Is my baby the only who hates juice and sippy cups?

[lmariana]

We started to introduce juice to Gabe at around 9 months old, and it didn't go over well. Well, now at nearly 11 months, he still hates it. He won't have anything to do with it! Is this common? Should I keep on encouraging it? I know kids don't ever need juice, but it's such a standard snack.

He doesn't really like any beverages. He's never excited to get his bottle, will not drink from a sippy cup to save his life, and won't drink juice out of a cup or bottle. The ONLY fluid he likes is water from a grown-up glass. So, as we approach the 1-yr milestone, I know we're supposed to get rid of the bottle, but I'm worried that he'll never take to a sippy.

Can someone explain the whole transition from bottle to "real stuff"?

Thanks!

Mariana
www.heinzandmariana.com
Mother of Gabriel, 08/14/2003

[murpheyblue]

I'd love to hear the answer to this as well. DD will not use a sippy cup. She'll chew on the spout a bit but does not drink from it. When I started trying to introduce it I put some water in it and whenever she tasted it she'd grimace and make a yucky face. I've also tried it with some diluted white grape juice which gets a little bit better reaction but she still has no interest whatsoever in drinking it.

[momma_boo]

Have you tried a straw cup? Will he not drink from a sippy b/c he can't get anything out? I initially tried a Playtex sippy with DD but she couldn't suck hard enough to get anything. I then tried a Take and Toss Sippy (from a recommendation here) and she had better luck with that, then we graduated to a regular sippy.

As for juice, I don't give her juice at all. Once or twice I've tried apple juice but she didn't care much for it. She drinks plenty of milk, water and drinkable yogurt, so I don't push it. Perhaps I'll try white grape juice next.

[egoldber]

My DD did not like juice until she was almost 2 1/2. Now she does like it a lot, but I limit her to about the equivalent of one juice box a day.

And there is no need to use a sippy. You can use a straw cup for convenience when out and about, but why not just use a regular cup at home? You will be saving some money and the need to wean from a sippy to a regular cup at some future date.

HTH,

[lmariana]

Thanks for the input! We've tried the straw cups, and he really likes them...well, playing with them. the second anything touches his mouth he spits it out and launches the cup. :) Maybe he's just not ready for it yet?

Mariana
www.heinzandmariana.com
Mother of Gabriel, 08/14/2003

[amp]

My DS never did really do well with a sippy cup. He didn't mind it, but had a hard time getting it to work. He is pleased as can be that he is able to use the Take N Toss straw cups! He also loves to drink from our glasses. The way I look at it is, if he's willing to drink out of more "normal" cups, meaning real ones and straw ones, versus sippy ones, all the better. That's one less thing to train him on later and one less thing to wean him off of later. I don't mind it a bit!

[sadie427]

We're trying to skip the sippy cup actually. I'm not against them, it's just that his daycare is Montessori and teaches them how to use the regular cup, and discourages sippies. I'm not wedded to that, I'm just trying to introduce the regular cup and see how it goes. It sounds like what they do at our daycare is start them with the regular cup at around a year, then slowly transition them off the bottle by around 15 months. She said they end up offering them the milk more often during the day at first, since they can't get as much from the cup as from the bottle.

At home, we've been giving Sammy sips of water, sometimes juice or formula from a small plastic cup for a while, sometimes he'll actually grab it himself and drink on his own. Of course he spills too, but mealtimes are so messy that a little spilled water doesn't matter. (Gerber makes some nice small plain plastic cups w/ sippy lids that are the right size for his hands.) I'm planning to start giving him formula in a cup pretty soon, and see if I can replace some of the bottles that way.

We also just tried juice boxes--kind of a neat way to introduce them to a straw because you can squeeze the juice up while they learn to suck on the straw. Mott's makes some tiny ones, I think around 4 oz, the only drawback is that you can't dilute the juice and I think they only come in apple and grape.

[zuzu]

Sarah doesn't like juice either, but she does love water and milk. Occasionally she will take a sip or two of mango or white grape juice from a straw, but she makes faces. She doesn't eat much fruit and often gets constipated, so I've tried mixing in a splash of juice with her water, and that does not go over well. On the advice of moms here, we tried various straw cups and she does a lot better with those that with the sippies, but we usually give her milk from a sippy, because that's how she likes to drink it at daycare. She loves to drink water from a regular glass, so we've been practicing that too. The transition from bottle to sippy/straw cup was not as hard as I thought it would be and lasted a week or two by eliminating a bottle every few days, but we still haven't given up her nighttime bottle. We'll have to tackle that soon.

