Parents limiting their child's water intake

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Limiting water/fluid did nothing for us. So if it didn't work for the OP, I can imagine the parents tried to limit water throughout the day too .. but of course didn't want to dehydrate him.

Could it have been a misunderstood doctor instruction? Then, after the move, new doctor new instructions and this time no strange misinterpretation?

Totally strange, but parenting and health philosophies go through strange cycles and fads, and maybe it all came from one of those. Whatever their reason, I'd say it backfired. Kids will find ways around things that make zero sense to them and keep their needs from being met.

Any heart conditions? (I'm assuming no)

Too much fluid in your body can make it harder for your already-weakened heart to pump. Your doctor may prescribe a diuretic to help get rid of excess fluid. He or she may also suggest that you limit liquids so that your body can get rid of the extra water and sodium.

Constipation could have been a result of not enough water in your system. My son doesn't drink enough water which I think contributes to his constipation. It could also be a result from drinking contaminated water.

I'm wondering why they called it a ritual for you. To me this says they had seen you drinking it in a way that concerned them and they wanted to break you of the habit. We sometimes do have weird habits and ways of doing things and routines with them that we may not even notice at the time but may look strange to someone else. If they had observed something like that with you and thought that by making you stop doing things that they felt stemmed from AS they could make you "act like other kids" then they might have thought that cutting out the main ingredient in whatever behavior they saw would help you, hence water only during meals.

Another thing you said that made me think there might have been some type of behavior involving water that you were either unaware of or just don't remember now, is how you would drink and drink and drink when you went to the bathroom. You don't talk about thirst really, you talk about not being allowed the water between meals so you made sure to find another way to get it. Yes, that could be just regular childhood orneriness of the type that when a parent says you can't do something you will find a way to whether you really want to or not sometimes, but I'm wondering from how you describe the bathroom drinking if maybe you did have a water ritual that you simply changed to the ritual of gulping from the faucet every time you went to the bathroom, as you said.

Something else it might be is a treatment that the doctor suggested. There have been some weird treatments for lots of things based on some scientists idea that x might effect y. The idea may have came from something they read in a book or a magazine as well.

The fact that they were so intent on keeping you from having it between meals tells me they really believed that the drinking was causing a problem or could potentially cause one. Since it stopped after your move, I second the idea that it may have came from a doctor and the new doctor said it was bs. If it was ritualized behavior they saw in you, then maybe during the move itself you changed your behavior somewhat and they felt they had been effective.

It could be one of several things, I'm sure. Not drinking water between meals doesn't seem like something that would be done to be abusive to me. From the way you describe their reactions it sounds like they were frantic to keep you away from it between meals, and that level of determination sounds exactly like what a parent would be like when trying to protect their child. I guess the thing you want to know is what they thought they were protecting you from.

If your parents are still alive I'd say it's probably a good idea to ask them. When you ask them, sound genuinely curious as to why they didn't want you to drink between meals, rather than asking why they withheld water from you between meals and not your sister, or anything in that vein.

I'm pretty curious myself now. If you find out will you post it and let us know please?

Did they do anything else you can recall that might be borderline abusive? Or just the water thing? The word ritual also makes me suspect there was something about how you were using the drinking water that they were worried about. Maybe you did compulsive stuff with the cups or the nozzle. But I'd think they would have told you about those behaviors themselves instead of saying water was only for during meals and not between and making sure to only give you a small sip of water after you had watermelon. And not restricting it for your sibling is darn weird. Even if you were drinking too much, I'd think they'd tell you that you were drinking too much and it's expensive and bad for your health. But to say that you're not supposed to drink between meals - weird. It definitely wasn't that you aren't supposed to drink "so much" between meals, right? It was more that you aren't supposed to at all? And what about other drinks?

I have an obsession with water, I drink gallons of it but I stop at 7pm or I'm up all night. When I was a kid I would tip and pour all day, these days though I'm not too bad but except talking about water does freak me out, I'm not sure why but I just get really edgy.

I'm sorry to hear you was deprived of the thing you loved, I cannot second guess why your parents would have done this.

I don't know my parents' logic behind limiting my water intake. I started around age 6, very quickly and very suddenly. After all my early childhood of being free to have water any time I asked for it, I was suddenly limited to a glass or two only with meals. Drinking water on my own accord between meals was a BIG no-no, punishable by yelling and spanking. Trying to point out that I really was thirsty and not just playing games was a waste of time: they never believed me. And I wasn't too interested in drinking water during meals, like my parents wanted me to, because there were better-flavored things to enjoy at meals.

I don't remember whether restrictions applied to other drinks. When I was thirsty, the last thing I was interested in is soda, juice, or milk. Due to the texture issues I had, those only made my thirst worse. I also don't remember the real reason my parents were so fervent about limiting my water intake; the only explanation they gave me was that drinking water on an empty stomach is bad for digestion. "Bad for digestion", I get it. But why did they limit me with the dedication of a US Marine? It's not like I was going to keel over on the spot from drinking one sip too many.

What was weirder still is my parents would say: "If you're really thirsty, go drink some water! Don't sit and suffer like a victim!" But then later, if I asked for or took some water, they'd turn around and accuse me of lying about being thirsty.

Of course, just because I have AS doesn't mean I didn't resort to underhanded tactics to get water between meals.
* As I already mentioned, I drank from the faucet, despite the chlorine taste and somewhat questionable quality.
* I timed my water requests around report cards. So I'd say: "I had a really good report card this month; can I have some water?" My parents loved good grades more than anything, so they'd usually say OK.
* I'd approach my older sister, rather than my parents, with water requests. She was not subject to restrictions like I was, and only rarely said no when I asked her. Despite being my parents' favorite kid, this is one thing she didn't rat me out about. But she was in college at the time, so she was rarely home.
* When visiting friends at their homes, I'd ask for a large glass of water. Their parents obliged.

(Also, I saw someone refer to me as "her". Wrong pronoun. )

Sounds like it was probably a misguided attempt to "correct" (read: repress) something they saw as "not normal." Probably based on bad medical advice at some point; I'd concur with others that it went away when y'all moved because the bad advice went away too.

The medical community does some pretty stupid things when it comes to autistic behaviors. It's STILL all about normalizing.

When you learn to act normal enough for them, they pay no attention to the fact that it's basically a shell and a sham and start treating you more like a human being (unless you should drop the sham), thus ensuring that the shell stays in place.

Stupid. It's about their comfort, not your functioning or well-being. Unfortunately, as things stand right now, autistics won't be allowed to function if NT's aren't comfortable with how we do it. So, maintaining NT comfort levels becomes integral to being functional.

Sorry you had to go through that. Hope now you're able to get your requisite 64 ounces a day, and then some (but not too much-- you really can get sick from guzzling).