Introducing water to an 18mo old at night- tips? pretty please?

[MommyJogger]

So I basically have no milk left due to this pregnancy- very token amounts even though he seems happy to dry-ish nurse. But our bedroom gets very dry at night, even with the humidifier running. I know his throat gets parched.
So here's the situation:
We cosleep and when he wakes to nurse because of a dry mouth/throat, he barely wakes up at all. If I try to sit him up (as I've done in the past, when he needed to burp out a gas bubble to get comfortable for example), he wakes up fully and starts to cry and is very unhappy about being sat up in general, has done so since about 14 months whereas before he didn't care what I did to him while he was asleep.
Has anyone tried to give their laying-down toddlers a straw or the spout of a no-spill sippy when they rouse and start looking for a boob?
Did anyone else have a kid that hated being sat up, but quickly got used to it when they realized that the new thing is to drink some yummy water at night?
I'm not sure how to go about this. I'm a little afraid I'll piss him off in my first attempts and make him really not want the water at night, but I don't think I'm going to magically have more milk in the next few weeks and I know he wakes up pretty uncomfortable from the lack of liquids at night.
Thanks for any suggestions or experiences!

 

[seaweed eater]

I haven't had that issue. Mine wakes fully and sits up almost right away. But he does sometimes drink from his sippy cup while almost lying down (I sit him up but he likes to lean back). So I think you could try that with yours and see how he takes to it. Maybe, as you said, he'll get used to the idea of sitting up when he's used to the water.

My worry would be that he could drink it too fast and choke if he's not quite awake and used to slower flow? I don't know what to suggest though other than just trying it...

Congrats on your pregnancy!!

 

[MommyJogger]

Thanks! We tried it the other night-- complete disaster, lol. He knew right away that it wasn't a boob and I think it freaked him out a little bit. I've been debating whether or not to put the water in a bottle and see if he takes it better that way. I was a little worried about him choking on it, too, but I've always had a faster flow than any of the newfangled, nearly impossible to drink from, no-spill sippies on the market. I tried sitting him up for it last night and he didn't take to that very kindly.
DH suggested water or donated emb in a SNS, but I feel like that would be super overkill and I'd be taking milk that could otherwise go to a younger baby in a worse situation than we're in. I guess I just keep trying to sit him up for a few more nights after a few wakings when I know he's thirsty enough to really want it and see if he'll get the hang of it.
Thanks for responding! This feels like the clumsiest thing I've ever stumbled through and I feel like an idiot because I know most people manage this much earlier than I've had to.

 

[seaweed eater]

Don't feel like an idiot. Your son has been lucky to have been able to just drink your milk for so long!

Does he drink water during the day then? Or is this the first circumstance in which you've introduced water?

We use the Take n Toss sippies. They are not "no spill" but they won't spill if the spout is in his mouth (they won't leak around the edges or anything). And they are easy to drink from.

This might be a dumb and obvious suggestion, but you are talking to him about the water and about having to sit up, right? Not just sitting him up without explaining? Because obviously his receptive language is good by now so that could really help if you're not doing it...I assume you are but I just can't tell from your posts.

 

[MommyJogger]

He's had water with food from 6 months and has had free access to water all day from around 9 months, it's just the first time I've had to do it at night because nursing was so much easier.
We used take n toss during the day when he was younger-- they were the only ones he could easily get liquid from until about a year. He uses a cup during the day now and sometimes a cheap little plastic dollar store juice box filled with water when he's in an "I'm going to pour this out all over the place" mood.
Definitely not a dumb question. I talk him through it when we're going to sit up and have some water. His dad doesn't, because he thinks it disturbs him less. I'm still not sure which way is better. He's less upset when his dad does it, but I don't know whether that's because he knows dad isn't "supposed" to have milk or because DH is right about the talking disturbing him. We played musical beds last night and made sure that DS knew he was falling asleep on the same surface as his dad and had DH do the water. He drank it and still wanted to nurse a little after before rolling over toward DH and falling back asleep, but we're cool with that as long as he's getting some liquid on his throat at night when he wakes during this cold snap. It'll all be moot in a few weeks when we're not having to run our baseboard heat quite so much to keep it above freezing in the bedroom. Thank goodness for spring. I've been counting down the days until dry winter air is over for months now. Hopefully this is our last winter this far north.

 

[vintagecat]

I think my daughter has been waking up for the same reason. We have a small electric heater in her room at night and it is on a low setting, but it has gotten drier lately with the snow. She normally sleeps through and doesn't need to nurse, but she must have a dry throat lately. Can't wait until winter is over!