Tee has always detested drinking. It's genetic. My mother doesn't get thirsty. Neither do I. We literally have to set alarm clocks to remind us to drink. So when Tee started showing signs of not drinking (apart from milk), I was worried. People suggested I gave her juice or sweeter drinks. That didn't work. She is just not a drinker!
So how do I get her to drink?
Now that she is in her Terrible Three's (What, you think it stops at Two? Let me tell you, it goes beyond Three! Even Four!!!), she is purposely rejecting drinking water because she is just the little rebel that she is. I have a very willful child. The female version of Billy Idol.
Due to her pure willfulness, whenever I ask her if she'd like to drink, she'd automatically say no. Her mouth is already programmed that way. Second strategy. Don't ask. Say DRINK. It doesn't work. She will still not drink. Why should she do what Mommy tells her to. She'll do what she wants, when she wants. When you have a toddler like mine, no amount of caning, spanking, scolding, time-outs (not that I give her any of these, apart from scoldings and time-outs) will make her do what she does not want to do. I am not kidding.
After pure observation, the Hubs has identified that we need to put water in front of her lips when she is busy doing something. When she is in the midst of a jigsaw puzzle, or building a tower, or drawing.......we place some water with a straw in front of her. Tada!!! It works. She drinks! I'm not sure if it's because there is no request to drink and water is just placed in front of her mouth that she drinks or whether she is busy concentrating on the task at hand that she just wants you out of her face as soon as possible, so she drinks to make you happy so you'd just go away. Whatever the reason, it works for us.
So as hard as it is that we have to be on the ball to see when she is busy to feed her with liquids, we'd rather not have her dehydrated. Sometimes we resort to threats. Like tell her she will lose a toy if she doesn't drink. But sometimes that backfires as she will say, OK. You can take the toy. *smile*
More tips on how to make your toddler drink water and fluids.
Dec 15, 2007
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6 comments:
Interesting. Olivia loves to drink water. I would imagine if Tee is thirsty, she will drink right? Toddlers wouldn't purposely starve themselves.
I have the same problem with my 15 months monster. She just cry and shake her head harder when her tumbler is shown in front of her. But when she is so focus playing her toys and we put the straw near her mouth, she just sip sip sip. ... Glad that I am not alone.
I'm definitely going to try this as soon as get home from work today. My son in now 16 months old and refuses to drink water. He does drink milk and juice, so the babysitter and I are deluting his juice with water. Thanks for the info! Hope it works by little one~
I'm definitely going to try this as soon as get home from work today. My son in now 16 months old and refuses to drink water. He does drink milk and juice, so the babysitter and I are deluting his juice with water. Thanks for the info! Hope it works by little one~
Hi Big Pumpkin, blog hopped over from New Parent. I do that too with my first born, who has a mind of her own. She is a picky eater and we had to quickly stuff finger food into her mouth whenever she is engrossed with play.same strategy. ha ha
And what a lovely daughter you have. such a pretty girl
I have been really distraught about my little 13 mo daughter NEVER being thirsty. I can't get her to drink more than about a cup to 1.5 cups of liquid a day, period! Last month, she suddenly decided she was done nursing! I was stunned. We went from 3-4 times a day to nothing. She would bite and scream EVERY time I tried to nurse.
I am going to try the distraction method. Our kids must just have a defective "I'm thirsty" meter!
I think that the distraction method must work for the same reason you are not supposed to eat in front of the TV (or you might eat too much). You simply don't think about what you are doing. I am excited that I found this little blog post :)
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