12 Month old refuses to drink milk out of sippy cup?

Aisham28

Hello there. I have a 12 month old and her pediatrician told me its best to start weening her from the bottle. Well she is fine with a sippy cup normally. She drinks water from them all day but she refuses to drink milk out of them. I tried several different types, nothing helps. Is there anything I can do to help sway her to loose the bottle? I dont want to not give her milk unless she drinks out of it because that's still a big part of her nutrition. But I am making zero progress with the sippy cup. I give her a cup of milk every day with her meals and she wont touch it. But if I put water there she will drink down the water. I am hoping one day she will want to actually use the sippy cup with milk but shes to the point now if she sees milk in it she wont even try it. Any advice?

UMichGirl

My 14 month old is still that way. No tips for you just sympathy!

JWSchwarz

A lot of babies get bottles after a year. Actually almost all of the kids in DS's daycare did until at least 16 months. Each child is different and I know taking bottles away cold turkey would not have worked. DS would have just gotten severely dehydrated as he flat out refused to drink milk from a sippy until a few weeks ago. What we did:

- choose one type of sippy for water only (like a straw one)

- Choose a more bottle like sippy for milk (we have a spout sippy)

- We mixed 1/2 chocolate milk and 1/2 milk to start with (I had to trick him into getting some in his mouth so he could realize it was yummy before he would even take a sip)

- Slowly decrease that mix until he's getting no chocolate milk

- then you can probably just use one kind of sippy

- We did this first in the morning, when he was pretty thirsty then incorporated it into the rest of his day (snacks)

I have the most stubborn child on the planet and this worked for us, so i'm hoping it works for you too!!

Linzeeb

Had the same problem recently with my daughter.  We had a 3 day strike - after we cut out bottles slowly, she refused to use the sippy cups she'd been using for months.  For 3 days she would throw any and all cups we gave her.  We consulted with Dr. who said we would just need to outlast her - she ate lots of watermelon, applesauce, and popsicles those few days to keep hydrated.  Dr. said that milk is not necessary, but 4 servings of dairy per day is.  So, we filled in with lots of yogurt and cheese during the transition period.  Found that mixing her milk with Kefer (in the yogurt isle) about half and half was something she loved and was healthy for her.  Within a couple days she looked forward to this rather than water.  Within a few weeks, she'd drink plain milk from a sippy.  

janinekrause

My advice- who cares? Give her a bottle. They outgrow it eventually and doesnt hurt them.

rubber_chicken

we're in the midst of this now with my 15 month old.  she spent three days throwing the sippys, no matter what kind we tried, until we went back to the bottle.

we HAVE to get formula into her, because she has food allergies and it's the only dairy substitute we can give her.  other than coconut milk yogurt, and even that doesn't have enough protein.  (and really, how much coconut milk yogurt can a person eat in a day.) 

so now we're back to bottles.  for us, part of the problem is she doesn't like to drink formula cold. so we're now mixing it with tepid water. 

&orchid&

Have you tried smoothies?  My son loves them.  Typically it's half an avocado, plain yogurt, and another fruit/berry like blueberries or banana.  Then the liquid is formula or milk.  This is a kid who never took a bottle and didn't want to take a sippy cup.  Then at 8 months I gave him a smoothie and he grabbed the sippy and sucked it down like he had been doing it for months.

dns05

I'm in the same boat and my daughter is 17 months!  I've tried everything (spout sippy's, straw sippy's, regular cups with and without straws), but nothing is working.  She'll drink water all day out of a cup, but if it's milk, she won't touch it. It has to be in a bottle. So...she still gets one bottle of milk every evening.  And, I brush her teeth afterwards.

Part of the problem is she started on milk in a bottle because she hadn't grasped how to use a sippy cup.  It took teaching her to drink from a straw to fix that issue, but she was already used to milk in a bottle by that point.  She loves her night time bottle so it's going to suck when I eventually take it away.  She's a very picky eater so I'm not completely comfortable stopping the night bottle just yet.  I know she won't drink any milk if I do so.  I was going to ask the pedi his thoughts at her 18 month appointment but, for now, she still gets a bottle.