Introducing the Cup
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Introducing the Cup
March 1998
My baby is 11 months old and has 2 1/2 teeth. She will
enthusiastically drink sips from a cup, but only when they come without
lids (like the adults). That doesn't work for self-feeding, because she
will lift and play with the cup after about three sips. I bought one of
these spill-proof cups but she does not like sucking on a spout or
maybe just can't figure it out. Any tips how to make that transition
to the spill-proof cup?
One thing to try is to give her empty cups to play with for a while,
including sippy cups and adult cups. My daughter was breast fed until 11
months and did not get the sippy cup concept either, but this seemed to
help. Also, don't try the no-spill type untill she gets the idea, because
they are harder to suck out of. If you start with one that flows out
easier, then she might pick it up faster. Then you can go to the no spill
type, which by the way are the greatest invention ever for busy moms!
Huan
My daughter started drinking out of a cup at about 10 or 11 months old,
and seemed to be able to handle it quite well--with my help, of course.
She didn't use any sipping cup (because there wasn't any in the house)
until a few months later when my in-laws gave her one. She then started
using it because she thought it was new and interesting. My conclusion is:
the more you have them drink out of a regular cup, the better they get.
It's not necessary to start with a sipping cup first.
April 1999
I adopted my daughter when she was 8 months old from China. She is now
13 months old & is eating solids well but she will only drink from a
bottle. I've tried to get her to drink from a cup using all different
kinds of juices, water with karo syrup, formula and milk. She won't
drink any of these either at room temp, cold or warm. (Actually she
won't drink anything of these from her bottle either!)
We've tried cups w/ straws, sippy cup with the sucking valve and regular
cup. She only take a few sips and that's it. We've tried feeding her
really dry food like graham crackers, etc to make her thirsty but again
she'll only take a few sips.
Any recommendations on how to get her off the bottle and onto a cup?
We also have 2 adopted children and I was unsure when to move them from
a bottle to a cup. Our pediatrician recommended doing this by the time
they were 24 months old. He said much longer than that and it becomes
more difficult--more of a power issue in the 2s-- but if you do it too
early, the child might not get sufficient oral gratification and will
turn to a thumb or pacifier. I'm sure there are lots of varying ideas
about this but I know it worked for us. We started about 22 months and
the bottle was gone for our first by 24 months and our second by 26
months (he clung to the last bottle of the day long after using a cup
all day). Both boys had given up their
pacifiers on their own before the age of 1 and never sucked fingers or
thumbs. When we did do it, we made sure that we did not give up the
cuddling time that went along with bottle feeding. We just substituted a
cup but still held the boys--especially before naps and bed.
Our doctor recommended changing from bottle to cup at 1 year, so we went
ahead with taking the bottle away at 13 months. We started with the
daytime ones, and then the last one just before bed. When our daughter
wanted a bottle, I sat her down with yogurt, which seemed to be an
acceptable substitute, lots of messy fun, and helped get her through the
transition. We also gave her a pacifier, which seemed to help, although
we've only just gotten her off that at 3 years old. Sippy cups were the
best cup solution (without the sucking mechanism,
which never seemed to work very well). We didn't worry about getting
enough liquids, since I had read that this is not a big concern, and
children will drink enough liquids when they get thirsty. Hope this
helps. Good luck.
My suggestion would be to let her have the bottle for a while longer
before trying to switch to a cup again--maybe try again in a coule of
weeks. She seems to be telling you she is not ready to give up her
bottle--is there any reason she really has to? I think 12 months is
about the minimum (not maximum) time for a baby to drink from a
bottle, and at 13 months, your daughter is just barely past that. Is
it possible that during her months in China, she received less than
optimal nurturing? If so, she may be "catching up" on all the
comforting that sucking seems to give babies. My daughter (now 20
months) wouldn't drink from a cup, and wouldn't, and I just kept
offering it now and then, and one day, at about 14 or 15 months,
bingo, she was into it. For me, the only reason I cared was that our
pediatrician (and my mother-in-law) asked at our one-year check-up
whether she could drink from a cup. If that is your issue at all,
since your daughter actually can, you can just say "yes, she can" and
let it go at that.
