Bottle to sippy - not drinking!

[TwinMama2B]

We’re struggling with the bottle to sippy transition, and I could really use some advice from those that have BTDT. DDs turned one last week, and per the ped’s advice we’ve dropped the bottles and formula and are now trying to do sippy cups with milk/water at each meal and snack. We introduced sippy cups around 10 months with water throughout the day, and we also gave them a little milk here and there around 11 months, so neither of these is completely new to them. They mostly played with the sippy cups at first, but eventually drank at least a little bit. Our ped has also advised that they now need a minimum of 12 oz of liquids each day.

So, DD2 is doing pretty well, and is probably getting close to 10-12 oz/day. DD1 however will not drink from a sippy, more than a few oz per day. We’ve tried every kind of sippy, with and without valves, handles, no handles, hard spouts, soft spouts, everything under the sun, etc. She has always preferred to gnaw on it and gets some liquid that way, but won’t suck on the sippy hardly at all. The only one that halfway works is this trainer cup.

In a subsequent discussion this week with the ped about our concerns, she suggested trying straw cups. We’ve tried that, and neither of them know what to do with it. We’ve tried “teaching” them using the little milk boxes that you can squeeze and push liquid through the straw, but still no-go.

We’re very concerned about DD1’s fluid intake each day, and I’m about to throw in the towel and go back to bottles with her and see if she’ll drink milk that way, but I’m fearful of taking a step backwards. I’m also considering that maybe DD1 is just not developmentally ready for the sippy. Both girls are fantastic eaters, and won’t even touch the jarred food anymore – pretty much eat whatever we do, but the drinking thing totally has me baffled.

I’m on the verge of meltdown over this , so TIA for any advice you all are willing to share!

[mikeys_mom]

DS made the transition to a sippy cup with no big deal at 12 months. I was expecting the same for DD#1. She was the complete opposite. Like you, I tried every sippy and straw cup. She would drink water out of sippys, so I knew she could, but she clearly wanted her bottle. My Dr had said she should be off the bottle by 18 months so I was pretty stressed about it.

I finally decided to give up, that it was just not worth a fight, she would eventually get rid of her bottle. By 18 months, I think she was down to only 3 bottles a day, anyways. By 2, it was just once or twice a day I think. She used a sippy or straw cup for everything but milk. Finally, around age 2 I reintroduced milk in a sippy and she drank it no problem.

I think that if there are no other concerns about learning to drink from a sippy cup in general, or tooth decay that it's not a big deal to drink from a bottle beyond a year.

My twins turn 18 months next week and still have 3 bottles a day. I will likely try to switch to straw cups soon, as they use those for water. If they resist, I will just try again in a few months. For me it is not worth stressing about at this point.

[Andi98989]

We're using a sippy cup for water at meals, but DS needs quite a bit of help with it. He does great drinking from it, but can't quite hold it at the right angles to get the water out while he's sitting (he can hold his own bottles ok, though).

Is DD1 not drinking out of it at all, even if you help holding it? I clearly havent BTDT, but I wouldn't hesitate to move her back to a bottle if you need to so she can keep her fluids up.

[YouAreTheFocus]

Sippies didn't work for my baby--he didn't understand the concept of tilting the cup back to drink. Then we got a Nuby straw cup and he took to it right away--latched on like it was a bottle (I think this has to do w/ the thick, soft straw--similar to the nipples he is used to). And no tilting necessary. Have you tried this one?
http://www.nuby.com/en/nuby/cups-spouts/9803

[barkley1]

My DS just turned 1 a month ago, and we're kinda struggling w/ the same thing. Plus , he's teething = not much success. However, he seems to have made a lot of progress in just the last week. So, I'd say don't push it (seems to backfire on me w/ DS w/ even more rejection of the food/sippy/etc) and maybe a week or two, perhaps a month, will make a big difference!

One time I read to get them out in the yard and play, play, play and they'd drink the sippy right up b/c they were so thirsty!! Haven't tried it, tho...

[AshleyAnn]

DD is 9 months and won't drink from a sippy. I think I've gotten her to use her NUK learner cup successfully once. But she will drink from a regular cup - no spout/straw. Its messy so I put about 2 swollows in at a time but she does a pretty good job at drinking.

[TwinMama2B]

Thanks everyone for sharing your experiences and advice!

We seemed to have better luck last night at dinner with water from a sippy, so it may be that she just doesn't like milk. We asked daycare today to try water instead of milk so we'll see how she does. I've never been a big milk drinker - even as a baby from what my mom has said, so you never know...

The open cup is a good suggestion also - she seems curious when we drink from cups. At this point we'll try anything.

[AnnieW625]

DD1 didn't get the whole sippy thing until she had two or three teeth, and what worked best for her was the Take N Toss cups. She needed something harder I guess. Once she got that she did fine with most brands of sippies, and we used the Avent spouts as we already had Avent bottles.