Sippy Cup - Haslet, TX

My kids were also exclusively breastfed and while they would not go anywhere near a bottle, I don't remember having problems with them drinking out of a cup. They wanted to be grown-up I think. Maybe keep the cup in the fridge, and allow her to "get" it for herself, you open the door and she can take it out of the door or the bottom shelf. The only other thing I can think of is to make a big fuss and call her a big girl if she even picks up the cup. Don't worry about her drinking, just praise and encourage her to pick up the cup. I think drinking will come soon enough if she gets to the point that she wants to hold it.

You know, a lot of things with kids they just do in their own time. Keep encouraging and at some point she will figure out that she can drink from the sippy cup faster than nursing. Busy little bodies don't want to stop for things like drinking. Her natural preferences will probably take over and one day she will just be totally on board for the cup thing.

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My first thought is that she may not be ready for a sippy cup yet. I would probably do bottles with formula (since that what the doc recommends) until 1 year. If you are determined to go for the sippy cup already, I'l tell you that my daughter had trouble with the sippy cup too. She actually figured out the straw first. I would hold my finger at the end of the straw to trap liquid in and then let it go in her mouth. After a little while she figured out she could suck it out. Then we moved to a cup with a "no spill" straw. Once she got that, she magically seemed to get the sippy cup too. Dont' worry too much. She'll get it eventually.

Good morning, S.,

Congratulaitons on breast feeding your baby girl for 8 months! I breast feed my son until he was 2 1/2 & encountered the same problem when introducing a sippy cup. We had the best luck with a cup/lid/straw with him. Just keep trying....it will take some time.

K.

S.,

What kind of sippy cup are you using? Make sure it's soft and a 1st stage type of cup - and handles are always nice. My favorite is the Nubby sippy cup with handles (or without if she'll do it).

Also if you are using a cup that has a spout (the Nubby's don't) then try taking the spout out (assuming she won't even suck on it) -- she might not realize what is in there. I would stick to water or milk in the cup and not juice at that early age - but that is just my unsolicited opinion. :)

Good luck and great job breastfeeding!

T.

I had a similar problem although my son was closer to a year. Nothing doing, no interest in a sippy cup. Then we had a friend come stay for a weekend who had a little girl that was two months older. She was waaaay into her sippy cup and my son couldn't take his eyes off of her. He mimicked everything she did...including suddenly taking interest in a sippy cup...esp. when she tried to take his! By the time she had left, he was drinking from his cup. So maybe you should invite some sippy cup drinkers over for some baby time!

VickiS

I think you should give her a regular cup with water(no sippy cup) and see how she likes that. You really should let her develop a taste for water. Also...while holding her in your lap, take a drink of something healty and ask her if she wants to share your drink with you. She will want to be like Mommy maybe. If that doesnt work then she is probally just not ready. Try pumping some breast milk and wein her to a bottle first and then maybe try a sippy cup.
I could go on forever but I guess I've said enough
Good Luck!

Have you tried different sippy cups? I also have an 8 month old who doesn't like much of anything but the breast. She will drink water out of a playtex sippy(the first sipster).

She may just be a little too young yet. At 8 months, she doesnt understand what that thing you are putting in front of her is. I would just keep it up, give her the cup when she is at her highchair, just have it sitting there even if she isn't drinking from it, its there. And keep up the BF, I didn't wean mine unitl they were 13months and had no trouble at all getting them to take the cup

Have you tried different types of sippy cups or a regular cup with or without straw? She may not be opposed to the liquid as much as she is the cup itself. My daughter started trying sippys at 7 months and would only take the Nuby silicone straw cups, but by the time she was 10 months she would use anything else. I went to a bottle for milk when I quit breastfeeding until she was 12 months, then that very day we switched to Sippy's only and had no troubles.

S.,

My grandson will be one tomorrow. I finally got him to drink out of the sippy cups made of rubber instead of plastic. It helps for his teething as well and he enjoys making new "gum against rubber sounds", hope this helps. You can also get a ring pop which has a net that you can put ice in and she will suck on that consistently to get the feel of sucking. Check with wal-Mart or Target, if money is no option then go to Toys R Us.
Grandma D.

She's 8 months. That's a baby. Put her on the bottle. Then try the cup closer to one year.

Don't rush it - she'll grow up soon enough.

Mine are exclusively BF also. We went to a sippy w/ a straw. They already have a good sucking reflex, so they've done great. Babies R Us or Target has a nice selection.

Nuby makes a sippy cup with a silicone (soft) sipper, so it's not quite a shock for the baby. It comes with handles, so it's easier for kiddos to hold. Here's a link to the product on Amazon, so you can see what I'm talking about.

http://www.amazon.com/No-Spill-Spout-Handles-Neutral-Colo...

How about a straw cup?

