2 Year Old Doesn't Drink Enough

Popcycles! :) Compare them for calories and the type of sweetner. I prefer real juice, no sugar added, AND no fake sugar. I really love strawberry bars. We buy boxes and boxes every few days when it's hot.

I just leave my daughter's cups out on a table and throughout the day she walks by and takes a drink then puts it back down. Maybe this will help for both of you. You can put a glass of water where you sit or spend you time and every time you look at it, it will remind you to take a drink. If you leave stuff out of sight, then it will almost always be out of mind also. Good Luck.

I leave my daughter's juice out all day. We usually give her a 90% water/10% juice mix. She almost always drinks it in a reasonable amount of time so the juice never has a chance to go bad. Water you can leave out all day long. If we forget to give my daughter her juice, she never will ask for it (out of sight out of mind). However, if we keep it to where she can see it, she will drink 8-10 small sippy cups of water/juice a day. Obviously milk you can't leave out, but if you want him to drink more of something that needs to stay refrigerated, try setting an alarm on your microwave or cell phone to remind you. If you do that for a few days, it will become a habit. I know my cell phone lets me set multiple alarms at once. If yours is the same, you could set two or three alarms throughout the day.

my daughter love to drink from a straw, so if i offer her a drink with a straw she usually goes for it. Its not very manly, but we do tea parties and I get her to drink a lot of water out of her tea set. Her daddy has a special water container he takes every day to work called a Bubba Keg. She loves to drink from her daddies bubba keg. Maybe if its your water container, he'll enjoy it more.

I don't know how old your son is... but we have water bottle drinking contests. I have a hard time remembering to drink also. My kids get a kick out of who drank it first. Sometimes i will ask to see their water and whoever is the furthest gets a treat. We had 102 and 103 days here this week... so playing games is the best thing i could come up with. I was afraid with such terribly hot weather :(

My grandson and I have a drinking race every day that I visit him. I give him a child-sized glass and myself a big glass and fill them both with "fresh, clean" water, then let him call starts and stops until he's finished. He LOVES the competition, and of course I usually let him win, only winning or tying occasionally to keep it interesting.

Then I just remind him every once in awhile to drink some more. It doesn't work to refrigerate water – he doesn't see it and likes it better room temp.

Perhaps you can set a timer or alarm clock to go off every so often to remind yourself to get a drink and to offer him one at the same time. I started being more consistent about drinking water when I carried a water bottle around with me. We used insulated sippy cups full of cold water for the grandchildren and left them in the play area as well as putting them in the crib with them at nap and bed time.

Water is so important. I know when I don't drink enough I find myself cranky and feeling blah and I'm sure children are the same way. I have a great big cup with a lid (it's actually the one they gave me at the hospital when I delivered) and I keep it full of ice water and sitting on the kitchen counter. Any time I'm in the kitchen (which is alot) I'm drinking out of it. It holds 30 oz. and I bet I drink 60-90 a day. My daughter has a straw sippy cup that we keep full of water also and it's just laying around where ever we are. She drinks through out the day too. I agree that if it's something they see you doing, it's going to come naturally to them as well.
P.S. Try putting some ice in his water....that makes it more interesting. =)

Lead by example. I recently had my 2ns son and needing to drink more water to breastfeed. Prior to having the baby I was having a hard time drinking my allotted water and was also trying to get my 3 yr old to drink more. When I came home from the hospital I am using the insulated cup and my son sees me drinking from it. He continually wants to drink from it. It does help that it has a straw for him to drink from.

Show him by example that water is good which will help both of you!

Put a cup on the table for him to see it. This might just be a case of out of sight out of mind for him. Playtex makes great insulated ones so you can leave them out of the fridge for a few hours and drinks will stay cold. Or try different cups, straw cups, take and toss straw cups, or transition him to regular cups if he isn't already.

S.