We had the same worries about our son--namely, will he be five years
old and still drinking out of a bottle?-- who is now 25 months old
and has just in the past few weeks finally stopped asking for a
bottle. We had a very difficult time getting him to take a sippy cup,
but we finally had to accept that he needed to do this in his own
time. He started off slow, but we persisted in offering different
types of sippy cups and just kept doing this until he gradually came
around. He would drink his cups at daycare, but then on the weekends
he wanted bottles and was quite stubborn. We just gradually cut back
on the bottles we gave him (with some backsliding when he was sick
or we were just too worn out to try to force the issue), first
eliminating the daytime bottles and finally, the nighttime one.
It was a slow and long process, but the one lesson we learned is that
it was okay for him to do this when he was ready and not when we
(especially me) thought he should be ready. I hope this gives you
hope. At least you know you are not alone.
I adopted my daughter from China when she was 3.5 months old. I
think 13 months is too young to force this issue. Give her more
time. My pediatrician advised me to get her off the bottle by 18
months. I think we were down to two bottles at that time, upon
awakening and shortly before bed. We didn't get rid of the bottles
totally until shortly after her third birthday.
I would like to present a different perspective from what I've been
reading about the question of weaning a baby from breast/bottle to
cup. I have two adopted children who wanted & were given bottles
till they were 4 & 5 years old. Naturally, most of their nutrition
was coming from solid food & they learned to handle a cup eventually
like any other manual activity. Neither of them has ever had a
cavity, and they are perfectly happy, confident children today. A
friend's son drank bottles until he was 6, he grew up to be a Rhodes
Scholar with a four-year scholarship to Harvard, & will probably be
president someday. I think all this strain & worry about making your
baby give up the bottle before he/she is ready is a mistake. If you
have no evidence that the bottle is doing any harm, why not let them
keep using it? By the time my kids were three I imposed some rules:
we didn't take bottles with us out of the house, no bottles "on
demand" -- only bedtime & morning, only 1/2 bottles were given (4
ozs), juice was diluted with 1/2 water, bedtime milk bottle was
gradually diluted more & more with water, etc. My older daughter put
away her bottles on her 5th birthday, my younger on her 4th. My
advice: lighten up.
Expecting a 13-month-old to drink from a cup already is, I think,
kind of rushing the kid. Both my kids were drinking from bottles
until close to 24 months, then they began using those training cups
with spouts (there are spill-proof ones these days). Gradually, on
their own, they decided to drink from regular cups at close to 3
years of age. Maybe you should give your child a little more time. I
think the more you force the issue, the more resistant she'll be.
The same phylosophy works in potty training (at least for me).
March 2004
My daughter is 14 m.o. and I'm trying to wean her off the bottle
and on to a sippy cup. She will drink a sippy cup with juice in
it - no problem. She will NOT drink it though if it has milk.
Interestingly, she won't drink her bottle if it has juice in it.
It's almost like the bottle is for milk and the sippy is for
juice, and that's it. Ideas on how to get her to take milk from
a sippy? I'm afraid she won't get the required amount of milk
she needs and will drink too much juice for refreshment if I go
to sippy only. Also, the bottle is somewhat of a security item
for her.
Jackie
Our pediatrician said it was more important that our child get
plenty of milk than worry about weaning from a bottle. So now
he's 2 and gets 2 bottles of milk a day. I am confident that
his calcium/fat/protein needs are being met and I will worry
about bottle-weaning later. I thought that was sound advice...
anon
You don't have to do anything. This will change on its own.
I'd consider getting a variety of cups just to mix it up a little,
but I wouldn't worry about it if she rejects every single one of
them. How about a regular cup as opposed to a sippy cup?
Or the ever popular straw?
Personally, I think only adults care about the connotations of
sippy cups (mature) versus bottles (babyish). They're both
sucking devices, so why get choosy?
Soon Enough
First of all... Why are you giving your child juice? They
really don't need the extra sugar (even if it does say ''no added
sugar'')... You should really save juice for special
occassions... Give her water instead...
Secondly... Just stop giving her bottles... Put milk in the
sippy cup and call it a day! She clearly knows how to drink
from a sippy, so don't even offer her a bottle... She'll
probably protest for a while, but will get over it in a couple
of days!
The sooner you do it, the easier it will be on both of you!