S., my first was breastfed and refused to take a bottle. When we started to wean her at 9-10 months, she refused a sippy cup, too. Our saving grace was when we let her drink from one of our soda cups one day, and she liked the straw! We bought a straw cup (we like Munchkin because they don't leak), put breast milk in it, and she went right to it. After a week or two, we just started using formula. So, we never had to deal with bottles-we went from breast to straw cup, and she's done just fine.

My daughter was also exclusively breastfed for the 1st 6 months. We started using one of the Nuby sippy cups sometime during the 7th month, just with water. At first, we would only use it in places where she wouldn't be able to get breast anwyay--in the car, in the stroller, on the move. It was something new, yet still soft, and she liked it.

Don't ween her yet. She isn't ready. Maybe just try to cut down on the number of times you breastfeed (Wake-up, nap, after lunch/dinner, bedtime) Pick up Dr. Sears' book on breastfeeding. It will help you to understand when she may be ready to ween, and how to best go about it. When a baby is ready, they will almost self ween. Breatmilk is the best food you can give your baby. Don't stop trying to give her a cup with other liquid. My kid only likes milk and water. He won't drink juice, maybe she doesn't like the sweet stuff either. She will get the hang of the cup. You might also try to just give her a regular cup at a high chair. Some breastfed babies don't like to suck on hard things, so you may try a soft tipped sippy if the regular cup thing doesn't go so well. Good Luck!! & good for you for b-f'ing your baby. You gave her the best start possible.

I have read most of your responses and I also had a problem getting my kids to switch from breastfeeding. I used the soft topped NUBY cups as has been sugested those were the only ones my kids would use and I pumped breastmilk for them. They wouldn't use a sippy cup if I was in the room though. Perhaps someone else could try feeding some expressed breastmilk from the cup while you are not in the room.
Hope this helps.
Good Luck
J.

Our son took forever in learning how to use a sippy cup...almost 4 mths. He's a breastfed only baby too, so I thought he wouldn't ever get it! So don't give up! At 7 mths old, he started with a Gerber Fun Grips Soft starter spill proof cup. Dr told us to take valve out and offer water for training purposes. With the valve out, this cup is not as free-flowing like many others so it was less messy. But seriously, it took him a super long long long time, and finally he did get it! Just keep trying. I weaned him at 13 mths old, and he eventually learned that milk comes from a cup too.

I wouldn't push too hard as she is pretty young but w/ my daughter i had to take out the piece that slows the flow and provide her w/ little sips so she could understand there was juice in it! I couldn't get her at first to suck on it to realize there was a point to me putting it to her mouth. And I had to do that for a few weeks provide her a few controlled sips a day and then she got it. Now she can drink out of it w/ the piece in. Time and repetition.

I have a suggestion:

Try a cup with a straw; there are some that are supposed to be leak-proof. It is actually better for baby's forming mouth.

To introduce her to it:

1. Put some juice in a regular cup and us a straw as a dropper.
2. Start making her "work" for the drink (once she decides she likes what's in it) by keeping your finger on the end of the straw.
3. Next see if she will suck on the straw like "normal".
4. Begin putting the drink into the leak-proof cup.

I hope it helps. :o)

Blessings,

P. <><

Hi S.,
My personal opinion is that she may be too young at this point to try putting her on a sippy cup. My twins and my friends kids all started sippy cups at 11 - 12 months. Just a few months makes a big difference in their skills. I would just try again later. You may also want to try the nuby sippy cups too.
Hope this helps,
Debra

Try bottle first (start feeding her with your breast and finish with the bottle) and let her adjust to that. Then move over completely to bottle once adjusted then move to the Nuby sippy cups they have a soft spout once adjusted then try the reg sippy cups after that.

I am sure it is a shock to her system moving from the soft texture of mom to a hard piece of plastic.

Hi S.,
I just weaned my "almost" 12 mo old. We started trying sippy cups around 8 months too and she's just now taking them exclusively... no bottles either. I bought all kinds of "special" cups, but we finally found one that worked like a charm... Its the Boon sippy cup, found at Babies R Us. Its shaped like a bagel or dough nut, with a spout at to, but no diaphram-stopper thing. She didn't have to hold it upside down which seemed to be a big issue. We just started with water, that's still all she'll drink, no juice or milk. But it did the trick. It DID take about 3 months though, so stay consistent, she will switch soon... some babies like the independence of the cuppy. Mine didn't. She was totally into the boobie! She stopped asking 2 days ago and hasn't had it since. I started dropping feedings abuot a month ago, so it hasn't even bothered me a bit.
Good luck, you can research Boon products on google. I think they are great, however they do tend to leak more than Gerber cups.

seems to young... move to a bottle w/ pumped milk or eventually formula until at least 1 year old then re-introduce sippy cups....
try and stay away from juices... until a little older--use water

