2.7 old keeps asking for watter when going to sleep

[tamlev]

Hi,

My daughter is 2 years and 7 months. she is a very well behaved and happy toddler.  Enjoys day care, eats well and is generally healthy.
About a month ago we weaned her off the pacifier (which she used ONLY for sleep). we prepared her for it and it went well. Every night she gave up a pacifier, she received a small surprise in the morning.
Before the weaning, she would go to sleep smoothly with no issues. Now, she obviously has a harder time falling asleep and she keeps on calling us back in. at first, this could take over an hour (another kiss or hug etc. which was understandable considering she needed the comfort). Now it is not that long, but she stills calls several times and mostly for a drink of water. She likes water very much (does not drink anything else except for some milk- mainly in cereal). She gets enough water during the day.
Drinking through the night has always been an issue and now it worries me for 2 reasons:

1. she is using this to get us back in the room until she falls asleep
2. she is not yet toilet trained during the night (when she was 2 we toilet trained during the day and it went well). Since she drinks during the night or before sleep, she still wakes up with a wet pull up. In the past I was told in this forum that night dryness is an issue of hormones and the brain. I understand this but if she keeps drinking like this while going to sleep and some during the night, she obviously will not be able to be dry at night...

I'd appreciate any suggestions for both issues...

Thank you all!
Tammy

[oliversmommy]

We had this same issue when we moved DS out of his crib and into a toddler bed - what we did was leave a cup w/ a lid and straw in his room that had a small amount of water in it.  That way he was able to get water on his own without having to call for us or leave his room.  We told him that we would not refill the cup in order to limit the amount of water he was drinking through the night.  This may not prevent wet pull ups for your DD, but maybe you can slowly wean her off the cup of water down the road, once she has gotten better at falling asleep on her own. HTH!

[tamlev]

Thanks for the quick reply
When she was a baby she had the cup in her crib so not to bother us at night, one of the reasons we took it out of her room was to try and limit the amount of water during the night.
we actually just started showing her the small amount of water at bed time and saying: when this is finished there is no more.
but during the night we actually fill it again since we don't want to cause fights in the middle of the night.

I understand your suggestion, in order to get her back to a good falling asleep routine, but wont this make her dependent on water again? and latter we will have a hard time taking the cup out... (although we will have to try and wean her off the water anyway, even when it is not in her room).

[creations]

It sounds like a prop issue to me, but I may have misunderstood.

WRT night dryness, it is correct that a child needs to develop the required level of hormone to enable them to stay dry at night, for some this may happen at your LOs age but for others it is several years off yet and that is still within the range of normal so in that sense I wouldn't be concerned about drinking in the night.  My DS always has a cup of water by his bed and has done since he turned 12 months and the BT bottle was dropped (admittedly he could not reach the cup at that age but he would usually take a small amount after brushing teeth or just before getting into bed, he may need another bit in the night if he had a cough or cold), he was night dry at 2.5yo and not from limiting his water in any way (his greater fluid intake was in the morning and afternoon but water was not refused or limited in the evening).  Some nights he had a good chug on that BT water (esp if ill) and was still dry, because his body was ready.
However drinking in the night may lead to other questions/difficulties if she is drinking large amounts.  You didn't say it is large amounts but if it is I might get her checked with the doc as to reasons why she might be so thirsty at night.  If there is no medical reason and it is purely as a prop, she is using it to sooth herself as a replacement for the paci then I'd consider reducing or weaning it.  IMO Needing this method to self sooth is not ideal, it would be better if she could settle without it. To drop a prop like this she would need your help and support.

If it's just a few sips in the night I wouldn't worry about it, I think having water available in the night for toddlers is pretty common.