Frustrations...
Today was one of the more frustrating days I've had in a long, long time. I've been dealing with this issue forever, but don't think I've ever mentioned it on the blog. Perhaps I'm sharing it now because I'm hopeful that someone out there has dealt with it also and has some wise advice - or can at least commiserate with me.
Anna doesn't drink anything. She never really has actually. From the time she was able to drink water, she completely dismissed it. Would always choose milk instead. I offered, she'd refuse and I didn't really stress about it. I just offered her milk, which she loved, and moved on to other more worrisome topics. Fast forward now to three years old and the same scenario continues to play out but it's gotten sooo much worse.
As I mentioned, she's really never been much of a drinker to begin with and somewhere along the road she lost her love of milk (not that she's not a good milk drinker, but she doesn't run across the room for it) and really tired of drinking altogether. Because I could never get her to drink any water, I started spiking her water with juice very early on. I rarely ever give her water plain because the cup will just sit there empty. But now she won't even drink that. So she's not drinking milk and not drinking water with a little bit of juice. She's not drinking anything.
Literally, an entire day will pass and she will have consumed perhaps one measuring cup of liquid. It's not good. In fact, it's quite unhealthy. And I am pulling out my hair trying to figure out what to do. Today was a rough day. She was crying and screaming most of the day. Woke up on the wrong side of the bed and never really got any better. No explanation, just random crying jags, screams and upset to the point I had to sit her in her room multiple times because I couldn't take the screams and she wouldn't calm down on her own.
The day went on and on like this. Like always, I kept asking her to drink, kept pushing her sippy cup, etc. and she refused. Then tonight, about an hour before dinner, she fell asleep at the table, exhausted. Part of this, of course, is because she was outside playing and tiring herself out, but I think part of it is dehydration.
What do I do? Anyone?
Now, the other part of this equation is that she also refuses to drink from a big girl cup. I probably should have been pushing this earlier, but between dealing with Abe and trying to just keep the show going around here, I never really pushed it. My pediatrician thinks she should be using a big girl cup and I agree. Under other more normal circumstances, it would be time to just go cold turkey with the sippy cups and start only with the regular cups.
But how can I do that when she won't drink anything?
Tonight we woke her up to put her jammies on and try to get her to drink something. For nearly 45 minutes she sat on my lap as I tried to force feed her a sippy cup full of juice and do you know how much she drank? Perhaps half of it... 45 minutes... maybe 1 cup of liquid. maybe.
It's insane.
So tomorrow we will start this entirely stupid saga again. I know there has got to be a better way. But what??
Welcome! We're just your average family, trying to maintain our sanity and keep our sense of humor while raising two beautiful children and surviving suburban life. Contact me at hithereMaggie@gmail.com
7 comments:
I'm going to share something with you that you may not remember. Your grandpa (George) never drank water...never. He hated the taste of it. The old adage that you must drink 8 glasses of water a day is untrue. We get most of the water we need from our food. Don't worry about it. She eats a lot of fruit, etc. if she's not thirsty, she's not dehydrated.
Oh boy. I'll try not to make this a novel.
As a mother of a child who refused to eat food, I can completely understand how frustrating and maddening this can be. I also know you are probably being bombarded with lots of well-meaning "just relax" or "she'll do it when she's ready" type of comments -- because I got lots of that.
I truly believe this issue is so maddening because it hits on a primal survival nerve. As mothers, we're supposed to keep our children alive and well. When your child isn't drinking, it stirs up that primal instinct.
Now that we're on the other side of the issue and Rosalie is eating more than her sister, I can look back at that horrible time of struggle with her and say, "Yeah, I probably just needed to chill out." But nothing at the time would have convinced me to do anything other than search high and low for a solution which is where you are at.
So here are some suggestions. I'm sure you've tried many if not all of these.
First, if it were me, I'd go cold turkey with the sippy cup. She's not drinking much anyway so just switch to a big girl cup. Make it a big deal. Have her come with you to pick one out. Or get a plain one and have her decorate it with paints or something. The idea here is to make her part of the process.
Have you tried straws? I swear Lila drinks four times more fluid when it's out of a straw.
The other thing I would do if it were me is to up the incentive and give her some really good tasting stuff. 100% juice or chocolate milk or a fruit smoothie or milkshake. Sure, lots of sugar but it's FLUID. Rosalie's gateway food was ice cream. I feared she'd never want anything healthy but she's doing just fine.
I hope you get some resolution to this soon. You could always lock her in a room with boxes of Saltines until she's begging for a drink. :)
sounds like cara had some good ideas. funny i was going to say forget pushing the big girl cup and just put that on hold b/c who cares, but maybe cara is right and cold turkey is best? for georgia, she has gotten a kick out of using real grown up glasses, so that's another thing you could try. sure, it might result in some spills. we haven't had a broken glass yet, though. you know anna best, though, and whether she could handle that safely.
as for liquids...
only other idea I have is to try to give her foods that have a ton of liquid in them, like popsicles or watermelon or pears. will she eat soup? applesauce seems pretty liquidy, too. anything like that might at least help stave off the early signs of dehydration.
as for the dehydration - might have to talk to your ped if you're worried. but the tell tale sign is whether she's still peeing. if she is still peeing regularly, then she is probably okay.
oh, another idea -- go to starbucks and order an ice water. kids love the lid and straw and suddenly think this is a novel beverage. (might work, might not in your case, but maybe worth a try.)
oh - one other thing I just thought of - propel or gatorade. that's what the ped suggested when G was super throw up sick and they were worried about her being dehydrated. maybe anna would like picking out a flavor at the store?
Ugh. I don't have much advice since Elisa is a pretty good drinker (yes, including beer) but I do second all the ideas about sugaring it up and maybe going with a big girl cup to see if that spurs some excitement. Or even water bottles...why do all kids seem to love those? I also love those crazy bendy straws at the store where you can really watch the liquid come to your mouth...hmmm...Anna, tell us what will work!
I was going to say fun straws, too. You know, those colorful, curly ones? I haven't seen those in years, but I'm sure they're out there somewhere. My nephews love chocolate milk...and Beth puts hardly any chocolate in it at all...just a small amount of the Nesquick powder stuff. The boy I babysit just turned 3 and he still drinks out of a sippy cup...I never thought twice about it. In fact, I think Ryder (almost 5) still drinks out of one most the time...although he CAN drink out of a real glass, I'm sure Beth doesn't bother w/ it most of the time. I don't think that's a big deal at all.
Oh, I had another idea. The family I babysit for have these 2 refrigerator drawers (in addition to a normal refrigerator). They're below the countertops, so they are at kid level. The bottom one is filled with those mini sized water bottles (8oz, I think? maybe 6?)...the kind that have the twist open top thingy. Anyway, the kids basically have free reign of that drawer...they are constantly getting a new bottle of water...even the 3-year-old. I'm thinking you probably don't have refrigerator drawers, but maybe you could have a little Anna ice chest filled with drinks just for her.
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