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  1. #1
    JustMare Guest

    Default 19 Month Old Refuses Sippy Cup

    My son is addicted to his bottle! He won't use any sippy cup. I have a closet full of different brands and he won't take any of them.

    He will use the 1st years disposable cup for a few minutes, then throws it at you. It's the only cup without a valve so he can get the water out of it. But he won't use it regularly.

    He does drink well from a cup but we have to assist him. I can't have him going straight to the cup, he's not yet ready for that.

    My doctor wants him off the bottle by 18 months, she says if we wait any longer it will only get harder.

    Any suggestions?? I'm at a lost here.

    Also, another problem we have is he will only fall asleep with his bottle. I know we created major problems here. He uses his bottle as a pacifier (won't take a traditional pacifier). Wakes up twice in the night for his bottle - I know another problem!!

    Any tricks to get him off his bottle??? Any new sippy cups on the market we can try??? I've tried sport bottles and straws, he can't do the straw just yet.

    Please tell me he's not the only 19 month old on a bottle!!!

    Mare
    Mom to TJ (2/04)


    Edited to say: Tried all your tips, nothing has worked. He will only use the disposable cups (no valves). I have every sippy cup/straw cup on the market! My cabinets are bursting with cups! I just have this feeling he'll do it when he's ready to. This past weekend he drank a little out of the munchkin disposable cup. Not a lot, but a little fruit punch (which he's never had before) It's more of a game to him than a "beverage". I'm still open to any advise!!!

  2. #2
    schums's Avatar
    schums is offline Platinum level (1000+ posts)
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    Default RE: 17 Month Old Refuses Sippy Cup

    I would really push the straw cup. Both of my kids could use straw cups before they were 18 months old. We "taught" them to use them by grossly (almost comically) exaggerating the suck mechanism they had to learn. It only took a couple of tries. Also, put something he REALLY likes in the straw cup. It helps.

    The other suggestion is to simply take away the bottle during the day. One day, it simply disappears and he can either use the sippy or the straw cup. That's what we did when the kids turned 1, per the peds insistance. You might have a long day that day, but it'll be worth it. I'd hide all the bottles where he can't see them. Don't worry, he won't be tramatized for life. After a few days, he'll have forgotten about it. Use it at night for a while (we did), but I'd start a new nighttime ritual that doesn't involve the bottle ASAP.

    If you don't want to just stop cold turkey, you could try transitioning to only water in the bottle, and everything else in the sippy/straw cup. As long as you stick strictly to this, he'll eventually probably give up the bottle on his own. It'll take a lot longer too.

    HTH,
    Sarah
    Mom to Alex (3/2002) and Catherine (8/2003)

  3. #3
    skating mom Guest

    Default RE: 17 Month Old Refuses Sippy Cup

    My 18 month old DS LOVED his bottle, including one to two times a night. I got him off about a 2 months ago by weaning him. Didn't go cold turkey. I did hide the bottles (and during the day gave bottle only when he was totally desperate).

    One of the things that I think was key for me to wean him off the daytime bottles was to have a very slow flow sippy cup that required LOTS of sucking, just like the bottle. (I've now also weaned him off the slow flow sippy cup to a faster one). I found a First Years sippy cup that is really slow. In fact I even had to use a knife to open up the hole so it would flow faster (and it was still really slow). Anyway DS loves this cup as much as bottle and made tranistion easier. See following epionions website for a picture of the cup. Note that the reviewer of this cup did not like it. But, my DS did.
    http://www.epinions.com/The_First_Ye...ay_~full_specs

    As for the night time bottles, we gradully watered down the milk/formula over course of a couple of weeks till it was just about water. Then let him "cry it out" following Dr. Weisbluth's "Healthy Sleep Habits Happy Child" book. He now wakes up in middle of night only about 1 time per week. We're all getting a lot more sleep!! If I had to do it over, I think I'd skip watering down and just let him cry it out, as hard and painful as it was, it only lasted about 4 days til he slept through the night.

    Giving up night time bottles is critical for keeping teeth healthy. We know a 2.5 yr old that has to have teeth pulled because they're rotting from too many night time bottles. That was enough to motivate me to get go through the short term pain for long term gain.

    Good luck!

  4. #4
    JustMare Guest

    Default Tommee Tippee Easiflow Tumblers - Any comments?

    Thanks for all the advice!

    We've tried that cup too and he didn't care for it. I ordered these Tommee Tippee Tumblers based on the comments at babycenter. It seems there're geared for kids who just can't master a traditional sippy.

    Anyone ever try them?

    http://store.babycenter.com/search/r...equestid=56980

    If he doesn't go for these, then we'll keep trying with the straw. He's just not getting the whole straw sucking thing yet. He puts it in his mouth and waits for something to happen, then gets upset and gives up.

    As soon as I find something for him to drink from then I can give up the bottles!

  5. #5
    JElaineB is offline Diamond level (5000+ posts)
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    Default RE: 17 Month Old Refuses Sippy Cup

    DS was on the bottle until around 22 months. He acutally kind of graudally lost interest and one day we just stopped using them. But he had used sippies and straw cups for water for a long time before that. The bottle was just twice a day for milk at that point. We didn't have problem with him falling asleep with the bottle or wanting a bottle in the middle of the night at that point though either. If it has water in it for falling asleep or in the middle of the night I don't think it is that bad. Honestly I think the whole "get off the bottle" by 12 months, 18 months, whatever is way too hyped up. As long as his bottle of milk isn't in his mouth all day long I don't see the big deal. Other kids use sippies and pacifiers at that age and I really don't think bottles are any worse for oral development than those. I would be a little more concerned about cavities and dental health with him falling asleep with the bottle, though (if it has milk in it). If you do have milk in it can you substitue water and see what happens? I would keep trying with the straw cups, DS learned to use one very young, so it is just a matter of getting the hang of it.

