Drinking a lot

[lizzie_71]

Over the last few weeks I have noticed one of the boys is drinking loads of water, much more than normal and much more than his brother. I wondered if this was a symptom of anything sinister?

To give a bit of background, the boys are brothers aged about 3 and a half. Charlie (the one who is drinking a lot) was diagnosed with a hernia about 6 months ago. The lump is still there but not changing in size or giving him any pain (as far as I can tell). He eats just fine and his behaviour is otherwise normal.

Should I be at all concerned?

 

[Laura-CCC4]

Hi Lizzie,

Excessive thirst can be a symptom of a few illnesses. At his age, though not old, I would wonder if it's something to do with his kidneys. How much is he actually getting through each day? What food does he tend to favour - does he eat a lot of celery, dandelions, or even parsley? Sometimes a diet high in naturally diuretic foods can increase urine output, thus increasing water intake.

 

[lizzie_71]

It's hard to tell how much he drinks as he is in with his brother, but between them they are getting through up to 100ml per day and I hardly see the other one drink, it's always Charlie.

They get dry food in the mornings and veg in the evenings, carrots figure large in their diet as we always have them in the house, but they also get broccoli, cabbage, bagged salad, cucumber, peppers, and apple fairly regularly and other stuff like spinach or parsley more rarely.

No, he isn't particularly old but obviously he has the other underlying issue that makes me worry a bit more.