You may have heard this already as I haven't read your responses, but I nursed as well and found the soft-tipped NUBY sippy cups as the best to start and then gradually moved to more hard tipped ones. But, I also used and had luck with the Nuby straw sippy cups-they have a soft plastic straw that folds down into a lid when you close the lid. These work great for us in the car when the child can't tilt his/her head very well but I will warn you that they can be a pain to clean if the liquid inside happens to turn to yuck.
Also, if you nurse, then you should put some pumped breast milk in the sippy cup at first or at least rice milk (it tastes simular to breast milk, sort of sweet and watery) or water so it is not something completely new that will make her feel that NOTHING about a sippy is natural or comforting. She will want SOMETHING, ANYTHING familiar to her. Juice is not that great anyways b/c of all the sugar (added and/or natural)-many babies are not used to things that sweet (even if 100% juice) and don't like it at first. Plus it can be bad on teeth as well if they drink too much of it down the road, thus you could be incouraging the start of a bad habit. I'd give juice later, after she has mastered the sippy and even then, watered down!

Hope this helps!
Good Luck!
T.

She's a bit young for sippy cups. Some kids do take to cups early, but generally speaking, you are better off waiting until she's about a year old. Essentially, that is what she is telling you . . . I'm not ready yet, mom! And when you do try again, be consistent with what you put in the cup. In a month's time you tried too many different beverages, which further confused her. Pick one beverage to start (how about water?), and once she's comfortable with that one beverage, then introduce another. For the most part, big changes such as this need to be introduced gradually. Good luck!

My daughter was hard to get onto a sippy cup until a friend suggested the Nuk brand. It has a large soft nipple and she took to it immediately at about 7 months. A lot of kids like Nubby, but my daughter wouldn't take it. They have Nuk at Wal-Mart, but I've never found it anywhere else. Good luck.

My twins were exclusively breastfed for a year. I always kept a sippy cup of water near them and they would eventually take sips. When they were about 11 months, I also started offering them milk in the sippy cup, which they didn't really like. I started weining at 11 months and I decided that as long as they were getting enough milk from me and at least a little water, I knew they wouldn't get as much milk as they needed, but I decided not to worry. It wasn't until I was completely finished breastfeeding that they took a significant amount of milk from the cup. It was probably a couple of days. I bet your little one will do the same.

D.

I tried the sippy cups with the rubber nipple that resembles the bottle. My son loved it and after he got used to it I started him on the regular cups and e does fine now.

My middle one would never do a sippy sup, but boy did she love straws. Try the cups with a straw and see how she does.

S.,
I just want to let you know that it is okay to wean now. I weaned my son at 6 months (he had like 5 teeth) and he still loves me : ) People on this site will try to make you feel bad that you're doing it before a year but everyone is different and it's YOUR preference. Some women don't BF at all! You've given your little girl 8 months of BF and that is awesome! I just don't want you to feel bad about it. Best of luck with the sippy cup... I'm still trying to get Jackson to take one.

That seems really young. Try a bottle.

Our son was not breastfed for long, however he became rather attached to his bottle! When it was time to wein him from bottled milk, we tried all the different sippy cups but he would not take milk in any of them! We tried a regular kid's cup so to this day, a few months later, he still only takes milk from a regular cup (we hold it for him or it spills all over the place). At least he's drinking it!

I think that you are trying to wean her a little early to a sippy cup. Why don't you try weaning her to a bottle first----that gets her away from the nursing---and gives her mobility when she drinks---those will help the transistion to a sippy cup in a few months---introduce a straw in there somewhere to get her to hearn to suck in a different manner from nursing---she does not have a clue about sipping from a cup at this point! Do it grandually!

Me--Mom of 2--Nana of 3!

I agree with a lot of the other Mamas...your little one is probably too young. I started letting my DD play with a sippy cup at about 9 months (empty) I would demonstrate it on a doll just playing, no pressure. She just naturally gravitated toward it on her own. It helps that she was a very independent baby that was getting tired of being held during a feeding, and she liked the sippy-cup freedom!

S. there are juice cups at the grocery store in the juice isle. They are shaped similar to a bottle but have cartoon character head's on them. ie...Barney, Winnie the Pooh, Clifford...etc. The head's are shaped close to a nipple like design. That is how we got our DD off of the "ninny" they're also leak proof, we've purchased all of them at one time or another and have never had a problem with them leaking. That is what I really like. And they're dishwasher safe! Good luck!

My youngest; now 19mo's didn't like the sippy either so I just started putting milk and water (we don't drink juice) in my cup and giving him a straw. At first he didn't know what to do w/the straw but as I put my finger on the top and let him "suck" it out the bottom he thought it was fun and soon learned to suck it on his own. I then just got the sippies w/the straw and valla; a miracle in my life:) Good luck!

Hi S.. Has your doctor recommended starting a sippy cup? I have 2 kids, and I think that is a little early. Both of mine were breast fed for a year+ (1 never ever took a bottle), and 12 months seemed to be a good time for each of them to try the sippy cup. My daughter only would drink from the Nuby, and I think the soft straw type of sippy cups (Nuby makes one of these too) worked well for each of them. Good luck!