Monday, April 4, 2011

Sippy cup dilemma

Okay, so my child is over 15 months old now & he will still only drink out of his bottle.  I have bought a bunch of sippy cups & he won't take to ANY of them!  Am I doing something wrong?  Am I approaching it the wrong way?  How do I get him to stop gnawing on them & pouring them out like a toy?  I feel like he just doesn't "get it" when it comes to using a sippy cup.  Has any other mother had this dilemma? Will my child EVER get weened off the bottle & onto a sippy?  Any pointers would be REALLY helpful!  Thanks :)
 
These are the ones I've bought so far...


Any help is appreciated!  Thank you :D

22 comments:

  1. Boyd was right at 15 months when one day, out of the blue, he would not take the bottle at all, and changed over to the sippy. There is no rhyme or reason, and now he is 3 and I've realized that things just happen as they should. I was totally where you were and it worried me and puzzled me, etc. I know it's easier said than done, but don't worry. Like they say, he won't have a bottle when he starts kindergarten.....and I think you are doing everything just fine! :))

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  2. ps. I meant to add, there is no magic age for anything. I eventually stopped comparing Boyd to the little baby who had a sippy at 6 months or 8 months, etc. They are only babies for so long!

    You are doing a great job.

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  3. I took Kylon's away right after his 12 month appointment. Always gave him whatever to drink in a sippy cup and endured every mess or frustration that came with it. He didn't have the bottle to fall back on so he had to learn out of the sippy cup. We use the Nuby sippy cups in our house and we are very pleased with them. You will figure out what works best for you Bon Bon :)

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  4. I agree with Amber...don't give him a bottle as an option anymore. I had to do this with one of my girls because she loved her bottle! The first few days she was so stubborn and refused to take a sippy cup. I never offered her a bottle and by the end of the day, I guess she was so thirsty that she just gave in. We started out with the silicone tip kind of cups since they are a little more like bottles and then I got the hard plastic ones once they were fine with the sippy cups. It is def frustrating, but just stand your ground and eventually he will figure out that you mean business! ;) Good luck!

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  5. Wow, I find the "take the bottle away" folks a little harsh. James doesn't have much interest in sippy cups either right now, but I'm okay with that... just think of it this way - you're going to miss the bottle days... and there is a LOT of time for sippy cups...

    Seems to me like every other developmental milestone - they get there when they're ready. I mean you didn't push him or prevent him from crawling when it was "time to walk"... so I see this as something similar.

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  6. We started transitioning Sam to a sippy before he turned one, just to try and make it easier. We started giving him his morning bottle in a sippy, while still giving the bottle at night. I always had two sippy cups around the house for him to play with/use so he could start to get used to them. When he started on milk, I stopped the bottle and it went smoothly since we gradually did it. I think the option he had of sippy and bottle was good. I think if he keeps the bottle though for too long, you really should try to stop all together and only offer sippy's. Kids are smart and if he's so thirsty, he'll drink out of one soon enough if that's the option...I don't think it's harsh at all since he's over 15 months now. Good luck! Oh, we use straw sippys, as Sam doesn't quite get tipping the cup up all the way yet. (he's almost 15 months)

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  7. i really have no advice because T-A adores her sippy cup.
    I don't think your doing it the wrong way..some kids just dont like them..my nephew didn't drink outta one until he was 18 months..hang in there!!

    T-A's fav. kind is the one pictures that is all lime green with a tad bit of orange!

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  8. Everyone gave you such great advise. I know you are tired of washing bottles and want the switch over. Good luck!
    Kasssandra didn't get the idea of the sippy at all! She didn't know that anything was in it and she didn't know she had to tip it to use it so all she was doing was chewing on the nipple part. So I left it laying around her play area and then when I thought she needed a drink I would lay her down and give it to her. She finally realized that there was good stuff in it. Now she uses it all the time. I almost have her off the bottle.

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  9. Me again....one more thing. I had the hardest time finding a sippy that didn't leak. They almost ALL leak. haha. Well, we've been using these almost 2 years now, and we LOVE them. Playtex insulator.

    http://www.playtexstore.com/cgi-bin/item/PLA05639

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  10. Been there done that!!! :) My daughter refused the sippy cup too and didn't make the switch until closer to 18 months...she just flat out refused. We tried everything - incl just not giving her the option but when she refused to drink anything for almost 2 days....I gave up - her health was not worth the battle of losing the bottle. Then one day out of the blue she just switched on her own and we never looked back.

    Now I am dealing with the same thing with Cannon - he's almost 13 months and really has no interest. The only ones he somewhat will tolerate are those Toss & Go's but I can't give those to him on his own b/c they arent really a true sippy cup - they leak everywhere. I'm not worried this time - I know he will get there eventually - on his own time. Hang in there - Jarrett will surprise you one day - and like others have said - he won't go to kindergarten with a bottle :) Just take a break for a little bit and then try it again in a few weeks.

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  11. Also-I tried putting juice or chocolate milk in them at first, but make sure it's not a habit...his teeth will suffer from that sugar :) Sam prefers just water or regular milk now to juice or choc. milk, as I always leave two sippy's around with just water.

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  12. Someone suggested Take N' Toss sippy cups to me and Cruz learned with those in no time. He doesn't have to suck very hard to figure it out. The "spill proof" sippys can be kind of hard to get the hang of.