I spoke with our Ped about Sarah's lack of juice consumption, and she wasn't concerned about it and said that evertything else she was eating more than made up for anything she would get from the juice.

I'd say just keep offering water regularly and try juice from time to time. He may surprise you one day and gulp it down.
Good luck!

Melissa, mom to Sarah (5.10.03)
(*edited to add signature line)

[miki]

That sounds like my DD -- knows how to get the fluid into the mouth but chooses not to drink! My ped said don't worry -- a healthy child will drink when they want to drink. I have the best luck with tiny juice boxes. She thinks they are fun--she likes crinkling the plastic wrapper that is glued to the box that holds the straw.

[lmariana]

I'll have to try some juice boxes, I think those might work for him! Thanks for the tip!

Mariana
www.heinzandmariana.com
Mother of Gabriel, 08/14/2003

[macassi]

First, I wouldn't worry about the juice. CJ (age 6) only drinks water and milk and it certainly hasn't hurt him. My ped is very impressed, but I can't take the credit. He just doesn't like anything else to drink. The only complaints we've ever gotten are from friends who don't know what to give him to drink. I always wonder about this, though, since water is always available. He probably drinks more milk than the average child, but I would much rather have him drinking extra milk than extra juice.

Regarding the sippy, Brendan (age 3) always hated sippy cups and never used them. He will, however, use the tupperware plastic cups and their sippy lids, so you may want to try that if you're set on having some sort of lid. I think it's because he didn't like to suck the liquid out of the sippy, and he is a HUGE drinker so he likes to ingest the liquid quickly. In some ways, it was more difficult because I didn't let him carry cups around like CJ did (CJ used to take a sippy of water to bed), but I also didn't have to worry about tracking down sippy cups. Now, I find it's a heck of a lot easier to use real cups (sometimes the tupper lids) for washing purposes, and we don't have to worry wherever we are, because he's an expert cup user. And, like others have said, we didn't have to go through the sippy cup transition. So, I wouldn't push the sippy if he won't use it.

[MichelleRC]

Hi Mariana,
My DS is 20 months and will only drink water. No juice and since we stopped the last bottle at 18 months no milk either. Just water. I have tried about 14 different kinds of cups and then decided to give it a rest. About every other week I will try a little bit though. The ped. said he definitely does not need the extra sugar in the juice and as long as he eats cheese and yogurt, not to worry too much about the milk. Plus I give him a multi vitamin every day.
They are stubborn little creatures!

[pixelprincess]

so glad to hear that DS is not the only anti-sippy cup baby. yep, he wants to chew on the spout too. he doesn't like juice either which is fine by me, as i'd rather have him drink water. we were raised drinking water and juices/soda were a treat...but heh, history may have to repeat itself.

funnily, he will also take sips from non-plastic grown up glasses. they must be talking to each other. :-)

as far as the transition from the bottle, he has just about started holding his own bottle so i am thinking...i need a break from bottle holding, so may have to enjoy it for a while.

[lmariana]

I think our little guys ARE talking to each other! Gabe is just barely starting to hold is own bottle too! He'll drink an ounce or two and then play with it, so I still need to hold it most of the time, but we're almost there.

I'm a water drinker too. I'll choose that over anything, looks like Gabe maybe be the same. :)

Mariana
www.heinzandmariana.com
Mother of Gabriel, 08/14/2003

[cchavez]

Diego does not drink juice...just milk and water. We have had great success with the nuby silicon spout sippy cup.

[cdmamatutu]

My 2.5 year old still does not like juice. (In fact, if see sees me coming with a juice box, he will run away screaming "no thank you, no thank you!!" :) ) He eats plenty of fruits and vegetables by themselves however. I would not be concerned about juice intake unless you can't get fruits into your baby's mouth any other way. :)

The best way I found to get my son to drink from a sippy cup or straw was to prepare a "milkshake" in the blender while he watched from his high chair. He would get very excited as he saw me put strawberries and bananas (or whatever fruit was in season at the time)into the blender, followed by plain whole milk yogurt and enough juice or milk to thin it to a drinkable consistency. By the time it was in his cup, he couldn't wait to try it.

HTH

[pixelprincess]

ha, ha. btw, Gabe is so much more ahead of Rowan in bottle holding. DS did it a week shy of his 1 yr b-day!

i drink water too...and at room temp, no ice!

[lizajane]

honestly, i would be glad he doesn't like juice. it is really just sugar and mostly empty calories. and it is terrible for babies' teeth.(can you tell i am anti-juice??) my ped told me NOT to give him juice, which was great because i didn't want to. better to eat fruit.

as for the sippy, just keep at it and try the straw cups. schuyler did well with the sippy, but he also learned the straw on the very first try.