argh!! she's not drinking enough!

[cicely_m]

Ok. It is 90+ degrees, and I can't get my daughter to drink. She's only peed once today since getting up. I've filled cups with water, herbal tea, even lemonade, and she's just not drinking. It's turned into a power struggle now, which I can't give up because I don't want her to get dehydrated! I just had to pretend to call the doctor and be told that she needed an IV at the hospital before she would drink a glass of water. (My husband had tried "sure, I'll push you on the swing, as soon as you drink all this water." and also "you can have a cookie when that water is all gone!")
Please help me help her drink, without *actually* having to go to the doctor.

[tbone_kneegrabber]

popsicles
watermelon
smoothies
fruit
crazy straw
cool water bottle
water bottle with stickers an intervals (drink to the gold star and we'll play another round of x game, drink to the blue star and then we can go outside)
ice cubes
soup
diluted juice
a little water pitcher and cups where she pours her own water
ditto with a tea set/tea party

[Ammaarah]

All those are great suggestions! I'd throw out any rules about beverages if you have any (like I normally don't give juice boxes or flavored milk except once in a blue moon, but if I was worried my kid wouldn't drink anything I'd relax the rule for a couple days during a real heat wave.)

Squeeze pops, popsicles, sherbet, melon, anything! Good luck. Oh, if you have a Sonic in town, they have the best ice and you can buy it by the bag! My daughter can't resist just crunching the little ice chips.

[RiverSky]

Is it possible that she just has a really good bladder? My DS needed to go potty every two hours, at least, but even when my DD was just 2, she would go all night long dry, then sometimes not go to the bathroom again until after noon!

Do you have straws, ice, cups with lids that might make it more fun for her to drink?

I would totally be offering fruit popsicles myself in your situation and lots of them. I would make them myself with whole juices, though you can also buy some that seem to be all fruit juice.

[cicely_m]

Thank you guys for all of the suggestions. I forgot all about popsicles, which is a bit insane since I actually have 3 homemade ones (coconut water and beet juice!) sitting in the freezer! Tomorrow I will try everything you mentioned. I do have lots of rules about drinks, and am concerned that she is tending toward drinking only juice and milk, but you're right, even sugar-water is at least water.

Oh, and tbone_kneegrabber.... ooh, West Philly... I used to live there and miss it so much!

[BeanyMama]

It may be that she doesn't have to pee very often. Some kids don't have to pee-break as frequently as others. If her skin and lips, behavior, etc seems normal; I'd try relaxing about it and just having plenty of fruit (and popsicles ) available to her. Power struggles can make things trickier, sometimes.