    You might try a regular water bottle with the pop-up spouts too.

    Good luck!!!

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  13. Not sure I have advice. I think I am trying to read your other comments instead.

    Antonio was easy. At 12 months I took the bottle away and he was just fine. Baby C on the other hand still has issues drinking from a sippy cup and he is almost 12 months. Not sure how its going to play out.

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  14. I'm not an expert or anything... I started introducing sippy cups when we started solids. Just offered one with water each time we ate. Eventually, they just figured it out. I like the Platex hard spout - less mess. But, I don't think the type is important. I'd say, remove bottles completely, and eventually, he'll give in and take the cup. Or, just try offering him sips out of a regular cups. Some kids excel at drinking from a regular cup!

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  15. Hi Bonnie,
    I enjoy reading your blog, thanks! My daughter has a Tommee Tippee Explora Sippy with a straw and it works really well. I sat and drank out of a straw one day and showed her how to suck and she got the hang of it. No tipping the cup needed and apparently straws are better for speech development. Hope this helps!

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  16. How frustrating! Parker liked chewing on our camelback better bottles and taught himself how to drink from a straw so we ended up being able to get a lot of straw cups for him. We also use the take and toss cups, and have lots of others too. P still gets one bottle at night, we kept it for sure until we were done flying on our trip, but with teething and such I may let him keep it another month or so. I wouldn't try to stress too much . . . maybe let him play with them around the house a bit instead of at the highchair only (you probably already do this) and maybe even pretend to drink from one or two of his cups so he see how cool they are . . . I think the more fun they see they are sometimes they are more open to the idea. And if you have to try chocolate milk or juice or his favorite drink in them . . .just keep trying and hang in there ;)

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  17. We did the "let him do it when he's ready" approach and it worked well. Connor was almost 18 months old when he FINALLY understood the concept of a sippy cup. He would, however, drink from a cup with a straw long before that. I just kept offering the sippy to him at dinner and lunch until eventually he picked it up and started drinking from it.

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  18. I have a 14 month old son who uses the "baby Nalgene". I think it's called the Sip and Grip and you can get them at Target or any other sports type store. At first, I took the rubber stopper out of it so he didn't have to suck too hard and could realize there was a drink inside. Then I eventually added the stopped to it so it wouldn't spill everywhere. He loves it and so do I because it's super sturdy and is bigger than most sippy cups, holding more milk/water/etc. Don't stress though, it's the fun of motherhood...everytime you think you have it figured out, they change :-)

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  19. I saw a couple of other people suggest it, but I would try the take and toss. My son would only take those ones at first. And the plus side is they are some of the cheapest and easiest to clean because there is no thing on the inside of the lid! :) They last a long time too, they definitely do not need to get tossed for a long time (but are cheap enough that if they do, its no biggie).

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  20. Our son struggled with a sippy at first too. We found that the Take and Toss sippy cups worked best for him in the beginning. He seemed to be able to drink out of it easier than others and they do a pretty good job of not spilling. We then transitioned to Playtex and Tommee Tippees. We found soft top sippies were easier for him to use in the beginning too (especially the Tommee Tippees). Keep trying and don't stress, every child does things at their own pace.

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  21. The only way I got my son or daughter to drink from a sippy was to let them learn a straw first! it's a completely different sucking movement! Bottle they use their tongue and sippy/straw they do not. So it he is trying to use his tongue with a sippy that is probably why he is not wanting it. I used the playtex straw cups because they seemed more user friendly. They one you have pictured is harder for them to use because it only opens when they suck out of it. If he isn't sucking hard enough nothing will come out. You can also try letting him use a regular straw. This works well too because it is basically no effort for them to get the liquid up the straw and they learn the motion.
    Hope this helps!!!

    Oh and don't worry about the bottle. He'll drop it when he is ready. My son just out of the blue one day literally dropped his on the floor and never picked it up again! it's all in their time!!! :)

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  22. My son is one today so this is fresh on my mind of what I did. We are going 5 days strong on NO bottle. I do want to tell you this before I give my "What worked for us advice" the breakup with the bottle is some tuff mommy and baby stuff. I gave C no choice. I like you have a huge selection of sippy cups, haha, I might could just out sell Target.

    I found that using the soft nipple sippy's is easier than the hard nipple sippy's from the get go. Before I even gave him milk in a sippy he had to learn to trust/love the sippy. In order to do that I got him used to a sippy of just water with a little juice. I found C loved ice cold water. Something about the ice going into the sippy he got so happy and clapping his hands. The only thing I could think is that I drink ice cold water all the time. Once he got used to the sippy I decided it was time for him to breakup with the bottle. My goal was to do it in phases. We first did during the day of milk out of sippy and still doing the bottle for bedtime. This seemed to upset him so I dropped to bottle all together. I really gave him no choice once we dropped the bottle.

    He never saw a bottle again so he had to take the sippy if he wanted something to drink. Now, he gets SO happy when he sees the sippy and just the other day I handed it to him and he hugged it, lol. Kids are so funny. What works for one will never work for the other. Good Luck Mama because I know this is not an easy task. Yes, you might lose sleep getting through this brekup but mine only lasted two nights of sleepless nights.

    ~KM

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