16 month old hardly drinks anything

[ihugtrees]

My 16 month old is down to no more than 3 nursing sessions a day and usually 1 or 2. This has been going on for about 5 months so I think she might be self weaning instead of just distracted. I offer many times a day, even taking my breast out to try to entice her, but she doesn't want it! She's never been a comfort nurser...it's always been about the food for her, and so I'm not surprised.

A bit over a month ago, I started babysitting a formula fed toddler and noticed that her diapers are always soaked even after a brief time between changings...which made me start noticing how my daughter's diapers are NOT soaked. Even after hours & hours, she will sometimes still be dry. At first I thought maybe it was the difference between formula & breastmilk, but when I started paying more attention, I realized she was drinking much less then I thought she was. She basically only takes a sip or two of almond milk (we think she has a sensitivity to cow's milk, & organic almond milk is cheaper than organic cow's milk any way.) With water, she really doesn't drink it at all.

I'm starting to get worried, because like today...I seriously haven't seen her swallow more than 4 or 5 sips. Her 12 hour overnight diaper was soaked of course, but when I changed her again several hours later, she was hardly wet, and I just checked her again (4ish hours later) and she doesn't feel wet at all. I'm worried she is dehydrated! And feel awful for not noticing this before the last few weeks, and wonder if it could've cause some sort of damage...

She will chug the juice if I give it to her (that's only happened a few times) but I don't really want to start the habit. But obviously I can't force her to drink!

[jeminijad]

This is why I am still giving my DD 70/30 water/juice. She'll drink a little water, or a little milk, is weaned... I am absolutely certain she needs more fluids. So I give the very watered down juice.

[bella99]

My daughter is very well hydrated, she drinks goat milk and water throughout the day at daycare (they don't give her juice and we rarely have any at home). But sometimes, we go HOURS between wet diapers. She's starting slowly on potty training, but seriously, sometimes I think has a bladder of steel.

But when she was sick recently, she wasn't in the mood to drink, so I added a splash of apple juice to her water, just enough to sweeten it a bit, and she drank it (and recognized it as "juice"). I tasted and it barely tasted like anything other than water, but the difference was enough.

So you don't need to make giving juice a habit, but offering a splash with her water might help her.