14 Month Old Not Drinking

I would say at this point she may do better seeing an ORL physician. They are specialists in the eyes, ears, nose and mouth/throat. Four ounces a day in not enough fluids for a small child. I would say 24 ounces is a much more acceptible amount. I have been dehydrated this past month with bronchitus and told my doctor I was thinking about adding Gatorade and she said that it is basically flavored salt water and increased dehydration also carbonated water increases dehydration too. So if you do give gatorade to her then make sure she has enough water to offset the salt effect.

The antibiotic may be making her tummy feel yucky, swallowing may be hard due to ear pain, throat sensitivity, my taste buds get "off" when I am sick, nothing tastes good, think about when you feel like she is feeling right now.

Check on the web for ideas of things she will get more hydration out of, like the others said previously, jello, popsicles, etc...fruit is good too, grapes have a diuretic effect so I don't know if they are a good idea or not, find some things your girl likes and let her pick what she is most comfortable with.

Just a last bit of information I'd like to pass on. My youngest grandson turned 1 year old a week or so ago and I'd like to pass on his story. He was born with drugs in his system and had some of the physical symptoms like always crying, being inconsolible, etc...we didn't think anything about the crying except it was just from the drugs and would work it's way out of his system. He didn't run a fever very often and he went to the doctor if he was ill. He had a constant runny nose and would gag on the snot when taking a bottle. Around 5 months we had started noticing he didn't follow us when we were talking to him. We set up hearing screening for him with an Pediatric ORL Doctor, during the testing he didn't even respond to the bass drum being banged by his head. It was determined he was deaf.

To make the story shorter I'll skip to the part about the tubes they put in his ears. The doctor had to clean out debris for over an hour on each ear. The baby had experienced numerous ear infections that the antibiotics hadn't cleared up. The poor baby had to be in so much pain...the tubes and the cleaning worked and he can hear just fine now. He may have permanant damage but they feel he will be within an acceptible range and not have to have any devices to help his hearing such as implants or hearing aids.

my son did this one time with ear infection. it hurts them to suck on bottle/sippy cup.
So we had him sit in our lap and gave him regular cup of juice/water/milk and he did great. much easier for them to drink when sick. Or try a sweet drink that they wouldnt usually get, bribery?

Popsicles! Sherbert! Italian Ice! Jello! Fruit! Soup! Anything.
The important thing is to get liquids into her. Keep in mind that when kids get dehydrated, you'd think the logical reaction is that they'll get thirsty--but it's the opposite--they'll drink less and the severity of the dehydration will increase. Please call the nurse at your ped's office and at least talk to her, even of you don't want an office visit.

try popsicles. all kids love them!! She'll think she's getting spoiled and you will have a little relief that she's getting the much needed fluids. My son has had numerous ear infections and many times with no fever. So frusterating as a mother when you have a sick baby!! Good luck!!

She probably still has the infection- keep giving her the antibiotic until it's all gone. Also, if it is one that you give twice a day, it helps to give it as close to every 12 hours as you can so that it is constantly in her system. I would wait until finishing the antibiotic and see if she is still sick before bringing her back in. As for getting her to drink more, my son loves the fruit flavored Pedialyte and he loves drinking out of little cups- like the kind that you would use for medicine, and cups with cool straws...those might be worth a shot. Jello is usually a hit. You could also try Gatorade or juice mixed with carbonated water.
It sounds like she is probably fine though. I was always told to make sure my son was peeing every 6-8 hours and if he wasn't, to bring him back in.
If she keeps getting infections or it wont go away, she may have to get tubes. My son had many ear infections and when he had an ear infection for 5 or 6 weeks straight and it wasn't getting better with any of the antibiotics I decided to finally go through with it and he has been fine ever since. When he had the tubes put in, the doctor said that it was "awfully foul" [referring to the sticky infected fluid that was just stuck in his ear] and that it was a good thing he was able to have that cleaned out, because that can actually cause damage to the inner ear too.
Anyway, keep counting the wet diapers and try not to worry!