16 mo old refusing water

lovemybellag

My DD has never liked water and will refuse to drink it in sippy cup so I always add water to her oatmeal to make sure she gets some . Any advice on how to get her to drink water? The only thing she will drink is milk and even with that she only likes the sippy cup with the soft spout similar to the baby bottle nipples. I am trying to get her to drink from a sippy cup with a hard spout to no avail. Any advice here? I'm having no luck trying to force it on her...she will just not drink. Would love to get her drinking water and drinking from a hard spout sippy.

=Lee=B

Try an open cup?  Sippy cups aren't really great for dental health anyways so I wouldn't push it if your child doesn't care for it.  Straw cups help with oral/language development and are just more fun.  Even really young toddlers can master an open cup if you give them the chance.

 

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Beth.1212

You could try watering down the milk more and more each day until you're basically giving her water. GL!

LyndseylovesHugh

My DD is obsessed with drinking out of open "grown-up" cups so I give her water in a regular cup. At first she spilled a lot, but it's just water so no biggie. Now she's really good at drinking out of them but I still limit open cups to water and use straw cups for milk.

ashiscute

Like PP said get rid of the sippy cup.  There is no need for your LO to drink from it.  Get a straw cup that is easy to drink from (which means it won't be spill proof).  Straws are much better for oral/speech development.  I just use the cheap take and toss cups and buy regular straws.  

You can try adding lemons or strawberries or other fruit to the water for flavor.  But just keep offering it consistently and drinking in front of her.  

Litgirl77

Straw cup all the way! And I will admit I mixed a little apple juice into his water at first to entice him. A 50/50 mix first (since he didn't drink much of it anyway, then I cut back  on the juice as he got the hang of the cup and got into drinking water.

pb_bride

Straw cup, open cup, add some ice cubes or lemon slices to make it 'fun'. 

dufferoo

Try Kool-Aid! Just joking, but seriously, she's probably getting enough fluids from milk and food. I'm not sure I would turn this into a big battle.

MrsBigTime

I don't offer anything other than water, really. She'll get a bottle or sippy of milk once or twice a day, but all other times it's water.

She definitely prefers her water ice cold, and she loves to drink my water. I tried getting her a sports bottle just like mine, but she still prefers my actual water (whatever the cup!), so we share a lot. 

MrsBigTime

You could also try a little lemon or raspberries in the water to give it a little natural, non-sugar flavor. 

mikeANDjen448

=Lee=B said:

Try an open cup?  Sippy cups aren't really great for dental health anyways so I wouldn't push it if your child doesn't care for it.  Straw cups help with oral/language development and are just more fun.  Even really young toddlers can master an open cup if you give them the chance.

 

DD only drinks from the soft sippy cup and a regular cup. I have to hold the regular cup and she often gulps too much but HATES the hard sippy cups.