Is it possible for a toddler to drink too much?

[Jillmaica]

My stepson just turned 2 yesterday and I'm wondering if it is possible for him to be drinking too much?? I know that if I drink too much before a meal I am less hungry, so I assume it's the same for children and the result would be that he consumes less nutrients and calories that he needs from food.

My husband always has his sippy cup filled with some kind of liquid (usually a splash of juice mixed with water or milk) to have readily available. He can suck one of those down in about 30 seconds flat then beg for more. I know you don't want your child to be dehydrated, but is it possible for them to drink TOO much?

Also, I thought I read that they shouldn't get more than 6oz. of milk at each meal. How much is too much milk?

Jill

[SnuggleBuggles]

How is he doing eating? This is a wonderful chart that says how much a toddler should be eating (# of servings and serving sizes). The amounts may be surprising!
http://www.earthsbest.com/toddler_nu...s/how_much.php

Another helpful "how much" article:
http://www.keepkidshealthy.com/toddl...r_toddler.html


Milk is 16-24oz in a day. How you divvy that up is up to you. We didn't do milk with meals, only water.

Juice is recommended 0-4oz/day. (AAP)

I just kept a sippy cups filled with water floating around the house for ds to drink whenever he was thirsty. Juice at all was reserved for special occaisions since it's not really nutritious.

I would bring this up with the ped though because excessive thirstiness can be a sign of a medical condition. Keep a log for a few days of exactly how much he is drinking. It may not be as much as you think.

HTH a little,
Beth

[julieakc]

What's interesting to me about these two links is that there is a huge difference in how much milk is needed. How is a parent really supposed to know with some variation in the recommendations?

Earth's Best says 2 servings of diary products (a serving is given as 4ozof milk, so 8oz milk total and thus no over diary...yogurt, cheese, etc.)

Keep Kids Healthy says that kids drink 16-24oz in day (which would be 4-8 servings of diary).

The pyramid servings do match between these two sites (6 grain, 3 veggies, 2 fruit, 2 diary, 2 meat), so I don't get this big difference in the milk quantities. Maybe Earth's Best has the serving size of milk wrong?

[SnuggleBuggles]

I would go with the 16-24oz recommendation because you can find that in many places (books, online) and that is the standard I have had pediatricians' recommend. We moved when ds was 15 months and went to 3 Dr.s in the 1-2yr range b/c we were looking for a good match. They all said the 16-24oz.. I'd check with your ped. :)

I do know they say not to stress about the whole milk thing as they can get the nutrition elsewhere, it's just more convenient to offer a cup of milk. Too much is more of a worry than too little.

Beth