With my children I have the opposite problem. They would drink all day and not be hungry. If he prefers to drink while he is eating...offer a small snack every two hours or so with a drink or a snack that has alot of liquid in it like fruit or a popcycles (loved that idea). Or my kids have discoved drinking the water out of the water balloons this summer...seems crazy to me, but instead of wanting it tied they drink the water. Now your son might not be old enough for that since he is only 2, but maybe a water gun? Best of luck.

He may not be thirsty. You say you do not drink much, maybe he is like you.

Instead both of you should drink during the day. Make up a container per day for yourself as well as his cup and ask him, to bring you your drink.. He will be helping you and see you modeling good fluid intake and maybe it will encourage him to do the same..

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He may not be thirsty. You say you do not drink much, maybe he is like you.

Instead both of you should drink during the day. Make up a container per day for yourself as well as his cup and ask him, to bring you your drink.. He will be helping you and see you modeling good fluid intake and maybe it will encourage him to do the same..

Out of sight, out of mind. A two year old has so many more important things to do then to find something to drink. In this hot weather, you and him both need lots of water. Keep a glass of ice water near you throughout the day.

I don't put my daughter's cups in the fridge. I put water and juice in them and they're out during the day. She always has her cup with her. You might try getting him a new straw cup with his favorite character on it to make it more fun to drink out of. I also give my dd water when she goes to bed. She won't sleep without it and it's about the only time of the day that she'll drink straight water.

Homemade frozen juice popsicles are tasty - that way you can use only 100% juice. Little popsicle makers are cheap.

Also have him pick out a cup he likes from the store. Might be more fun and leave it out as others have said.

My daughter does the same. Her urine is often not clear either. The pediatrican insists it's fine as long as her skin is elastic and her eyes don't appear sunken. Weird if you ask me. I'm a big water drinker. At least it means less trips to the bathroom. I do make her drink after exposure to heat outside or active play like running etc.

yeah,I have the same problem with my five year old son. I usually if he has not mentioned he's thirsty. hourly I kinda just bring the water or whatever to him to atleast have a sip,that might be set up for disaster because is so used to waiting for me to offer,but I get nervous like you....sometimes his pee is also yellowish. He does eat pretty well,and I think sometimes his belly may just be to full....could that be a possibility of not drinking as much with your son? anyways,just as long as he goes to the bathroom enough he is fine.

A 2-yr-old would catch on to some first-...-then requests. Whenever it is snack time, meal time, or dessert time, ask him to first take a drink. Then include a drink with the food. I have noticed myself that, especially during the summer, will drink more water than usual if the water is cold, or cool. It has amazed me how much it has made a difference for my hydration.

Good luck!

Keep a water cup for you and him out on the table. If you notice too much time has passed since the last time he drank anything, fetch the water and offer him sips. At that age I never asked my son, I just gave it to him and told him to take a sip of water. Most of the time, he was thirsty and needed a drink. My son was always so active at that age that eating and drinking were things that he could care less about. I think most kids at that age are like this.

For you, mamma- get yourself a water jug and fill it up at night and put it in the freezer. Make it your goal to sip at it all day till it's all gone. At night: repeat. Make your son his own frozen water in a water jug the right size for his daily water.

For your son, make it a game with him. Sit down together and sip at a frozen water. I bet he'll enjoy the game, and you'll both dig the bonding. And don't be afraid to check up on him through the day and ask "_______ are you drinking your water?? Let mommy see! =D" And when he becomes a better drinker of liquids- cheer him on. Kids LOVE praise.

Best luck!

You just need to be more vigilant on offering drinks during the day, at snack time and anytime after playing outside. Just keep reminding him to get something to drink that way he will get into the habit.

As for you, you may want to try those crystal light packets you can add to your water to flavor it without adding calories. Other tricks are to buy lemon or lime juice and add that to your water, or even buy sparkling water and add lemon or lime. I also water down my juice as well as my sons juice. I also use sparkling water with a little juice and a dash of lime, it's refreshing and mostly water!