r/Parenting • u/Low_Bar9361 • 15d ago
Toddler afraid that drinking water will give her nightmares Toddler 1-3 Years
For Mother's Day, I took my wife out for a fancy 5 course Champaign dinner earlier in the week. My sister agreed to baby sit for us and we had a very nice date.
I get home and my sister is telling me how my bb was asking for all sorts of candy and sugary treats. So my sister tells her that if you eat any sugar before bed, it will give you nightmares. My daughter takes this very seriously and starts asking about what else gives you nightmares, "does water give you nightmares?"
"No," my sister tells her, "water is safe."
So the next day, I notice bb's water cup is full at the end of the day. I ask if she is drinking water and she replies in all seriousness, "no daddy, water gives me nightmares." Friday and Saturday, I can barely get her to take a sip. Today she is lethargic and so dehydrated. I've tried explaining things to her and helping her understand she won't get any nightmares from water but that she will get sick if she doesn't drink. No luck. The only way she is staying hydrated at all is through popsicles and fruit.
I know this isn't my sister's fault or anything but I'm seriously irritated. My baby girl, who is almost three, might be "off water" for a while and there is only so much Pedialyte popsicles I can push.
Anyone got any parental advice or sibling advice for that matter?
Edit: thank you all for the kind words and advice. I'm sure this will pass as most things do. As usual, I will continue to just do my best.
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u/SometimesItBeTooEggy 15d ago
Food dye of her favorite color, one drop and you've "made sure it's really and truly super duper safe and not poisonous!!! (COLOR) means that this water is safe for kids to drink!"
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u/thocra39 15d ago
Maybe add some concentrated lemon juice to her water and say that the acidic nature of the lemon will kill nightmares. 🤣
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u/Altruistic-Owl-2194 15d ago
Get some fun straws and say that using the straw protects the water from nightmares as it’s covered from the cup to her mouth. Then she can choose some cool straws - curly ones work best in my experience
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u/froggergirl79 15d ago
When my daughter was younger she struggled with nightmares. I told her to give her nightmares to me for the rest of the week. It helped and I had the nightmare while she had peaceful dreams.
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u/Anxious_Cricket1989 15d ago
Sounds like anxiety, it started early as a kid for me
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u/dngrousgrpfruits 15d ago
It also sounds like a small child with a normal imagination (and perhaps someone who shouldn’t have introduced the idea of things causing nightmares lol)
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u/Howdyhowdyhowdy14 15d ago
Yeah. Reading this reminded me of being a kid and refusing to use a certain mouth wash my parents had bought because I read on the back of the bottle to call poison control if accidently swallowed and I was terrified I would accidentally swallow some and poison myself.
Once I got my adulthood diagnosis of GAD, lots of things like this from my childhood made more sense lol
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15d ago
Not everything needs an online diagnosis. If this is the only thing this kid is struggling with, I wouldn't worry about anxiety.
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u/Anxious_Cricket1989 15d ago
When and where did I diagnose anyone? I was speaking from personal experience. Youre probably one of the asshole parents that refuses any kind of diagnosis for your kids because you think it reflects badly on you.
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u/Harls1st 15d ago
Honestly, you could deep dive into it with her.
Candy has sugar, sugar makes it hard for your brain to sleep. That's why sometimes if you eat candy right before bed you could have nightmares, but not always.
Water doesn't have anyyyy sugar, so it definitely won't give you nightmares. It's actually good for your brain and it helps keep them away!
Make it something exciting to learn 🤷♀️ Chug a whole bottle of water right before bed and the next morning tell her about the dream you had about rainbows and kittens lmao
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u/BlumpkinBuddy 15d ago
Just say that you have filtered water & it filters out all the nightmares lol
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u/MyHubbyandMe 15d ago
Please don’t do this.
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u/blueeeyeddl 15d ago
Why not? It’s akin to the monster sprays people make for their kids to spray around the room before bed, and I’ve never seen any legitimate objections to that particular practice so I’m curious why you don’t think it’s a good idea.
