My daughter is 20 months old and I've been having trouble getting her to drink her milk from a sippy cup. A few months ago I used a cup with a straw for a few days and then transitioned to a sippy cup (one of the disposable types). She did well with those.
I had purchased a few sippy cups with handles .. the ones that have the valves and she was having trouble getting the drink to come out or didn't want to be bothered with it. So here's the issue: She knows how to drink from a sippy cup. Every day she drinks her juice from the sippy. However when I try (or my mom who babysits her) to give her milk in the sippy cup instead of the bottle, she gets upset, swats at it, or has a fit. I realize that I should have been attempting to transition from the bottle around 12 months. My pediatrician (who has no children) said "Just tell your mother to throw the bottles in the trash." I really don't know what to do next or how to address this issue. Any suggestions you can provide would be greatly appreciated. Thanks!
She drinks juice only once each day... the milk several bottles each day.
I don't see the big deal personally. As long as she's eating and drinking normally..I say let her drink milk/juice out of whatever she wants.
I don't see this as a problem to get upset over. Does it REALLY bother you? You know she'll drink milk...who cares if it's out of a bottle...as long as she's getting her proper nutrition.
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I will give you a slightly different viewpoint than the others so far. I have a 30 month old. She still takes a bottle of milk before her nap and before her bed. I am not stressing about it - it sooths her and I think there's really no big deal about it. Our pediatrician has said it's fine. /the nap bottle has about an ounce of expressed milk (yes I am still pumping) mixed with cow's milk.
However, during the day, with meals etc, she drinks out of a regular cup (not a sippy). She LOVES her regular cup - we were given some plastic ones - Scooby do, snowflakes, etc - little plastic tumblers with designs and she likes them. We did start with the Nuby sippy cups that everyone recommends but really just use those in the car now. At the house we use the regular cups and she loves it. We do also use a different specific cup for each drink - water versus milk - I do think that helps them know what to expect.
Obviously it's up to you but if you aren't comfortable with cold turkey, tell her bottle are only for certain times (before nap or bed or whatever) and the rest of the time we drink out of regular cups. My daughter always wants to be like Mommy so if it's pitched as drinking out of a cup like Mommy's all the better.
good luck!
nubby soft sippy spouts that go in the bottle i cold turkeyed mine in one day. but he had been using them awhile babies r us have them but you cant get on website has to be a store. nubby might have them on the website I never checked
i am a mom, and i'll tell you, you either allow her to drink out of a bottle, or you don't. if you allow it, she will keep doing it. so yes, i agree with your childless pediatrician. just lose 'em. it really is that simple. keep in mind she doesn't need juice either, as long as she is eating a balanced diet. it's really just another way for her to avoid drinking milk and water. i understand you feel at a loss as to what to do, but unfortunately, you're the mom. so you either allow this behavior to continue, or you put a stop to it. since she knows you'll cave when she acts out, she'll keep doing it. unless it stops working. it's that simple. step up and be the mom, putting your foot down is for her own good. or take the easy way out and allow her to drink nothing but juice, and/or carry a bottle around till she starts kindergarten. up to you.
we went through this with both my kids and what worked for us was to only give them milk in a sippy cup and until they drank it they didn't get anything else...sounds cruel, but it worked. It was actually my pediatrician's idea as it worked for his kids. Make sure you hide the bottles so that your daughter doesn't see them. We also brought the kids to the store & let them pick out what take'n toss cup they wanted to use for their milk. Good luck & stay strong
I recommend the Nuby cups as well. They were good for transitioning from a bottle.
Our daughter went to sippy cup exactly on her first birthday.. I threw all of the bottles away. I took her to the store a few days before her birthday to pick out her cup and then told her she "could not" use it till her birthday..That morning I placed it in front of her and she went to town..
Another mom posted earlier this week that she realized her daughter likes her milk out of a clear sippy cup for her milk, but is willing to use a colored or opaque cup for everything else..
I do think a rubber top makes more sense for milk, since they are so used to sucking milk..
We had the same trouble with both girls! Our youngest is still rejecting the milk, which somehow changes flavor once it hits the sippy cup. We continue to try new approaches while supplementing with as many other dairy sources as we can manage with a toddler. Unfortunately, kids develop these little personalities and insist on asserting their own opinions even when it's not so pleasant for us as parents. Life is all about experimentation and compromise with toddlers. The approach that finally worked with our oldest is really quite strange, but you might be able to apply the concept... I often have Dunkin Donuts iced coffee on the weekends, and she admired the cup with the straw. We couldn't use just any old cup with a straw though; it had to be one of Mommy's DD cups. For a couple of months, she sat with a gigantic DD cup in front of her and happily took her milk again because she was "a big girl drinking from Mommy's cup" and that was much better than the bottle in her eyes. She is nearly 4 now and drinks milk from absolutely anything we put it in. Those bottles are like gold to your daughter, so try to find something even more precious and make a big deal about how grown up she is getting by using that. Praise about being a big girl can go a very long ways in making changes like this. You may go through 20 different variations, but you will eventually find the answer. Definitely throw the bottles away so they are not an option though. Hang in and know that this will not go on forever! :o)
Maybe the way her palate is formed she's getting liquid up her nose. Sippy cups are a new invention, throw them out. You daughter is your friend for life. If she doesn't like the sippy cup, trust her judgement and get something else.
We use different colored sippy cups in our house, the milk is always in one particular color/style cup so visually she associates it with milk. That helps her make the distinction btw milk and juice in the cups. Perhaps if you try a milk in a different style sippy cup, then leave her alone with it (maybe in her crib to try it). If she is thirsty, she'll drink it.
At 20 months, she doesn't need handles. I would just put those away and get out a cup that she will drink out of. the gerber ones we have found are fantastic, the lids all fit each other, and they have the leak-proof insert.
Good luck!
