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She passes urine once in 2 hours. She does drink 1 or 2 sips of warm water when I ask her during the day time. Usually I have to run behind her for the same.

She does drink some water with lunch and dinner.

What can I do to to ensure that she intakes more water?

This question is specifically about winters. In summers there is no such problem.

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    Do you have reason to believe she's dehydrated? My children don't pass urine more often than once every two hours, and they drink a ton.
    – Joe
    Jan 11, 2016 at 15:19
  • My 2.2 YO pees around four times a day (I pee more!), and sometimes we have to force her to do it (persuade her to sit on a potty, that is). Perhaps toddler's bladders are proportionally larger than adults'?
    – Dariusz
    Jan 12, 2016 at 6:52
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    There is a myth that drinking lots of water is somehow good for you. As long as there are no symptoms of dehydration, don't worry. See for example netdoctor.co.uk/healthy-living/a11669/the-water-myth. The origin seems to be the amount of water you need to ingest is around 2 litres per day, but you actually get a lot of that from your food, so you don't need to drink that much as liquid water. Jan 12, 2016 at 18:03
  • Why do you want to? Is she showing signs of dehydration?
    – A E
    Jan 13, 2016 at 16:55

3 Answers 3

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This is normal that she drinks less water in winter time. Is it not the same for you?

But about your problem -

  1. try using some children water bottles (with her favorite character) and leave it so she can easily access it.

  2. add some frozen berries or slice of lemon or orange to glass of water

  3. use a straw

My 2 year old likes to drink a lot if she can drink it from some new kind of bottle or cup or glass.

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  • No, it is not same for me. My mouth is often dry. BTW, idea of giving g her new sipper worked. Jan 14, 2016 at 23:55
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Correcting a child has a very strong component of "choosing your battles." If you try to control every little thing in their life, when they reach teen-age years and start questioning their parents, they will be a lot more likely to rebel against every bit of your authority. If you choose your battles and only correct when really necessary, they will be a lot more likely to see your correction as the loving care that we parents normally mean it to be.

As far as drinking, the body has a tremendous way of letting us know when it needs more fluids - thirst. Let your daughter experience that. Unless you have specific reasons to believe that she is dehydrated or that she could become dehydrated, let her come to you and say "mom I'm thirsty", and then you can provide what she needs. If however, you see signs of dehydration, then you should address it (I have listed those below). Or if you are in an environment where it could be easy to become dehydrated quickly (hot dry day outside, with lots of activity), then you could encourage her to take water regularly to prevent dehydration.

The fact that she is passing urine every two hours should tell you that she is getting plenty liquids, by far. A child at that age can go that much or even three or four hours without using the potty. I would only be concerned and make them drink if they get beyond 3 hours, and even then, I'd be looking at other things - their eyes, their skin, and their energy and activity level.

Signs of Dehydration, from Kidshealth.org

  • dry or sticky mouth
  • few or no tears when crying
  • eyes that look sunken into the head
  • soft spot (fontanelle) on top of baby's head that looks sunken
  • lack of urine or wet diapers for 6 to 8 hours in an infant (or only a very small amount of dark yellow urine)
  • lack of urine for 12 hours in an older child (or only a very small amount of dark yellow urine)
  • dry, cool skin
  • lethargy or irritability
  • fatigue or dizziness in an older child
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Our 3 year old doesn't drink a lot either, also not in summer time. This has worried us in the past. My advice: do not worry too much.

The most important thing is to look for signs of dehydration like others say here and to always provide access to water.

We always provide access to water by putting a water bottle on the coffee table and make sure we have a bottle when we go out. Kids will drink accordingly to their needs. When we eat (breakfast, lunch and dinner) we always give a cup of water. If she didn't drink during dinner we will persuade her to drink before leaving the table ("How many years are you? 3. Then you have to take 3 sips").

Sometimes she will say she's thirsty and will suddenly drink a full cup or more at once. I think she is caching up then.

During summer time we are more careful and watch for red cheeks (or full red face) which is an easy to spot sign besides the long list posted here.

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