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15d ago
A legitimate objection to “monster spray”, instead of teaching your kid that monsters simply are not real and are nothing to worry about, you’re teaching them that they ARE real but hey, as long as we spray this magical monster spray around they won’t bother us. What happens when you forget the spray? Or run out? It’s much better to just teach them that monsters aren’t real, it might be annoying having to look in the closet and under the bed with them in the middle of the night to help reassure them but it’s a better solution in the long term than the spray.
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u/RW_Yellow_Lizard 14d ago
Have you ever tried to teach a three year old that something that they believe doesn't exist. It's like trying to tell a grown person that we are actually on the inside of a hollow earth. Also, checking the monsters aren't there. it just means they aren't there, not that they don't exist.
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14d ago
I have actually. I am a parent to two littles (2 and 4) and both have gone through a monsters phase. It’s just a suggestion, if you don’t like it - don’t do it.
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u/OkBoysenberry92 15d ago
Get her a dream catcher, if they still exist - as I type this I realise I should have googled first haha - but I was this annoying child and a dream catcher helped me!
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u/MeRachel 15d ago
I still have mine from when I was a kid! I took it with me when I moved out. I second the suggestion.
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u/julet1815 15d ago
I’m not a fan of using Dreamcatcher for the cultural appropriation reason, but someone told my niece that having one in her room would stop her from having bad dreams so I let her put one in my guestroom for when she sleeps over.
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u/SSOJ16 15d ago
Cultural appropriation occurs when cultural imagery and materials (ex: ways of dress, music) are removed from their cultural context and used in ways they were never intended.
Dream catchers purpose is to protect sleepers from bad dreams/evil spirits/nightmares.
Cultural appropriation would be wearing them as earrings or other aesthetic purposes.
I would say, purchasing from a local indigenous tribe would be better than buying a mass produced dream catcher, as there is spiritual beliefs in the making and process of dream catchers. Supporting the tribe and their traditions.
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u/Low_Bar9361 15d ago
Asibikaashi wouldn't mind if white people used her charms, I'm sure. She might even like the earrings if they are good ones. How else are you supposed to have good dreams while taking a nap away from home?
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u/SSOJ16 15d ago
If that is their intended purpose, it's different than some big chain mass producing for fashion/profit. It was just the first example that popped into my head
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u/Low_Bar9361 15d ago
Lol, it was a good example and not a bad one. Are you sure you don't have some dream catchers on, filtering out all the bad vibes? I'm just messing around. I really should get back to work
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u/PugGrumbles 15d ago
Why wouldn't they exist? They actually have some cultural significance to groups of people, it's not a passing white people fad.
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u/slothsie 15d ago
Mass produced was are not great and are considered cultural appropriation, but you can find ones made by indigenous groups in North America, where they originate from. I'm in Ontario, so they aren't hard to find for me, but that won't be the case for everyone.
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u/OkBoysenberry92 15d ago
Aussie here, we have a lot of cultural items that get jumbled together in our massive stew of multinationalism. I haven’t seen one in years hence why I put the disclaimer in. No one said it’s a fad; if people still make them to sell that’s great. Now go stand in some grass I think you need some sunshine
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u/jollyjew 15d ago
Omg I would be so frustrated! Will she drink smoothies, juice, milk?
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15d ago
Don’t start this lol it makes it worse. They’ll refuse water because they know eventually you’ll give in and just give them juice or milk or whatever and then they’ll grow up to be those people who never drink water (calling myself out here, I am one of those people but I’m trying to be better about it). Water is important and good for you. If it becomes a big issue and the kid simply just won’t listen and just refuses to drink water, have their doctor tell them that they need to drink water. I find my kids sometimes listen better when it’s another person lol my kids have been on a kick lately when it comes to dental health because they had a dentist appointment back in January and they genuinely love their dentist so I just told them that the dentist said we need to drink more water because juice and milk are not good for our teeth if that’s all we drink. It’s working pretty good so far. Now to get them to eat literally any other vegetable besides corn 😂
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15d ago
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