Getting 9 Month Old to Take Sippy

Please, please let him be a baby. I am not one of those mom that give their baby/child a bottle, binky etc. After one. And maybe i have just had it easy but i will tell you i have gave all my kids including my 9 mth old bottles with milk and then everything else with a sippy. The day after their first birthday i take bottles and binkies away. Believe me it is easier to do it then then wait, it only gets harder the longer you wait. Make it a slow adjustment and by age one you will be fine.

I had issues with the sippy as well- except my baby refused to take anything but a cup with a straw. She really loves it though- you might want to try him on a straw instead. Good luck!

Hi Jamie -- My little girl was also exclusively breastfed. She just turned one, but we started trying to introduce a sippy cup at about 9 months. She would sip water and diluted juice from a regular cup but resisted every sippy cup we tried, until we tried the "take-a-long" disposable ones. They aren't as spill proof but they were the only thing that she drink from for several months. She is now using her Nuby straw cup and the Avent magic trainer for juice/water, along with the take-a-longs. One thing that I started doing with her was taking a drink myself and doing a loud "Haaa-Chhaa-Chaaa" afterwards. She seemed to think I was having a good ol' time and wanted to join in.

Its hard to be a first time mom, you want to do everything right for your little one. I wouldn't worry about how he is getting the milk, as long as he is getting it. With my first we tried to do everything by the "book" just like our ped told us, she is our pickiest eater. My other two we were much more relaxed and threw the "book" out the window, and they eat everything we place in front of them and don't fight us on any type of nutrition. All my children were over a year before we took them off the bottle, infact my last child was 3 before he would give up the before bed bottle. All of this is a "no no" in the ped field. But here is my advice to you, relax! You can not make your child do something He/she does not want to do. Its all about their timing and they go through phases constantly. What may work today will not work two days or two weeks from now. And the ped doesn't live with you, they are not the one getting up in the middle of the night feeding, consoling or trying to get them to eat or drink what they need. So do what is best for your family, the more relaxed you are the more relaxed your baby will be. Good luck!

I had a breastfed daughter that didn't take to the sippy for awhile. I agree with the no bottle after 1 thing. I think that necessity is the best teacher in these situations. As I weaned her, I replaced each nursing session with a sippy. It took her awhile to take to it, but when she realized it was that or nothing, she started taking it & hasn't looked back. A few days of low fluids isn't going to hurt your son & you'd be amazed at how much fluid he's getting in his food. I think it's great to offer the sippy to him often, just to get him used to the idea & keep his bottle as a backup. Then, as he gets to about 11 months, start weaning off of the bottle & only give the sippy as an option. If he knows the bottle will always show up, he'll wait & drink from that. If he realizes that it's the sippy or nothing, he'll learn to love his sippy in a hurry.

I know there are a lot of opinions on this, but i was not one much for bottles. About 9 months, we also went to sippies. that said, mine also didn't drink much milk and it turned out they are intolerant to cow milk anyway (I had to stop nursing my first at 9 months because I was pregnant and the second one just didn't want to nurse after 6 and both were on soy formula afte that.) So, I I would so, just go sippy. Stick with a metho that works and stay consistant. She will figure it out once she knows there is no other option. also, I wouldn't worry too much about her in take of ounces. I was always told, if they are growing, eating foods, don't worry about the milk so much. I made sure they ate calcium rich foods like brocolli, spinach, and yogurt. Oh, and I did use a bottle for the after dinner/before feeding but that was about it.

You might see if there's a cup he likes better. We spent about $100 on rejected sippy cups, but we did finally find two he liked. One by Nuby, short and fat with a trainer spout and the Avent Trainer cup. Both are easier to use, the Nuby is very similar to a bottle. The Avent is more spill proof. He still likes the Avent. He chewed through the Nuby nipples. GL! I hope you find something that works for you!

every time it's meal time, give him the sippy. I used to do it last, but changed to first. For me, it's to keep my boy from acting like he's too hungry for baby food

My youngest also hates sippy cups and never took to them. Fine by me! I absolutely loathe washing those tiny holed lids! However, he loves using a straw. So we skipped the sippies alltogether and us has always used a cup with a straw. There are lots of options out there. BTW-breastfed only; weaned at 18 months; started cup at 7 months. Now he drinks from a straw or regular cup like everyone else in the house.

I tried giving my little guy (just turned 1) a sippy cup around 9 months and he wasn't that interested, although occasionally he would drink water out of it. However, I tried it again at 11 months with the Nuby cup (same cup as Kimberly explained) and it was great (we used these cups for my daughter too). Give them a try and use them for maybe 1 feeding (lunch) and over a few weeks slowly add more feedings. good luck!