:)
Mom of 13 month old-- bottle-free since 11mos
My daughter stopped drinking milk out of the bottle not long
after her first birthday because of hand-foot-mouth (icky
blisters hurt her when she would try sucking on the nipple), but
she would not take milk out of a sippy cup--same deal as with
your kid, I bet, sippies are for water/juice/not-milk! We bought
one of those baby sports-bottles (the ones with the spill-proof
valve) at either Target or the grocery store, and those have
worked great. She still drinks milk out of those in the morning
and evening, and when we are in the car, but more for *my*
comfort (not wanting to clean up milk spills!) than for hers
(she's three now).
Good Luck
Donna L.
Our daughter just wouldn't give up bottles of milk for a long
time until we invented ''baby coffee.'' It's just a little
chocolate syrup or ovaltine in hot milk but it only comes in a
sippy cup. It made her feel like she's participating in our
morning ritual with us (weekends only) and it motivated her to
want to drink like a big girl. Ahh, good to the last drop!
Suzy
I had this same problem with my daughter, except she refused a
bottle as well, so when I weaned her, she would have been getting
no milk at all. I ended up flavoring her milk in her sippy cup so
she would think it wasn't milk and so she would get SOMETHING.
She didn't like ovaltine, but she now drinks strawberry soymilk
from her sippy cup and loves it. (I figured some sugar is better
than no milk).
The other thing you can try is slowly mixing less and less of the
flavoring into the milk until it is eventually all milk. Hope
this helps!
anon
My daughter was almost 2 when I weaned her from her bottle for
milk. She would drink water from the sippy cup but not milk. I
gave her one bottle of milk in the morning (the large Avent,
8oz?)and then the rest of the day I put the milk in a sippy
cup. She would say she wanted a bottle, but I held firm and
said only in the sippy cup. She would not drink from them for
almost 3 weeks, then one day she said ok. And the next day I
gave our bottles to my sister in law. Good luck
Ali
Do you have the option to wait a few more months to
discontinue the bottle? With my older kids I worried about
similar things, one child kept the bottle until she physically
lost it, later... the other stopped spontaneously at about 18
months.
Offhand, I'd let him keep it, if its making him feel secure... my
2 year-old still has one, but uses it less often than he used
to.
Heather
Jan 2000
I wanted to know if anyone had any advice they could offer us re:
weaning our 23 month old from drinking milk from the bottle to the cup.
She will happily drink water from a cup but loves her milk in a bottle.While
we do not allow her to walk around with a bottle all day or take one to bed,
it is a great source of comfort. I have tried on occasions to give her milk
in a cup but she just refuses to look at the cup let alone drink from it.
Our pediatrician has been on at us to have her weaned since she was 18
months old. Appreciate any advice people may have to offer.
My daughter also seemed skilled at drinking out of a regular cup or
glass when a baby, and not that interested in the sippy cup.
I would continue to offer both. I always held the regular cup when she
drank in order to control it, but when she was feeding herself I'd also
give her the sippy cup along with her food.
I'd still encourage the sippy cup, mainly to protect furniture, carpet,
walls, etc! Even now at age 3.5 she's still fairly likely to knock over
the contents of a regular cup sitting on the table, even if she is good at
controlling the flow and holding the cup while actually drinking.
I am the parent of a happy, well adjusted almost four year old who still
loves to have a bottle in the morning and at night. We make sure that
she brushes her teeth well after her bottles but we have been happily
ignoring the pediatrician's advice...
I am from another culture, one that gives children more time to grow and
mature. I do not feel like my culture possesses the ideal child rearing
practices, but I do like the time children are given to be children. In
the first 23 months of your child's life, she has learned so much already...
there have been so many changes. I do not feel like having a bottle
here and there is detrimental at all. Of course, I am not for letting a
child have whatever she/he wants, but a bottle is such a source of comfort
(and nutrition!) I guess ballance is the answer for everything. Have the
bottle when she needs it, but also use the cup as often as possible.
When she gets older, as my daughter has, you can set goals together... My
daughter has already anounced to everyone that she will give her bottle
away when she turns four. I even offered to buy her a special cup and she
happily told me: "We already have some nice cups in the house... All I
need is to be ready. I will be ready when I am four."
My older son drank a bottle until he was past three. Weaning him was
easy. I went out and bought this very cool cup with a squiggly straw
that ran around the outside (any other sufficiently cool thing should do).
We just left it around the house for him to find, and he did. He asked
what it was and we told him it was a cup for him to use when he was ready
to stop using bottles. He said "I'm ready right now," and that was it.
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