wee, while a bit smelly is always reasonably clear. And he is happy and healthy.

[wysiwyg]

DD does not drink alot either, is a family trait, I don't and my dad is the same - I just offer whenever we have a drink (get DH to remind me to drink), and try to encourage 'tea parties' where we play picnics and drink during those - is good for me too. Apart from that don't see there is alot else can do, trying too forcefully will only put her off, I notice she does drink more when us hot so does feel the need to drink, so I don't worry too much figure guidelines are based on averages so some will need more and some will need less.

[Miss E]

I don't think my DS drinks anywhere 1L a day... I always have a sippy cup with water around and encourage him to have a sip when I think it's been awhile without one and he also helps himself sometimes too. But I usually only refill once a day... I do give him water in a cup with meals though, which has a bit of a novelty value and increases the amount of fluid he takes in...

Some people just have smelly urine (my DH especially, it stinks and he drinks heaps of water). I think all you can do is encourage him to drink as much as you can, but ultimately it's out of your control, they'll drink what they drink.

But a couple ideas to make it a little more interesting would be:
• get him one of those cool twisty/twirly straws to use
• put a drop of food colouring in his water - let him choose the colour and then he only gets a different colour when it's all gone
• ice cubes in the water for the novelty - you could even try putting food colour in these instead of the water.

HTH

[MummaBee]

Hey was just thinking about your post Have just bought my DS some part straws from crazy clarks they are all swirly and loop the loop types staws he has been drinking like a crazy person ever since I bought them worth a try?