    ETA: Have you tried the Nuby sippys (from Walmart and I think Target has them)? They are very bottle like and have a wide soft spout on the top and come in several bright colors for about $1.50 each. They might be good to use as a transitional cup until you can get him on to something else.

    Jennifer
    mom to Jacob 9/27/02

  6. #6
    momtoB is offline Silver level (200+ posts)
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    Default RE: 17 Month Old Refuses Sippy Cup

    Hi, we just got my ds off the bottle right about 24months. He was extremely attached to it and refused to drink his milk out of anything else. The only reason I didn't push to get him off the bottle sooner was because milk was still where he was getting most of his daily calories due to an oral aversion problem he has. We had bought every sippy cup under the sun - I still have a drawer full of ones he never uses, lol. He does drink out of the Nuby ones the prev. poster wrote about though (here's a link to a pic of one: http://www.epinions.com/content_156702576260). They are pretty cheap and are sold at both Target and Walmart, probably elsewhere too. It wasn't so much the cup I think that did the trick for us, although the soft nipple-like spout did help. We started adding chocolate flavored Carnation Instant Breakfast to it (which also boosts the calories which he needs). Just a scoop or two to flavor the milk a bit. Now we are just using chocolate syrup occasionally to encourage him to drink his milk (he still doesn't eat enough). Anyway some people say to wait at least until 18 months to give kids chocolate (2 yrs if food allergies are a problem in your family) so you might want to try vanilla flavoring first or you could mix in a little drinkable yogurt. Maybe that will work for you too.

    As far as nightime bottles ds is a binky boy and never went to bed with a bottle. Maybe just give him a bottle (or sippy cup) with just water? I would worry about baby bottle tooth decay. If you want some pictures to give you a little incentive just check out the ADA.org website (caution some very disturbing pictures here): http://www.ada.org/public/topics/decay_childhood.asp

    hth!

  7. #7
    JustMare Guest

    Default RE: 17 Month Old Refuses Sippy Cup

    Thanks for the advice. My son also had a texture food aversion problem, he couldn't chew until 12 months. He's just now becoming a good eater at 17 months.

    I've tried the Nuby sippy and he refuses it.

    Like I said, I'm giving these Tommee Tippee cups a try then I'm going to really try the straw - which he still doesn't get.

    We're spending a week out our vacation house in August I figured I'd experiment that week with the cups and trying different things in them, flavored milk, as well as water in the bottles at night.

    For some reason he adapts to new schedules away from home.

  8. #8
    bmartin Guest

    Default RE: 17 Month Old Refuses Sippy Cup

    I found going to a straw cup easier than a sippy cup. And it is all thanks to the wonderful smoothies at Whole Foods Market! I swear, it is the truth!

    DS refused to drink out of straw cups. Then I took him to Whole Foods with me one day and got a berry smoothie. It same in a cup with a straw. He kept looking at me while I was drinking it so I offered him some. Lo and behold, if he didn't suck down a third of that smoothie! I think it just took something really good for him to get interested. Now he'll drink anything, but we still go to Whole Foods some weekends to get the smoothie for a special treat!

    Bonnie
    mommy to Jack 3/30/04

  9. #9
    Melonious Guest

    Default RE: 17 Month Old Refuses Sippy Cup

    I have a suggestion re: teaching your son to suck on a straw: use a take-out cup with a plastic lid and a regular straw, and fill the cup with water. Straw cups are a little harder to suck on than regular straws, because the lids are pretty tight, and air can't get in fast enough to replace the fluid that's going up the straw. Takeout cups are so light and the cross-hatch opening on the lid makes it so that you really don't have to suck that hard.

    In fact, a lot of toddlers I know end up coughing after sucking on their straw cups because they suck hard in order to get the fluid into their mouths, and then it rushes in and hits the back of their throats.

    My ds actually learned to suck on a straw using my sport straw water bottle (it has a really long, wider straw).

    Definitely start with water, though, in case of a spill!

  10. #10
    Join Date
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    Default RE: 17 Month Old Refuses Sippy Cup

    We had a lot of trouble getting DS to go to a sippy cup too. He would drink milk and yogurt drinks from the disposable ones w/out valve, but when he threw them the lids would pop off--huge mess. And he would not drink his "juice" (water spiked with about 1 part juice to 7 parts water) from a cup.

    Eventually, we settled on Gerber cups with the valve taken out. They do leak a bit this way, but it was the best we could do. The spout is much like the disposable ones so if your son likes that shape, these might work for you too.

    I started taking away the daytime bottles by not having one along when we went to the park. I would only have a sippy with "juice" for him. All his friends were drinking from cups by then so I thought a little peer pressure, plus unavailability of the bottle might do the trick. For the first three or four days he got mad and just threw the cup. Then he gave in and started drinking from it.

    Then I did the same with the car and he immediately adapted to that. So I just did away with all the bottles during the day.

    Night time we aren't doing quite so well. . . . He still gets a VERY diluted bottle of formula at bedtime. After that only water in a bottle. We eliminated the middle of the night bottles by diluting them and then switching to just water. He wailed for the first week we did this (up to 2 hours at a time, even though I was sitting with him). The pay off, in addition to it being better for his teeth, is more sleep for me!

    Sorry so long, hope it helps a little.


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