S.P. asks from Keokuk, IA on June 11, 2010
Bottle vs Sippy Cup - Keokuk,IA
My daughter just turned one and I am weaning her off the formula and onto Vit D milk. Currently we are still using bottles for the milk (3 times a day) but I am wanting to start switching it to sippy cups. The thing is, I have tried sippy cups with her a few times and she doesn't really get much out of them. How do you do the switch so they still get the milk that is needed?
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D.B. answers from Charlotte on June 11, 2010
Try lots of types of sippy cups, including cups with straws. Take away all the bottles. To keep her from getting dehydrated if she is balking, offer lots of fruit or pedialyte popsicles for a few days while she makes the transition.
The only way she is going to learn to drink from a cup is offering only the cup. Bite the bullet and go ahead and do it. That will keep you from having a toddler walking around with a bottle, holding it by the nipple, dropping it and getting germs all over that nipple she then sticks in her mouth. If she's not walking yet, she will be soon.
Good luck!
D.
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D.B. answers from Charlotte on June 11, 2010
Try lots of types of sippy cups, including cups with straws. Take away all the bottles. To keep her from getting dehydrated if she is balking, offer lots of fruit or pedialyte popsicles for a few days while she makes the transition.
The only way she is going to learn to drink from a cup is offering only the cup. Bite the bullet and go ahead and do it. That will keep you from having a toddler walking around with a bottle, holding it by the nipple, dropping it and getting germs all over that nipple she then sticks in her mouth. If she's not walking yet, she will be soon.
Good luck!
D.
2 moms found this helpful
L.A. answers from Austin on June 11, 2010
Ditto Dana. I told our daughter that on her Birthday "all of the bottles will be gone", because she was going to be a big girl and "get to drink" from a sippy cup like the big kids. I even took her to the store and let her pick one out.. (I purchased 2 in case one was lost). I let her hold it and look at it, but kept saying "on your birthday, you get to use your new cup!"
The night before her birthday, I got rid of anything to do with bottles. The next morning for breakfast I asked her if she wanted milk or juice.. For gifts the family gave her a ton of sippy cups, so each morning I let her decide which one she wanted to use.
She only used the sippy for about 4 months, then wanted to drink from a regular cup.. In the car she drank from a sippy. Don't get me wrong, we only put a little in her cup at a time and would pour a little more in each time it was empty.
When she was 2 I went to drop something off at her daycare and was shocked to see that the 2 year olds all drank from regular cups AND poured their own milk from a small pitcher! They even passed the pitcher to the next child.. It was awesome!
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M.K. answers from Stationed Overseas on June 11, 2010
When she sits down for a meal give her the sippy cup. Not the bottle. Eventually she will pick it up and give it a try. I would start off with the ones that have a rubber tip and handles. At 12 months her hands may be too small to grasp a cup with no handle. And try the sippy cup yourself to see if it's working well. We have a couple of Learning Curve cups that even I can't get anything out of. And do it consistently, every meal and don't leave it out.
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D.W. answers from Indianapolis on June 11, 2010
The only thing that worked for us with 2 kids was to go cold turkey. Our son is 4 today, and on his first birthday, we packed-up all the bottles and only gave him sippy cups as an option. He had no interest before that despite multiple attempts to transition. Same with our daughter.
Both took to them immediately when the option was no longer there.
Good luck!
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E.I. answers from Duluth on June 12, 2010
this is one of those parenting things that suck majorly. i cant say i have direct personal experience, but it seems like this is something you just have to do. you have to cut it off cold turkey. this is one of the downsides of bottles. :(
remember that the amount of milk that she needs is literally smaller than you think it is. i think its along the lines of 2 small cups a day. dont let our american huge portions get the best of you here; talk to your doctor about serving sizes, perhaps bring along the sippy cups that you have and see how much is actually in them.
one thing i do know is that its much more important for her to have water. milk only at meals, juice one small cup a day or less; it is much more beneficial to give her real fruit rather than juice.
there are sippy cups out there that have a soft spout. give those a try.
otherwise, you just have to do it. literally, put them away, and dont offer them anymore. hopefully shes not using them at bedtime; that is bad for teeth... so though that is the hardest one to cut out, you have to start watering down the milk until its all water so that shes not having milk from a bottle, ONLY from a cup. make sense? good luck
K.B. answers from Minneapolis on June 14, 2010
With my kids, when it came to milk and formula - we gave the milk in the sippy cup and kept giving the formula in the bottle.
There are so many different sippy cups out there and you would need to find the right one for your little one..heck even I have had a hard time sucking out of sippy cups when I tried, after wondering why they weren't drinking much, only to find out it is very hard to get anything out.
V.E. answers from Minneapolis on June 12, 2010
For both my kids I started with sippy cups that have a soft sippy part and took the sippy part out of the cover so the milk just came out. Then I slowly started to put that part back in so it wouldn't spill all over. Try a few different brands out to see what she likes because each child is different.
S.W. answers from Minneapolis on June 12, 2010
I am not a fan at all of this recent invention called a sippy cup. They are unecessary and seem to cause one more stressful transition for moms and babies. My daughter never would drink out of a sippy cup - you have to suck really hard to get anything out of them. Then we tried taking out the valve and then they spill anyway.
My daughter learned how to drink out of a regular glass at about 14 months. She had a bottle of milk twice a day (until she was 3), and regular small glass (no cover) at mealtimes. She got plenty to drink, she got to suck - as all babies need to, and she has perfect straight healthy teeth.
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