how much water is normal?

[red and lulu]

DD drinks A LOT of water. She is mildly obsessed with her sippy. Often, when she takes a drink, she chugs chugs chugs and then has a hard time catching her breath. I'm shocked by how much fluid that little girl takes in. We nightweaned a couple weeks ago, so I let her take her sippy to bed with her. Usually when she's done nursing before bed she'll drink half the cup down in one breath, and protest if I try to take it away. During the day I nurse on demand, and she nurses CONSTANTLY, but the sippy is always right at hand. 

I'm just wondering how normal that is for this age (she's 17 mo)? I worry that she's filling her belly with liquid and that it's not good.... I don't know why it wouldn't be good, I just worry. 

[~cassie]

We have this issue with my youngest son(was 2 in August) and have brought it up with the Dr many times.  We even tested for diabetes, but he is just very thirsty.  I kept a log over a week and in a day he would drink a minimum of 120 oz-mostly water, but maybe 10oz milk and 4 oz juice.  As long as there is no reason for the excessive thirst, I would try to offer foods first(at mealtime) and then her drink.  We have that issue with my son, he would much rather drink than eat and he is on the small side, but I try not to worry.

[CrunchyChristianMama]

I would rule out some kind of health issue that causes excess thirst, and then I wouldn't worry about it.  If you're worrying about her filling up on liquids and not getting enough food, maybe offer her other things to drink that are more calorie dense.  You could try a yogurt smoothie, milk or coconut milk, etc.  Those are harder to drink as fast too, so it may help slow her down a bit!

I would suggest tracking how much she is actually drinking in a day as well.  Maybe fill a pitcher with a set amount of water in the morning and then only refill her glass with that.  See how much is left at the end of the day and then you will have an actual amount to deal with.  It's easier to tell if something is normal or ok if you have a better descriptor to search with rather than just "a lot".

[CrunchyChristianMama]

I forgot I was also going to suggest maybe trying just a regular glass that she keeps in the kitchen instead of a sippy cup.  She will have to be more careful and focus more on how she drinks - it may slow her down a bit.

[red and lulu]

dd had a well-baby visit yesterday and i asked her dr about it — she said that diabetes would be the thing causing unquenchable thirst, but that she's not showing any other signs of it so not to worry. she's probably just really into drinking from a cup. we're trying not to offer it to her except at meals, and waiting for her to ask for it, just to get her eating more and drinking less.