My 1 Year Old Baby Not Urinating

by Rana

Dear Annie,
My 1 year old son has not peed for 3-4 hours. He has a cold and behaviour is normal. I have given him water to drink too.



Annie's Answer:
Hi Rana,
It is always concerning when a little one is ill, and it can be hard to get them to drink when they are not feeling well.

You might find some tips in a similar question I answered here:

Baby Not Peeing Normally

If he has a temperature, then make sure you get that under control, and of course take him to the doctor if you are concerned.

If his nose is blocked and he is having trouble swallowing or sucking, you can try inhalations and steam. Take him into the bathroom with you and build up the steam. You can use Vicks or Friars Balsam in a basin, but don't cover him like you would an adult - just let him breath it in the steamy room.

You can try ice blocks - either buy some lemonade or fruit popsicles - try to avoid artificial coloured ones if you can. You can also freeze pieces of fruit inside blocks of ice so he sucks the ice to get to the fruit. Another idea is freezing watered down juice, either fruit or vegetable.

You can also set up some water play activities, at his age, he will tend to put thing in his mouth, so will get some fluid that way. After cleaning it well, fill a bucket or the sink with clean water and give him lots of different things to play with that hold water - bottles, cups, spoons, straws different plastic containers etc. There is lots of learning in water play for a 1 year old, so it will be fun as well as hopefully increase his fluid intake. You could even sit him in the bath and let him play and drink the water!

You can have a pretend tea party if you have a child's tea-set, or improvise with plastic bottles and cups. Get him to pour you a cup of tea, and sip and drink and make lots of mmm yum noises - then do the same with him. Hopefully by playing pretend he will actually drink some!

You can also try unusual containers with water in, or funny straws. Don't worry about him getting wet as he plays, so long as he doesn't get cold of course.

I hope he gets better soon, it is hard when a small child is not well. Just give him lots of attention and cuddles and take him to the doctor if you think he needs medical attention.

All the best,
Annie Desantis