The sippy cup is really just a modified bottle. I started giving my kids a regular cup at 6 months. It took a lot of my help at first and made a mess (put a fluffy towel around them to abosrb spills) but they caught on pretty quick and didn't even want me to hold it by the time they were 1. I did this will all of my kids. He is definitely old enough to learn, it should over time improve his intake enough to replace the bottle but don't get rid of the bottle until he is taking eough from the cup. And the you won't have to go through it all over again to wean him from the sippy to the regular cup. You can do it!

When my little boy (4 yrs old now) was tiny, he was exclusively breastfed, and he had a hard time at first with a cup, as well. He had a hard time even with a bottle, really. I finally was able to transition him by buying a NUBY sippy cup (they make a variety of kinds) that was shaped more like a bottle and had a very soft, flexible nipple type of sippy opening. From there, I got a couple of different kind of NUBY cups, and he began to take whatever I had. (I nursed him partially until he was 13 months old, though, but he was able to start drinking out of a bottle/cup somewhere around 11 months, probably.) The key for him was the first bottle/cup I bought which looks kind of like this one: http://www.netkidswear.com/12oznunogrcu.html

Hope you find something that helps - and don't worry too much about it. Most kids figure things out when they need to, is what my experience has shown. I have two little ones (4 and 16 months) and a teen stepchild. They usually get it when they need to. So ENJOY these precious days.
K.

Hi,

I am a SAH mom of 4 sons, and I think that the push to get off the breast/bottle is really overrated... especially the breast. I breastfed all of my sons right up to the first year and beyond with 3 of them. My last 2 were breastfed until they were just about 2 for nap and bed time only. I think that your little boy may just be a bit too young to take a sippy at this point, if hes not ready, just like everything, wait a bit longer. I switched my boys over to sippy cups by the time they were around 16 months, then they had no trouble getting rid of the bottle, before then, its very much a soothing comfort thing for them. I think that he still needs the comfort, especially at daycare because its new and you are away from him. Keep trying the sippy, but I wouldn't push it too much, as long as hes getting liquid, does it really matter how at this point?

S.

My first, now 4, was in a montessori infant care. I breast fed until 7 months. At 9 months they introduced a shot glass to teach her to use a regular cup. They took away the bottle at 12 months and she did fine (cold turkey). With my second,(me now stay at home). I did the same. I breast fed until 10 months. She rarely used a bottle and went right to a shot glass then the regular cup. I only used sippy cups when travelling. Your childcare should be feeding him regular meals by now. So I wouldn't worry about his nutrition. Just dehydration. Which I think would take alot to become. Just another opinion or option. Good luck.

He is confused right now and has a lot going on. Yes, you have to stop the bottle around the year mark, but maybe waiting for sippy cups, strawed cups then is best. If he will take a bottle that may be the best way to go. Tell the daycare to please encourage the sippy cups first and only use the bottle if he won't take it. Be more concerned in the summer about dehydration, not eating so much. Keep handing him a sippy, the strawed cups were huge hits in my house.
He will get it and you might want to think to completely wean him off breast milk to get him totally on board too as if he can smell breast milk on you he is getting mixed signals about wanting the breast, not sippys, encourage just sippys at home too.

Both of my boys self-weaned totally to bottles when my milk started drying up at 4 mos. We just used the basic Walmart bottles-no fancy brand names, couldn't afford them, & they were just fine. Our older son tried his first sippy at 12 mos & threw it across the room. I weaned him down a bottle a day until he was totally on the cup (about 14 mos-he was on formula that long too), then weaned from that to the straw cups & regular cups. Our younger son wanted to be like his big brother, but he too threw the sippy the first time. Turns out, they were the leak-proof & drink-proof ones, neither boy could suck enough out at first so they gave up. I bought the cups that weren't really leak-proof w/just a rubber slit in the top of them to start drinking (again, just from Walmart).
Keep taking the bottle to daycare, but make sure they know it's a last-resort. Tell them how long you want them to wait before trying the bottle, so they don't fill the cup, offer it & get rejected once & then move to the bottle right away. It's your baby, not the ped's, as some mommies have said. You do what's right for him, books be ... um, yeah... He won't start high school w/a binkie, he won't get married w/a blankie.. they're only babies once, go by what your family needs/wants, not by what the book or the doc says always.

I wouldn't sweat it too much. Why does your Dr. say he has to be off the bottle soon? I was a pretty nieve first time mom and my first was on a bottle until age 2. She is 4-1/2 now and perfectly fine. My now 10 month old started refusing the bottle at 8 months and moved to a sippy cup on his own. I was actaully concerened it was too soon and he would not be getting some type of comfort from the bottle! I say go with whatever your kid will take. No matter what he won't to go kindergarten with a bottle. Ha-ha. Good luck.