Weaning & Sippy Cups

cmac99

Hi Guys -

I'm a few weeks away from my son's 1st bday (9/26). I'm an exclusive pumper and have started the weaning process. My son currently drinks 4 bottles a day. I plan to introduce cows milk slowly at 1 year (mixed in with whatever I'm still pumping/what's left in my freezer stash). 

My question/concern is about Sippy cups. The kid drinks, at best, an ounce of water a day from his cup before throwing it in a rage. We've spent a fortune on all different types of cups. He's just not there yet. I'm now getting nervous that he won't take milk from his cup.

At what point am I "supposed" to wean him from bottles and focus solely on the dreaded cup? I just have this fear that he's going to get super dehydrated or be a 6 year old who drinks bottles (kidding... Kind of). 

Thanks for your help!!

mrsbacz

Following because I have the same problem. My doctor said he must be off bottles by the time he turns one because he got his teeth so early and bottles are the worst for teeth. My son gets so excited about the sippy cup but mainly bites it and lets the water run all over him. We've tried straw cups, the soft top sippy, and hard top. No luck yet.

sugarmagn0lia

We had the most success starting on sippy cups with the very inexpensive "Take n Toss" ones from Target or Walmart. It's like 2 or 3 bucks for 4 cups and tops. Baby doesn't really have to suck hard to get the liquid out, so they were a good place to start learning how to move his mouth right and such. We also started really low pressure, just tried throughout dinner and then added in lunch, etc. I would also suggest starting to try liquids other than water in the cup. Water is so thin - even my little guy who is for real in love with his sippies drinks other things out of them better than he drinks water. Breast milk in the sippy may be just the motivation he needs! If you've already tried all of that, I'm sorry for the redundancy, and either way I hope he gets the hang of them soon.

missliz53

The way I was told to do it is to put only milk in the sippy and to start with an ounce a day and just keep it very low pressure. One thing that the occupational therapist suggested was to use a shot glass and let them suck the milk from the rim. We've been doing this with 1/2 ounce per meal and it's slow going, I have to take the glass away every couple seconds so she actually swallows, but she's getting better at it. I tried putting milk in her sippys at first and she wouldn't drink from them at all, even if it was just water, which she loves. So we went to the shot glass. The other thing I stumbled on was that she doesn't seem to like regular whole milk, but will drink organic milk, and she likes her milk closer to room temp. 

gwynew915

I'm having a problem too with my almost 1 year daughter. Drives me insane buying all kinds of sippy cups and she will smack it away, scream at me to take it away, knock it off her highchair or throw it across the room. I don't know if she drinks an ounce of water a day unless I water down her formula which I've been doing. Going to go buy the sippy cups from target and see if she is interested in them and put milk in them! It's very frustrating 

yellow1daisy

My MIL bought us a green sprouts sippy cup (can also be used as a straw cup). And while my daughter had problems with nipples faster than stage one, somehow she does awesome with these? They are really expensive though which is a huge downer. But since she likes it so much I bought a few from Amazon. 

She can't figure out how to drink from it in her high chair though unless I tilt it for her. She always drinks independently on the floor. We only hold her for her last cup before bedtime. 

I still worry because the spout is soft and she has to suck on it like a bottle? I'm not sure why this would be much better than a bottle. 

wilcoxev

We used this cup to help him transition. Started with the nipple top then after a bit used the sippy top instead. 

ReneeJ2011

We went cold turkey. He had been drinking maybe an ounce or so at meal times amd some inbetween but at 11.5 months we went cold turkey and never looked back. We use the munchkin click lock with the handles and he does great. 

TabulaRasa25

Mine is pretty crappy with all sippy cups, and just isn't interested.  He's breastfed, and rarely does bottles, but at this point, most of his hydration is coming from nursing.  He'll be a year in 24 days, and ideally starting cow's milk, but at this point, water in a sippy cup (every kind we've tried), has basically been a bust. 

ElleMF728

I know there is a big push to get rid of bottles around a year but DH and I personally make 18 months our absolute end goal.  I like to completely finish the transition to cows milk and then start moving over to sippy cups a week or two after.  

I think DS1 got a bottle until he was 15 or 16 months at the start of his bedtime routine even though he was on sippy cups the rest of the day.  DS2 gets water in sippy cups but I've still got him on 1/2 formula, 1/2 milk before bed.  Once I'm completely done with that I'll start switching him over to milk in a sippy.  Right now he just gets water in a cup. 

Yiggle09

Thankfully my day care transitioned him for me and now we just use the sippy all the time. I used to provide them a sippy that is a soft straw with a weighted part in the cup so no matter how he held it he would get something to drink out of it. Now he uses these amazon cheap sippys at his new daycare and loves them. 

ems028

This is my first baby, and actually it's quite stressful trying to get her to drink from a sippy cup. She screams her head off if we lie her back to drink. If I hand.it to her she just throws it away. I think I'm just going to let her play with it first...then hope she drinks from it ... will that work?

Growingapepper

My LO wasn't interested in a sippy at all. If she was hungry she wanted a bottle. So instead of pressuring her to drink milk from a sippy when she was hungry, we filled it with water and gave it to her to play with. We got munchkin ones from Walmart, they are leak proof and somewhere between $1 and $2 a piece. After about a week she had it figured out. She loves her water and cries if we take it away from her. We've tried putting breast milk in but she hasn't been too interested in that, but that's ok with me. I'm just happy she knows how to drink from it. We are about to start weaning so I'm thinking after she's off the breast and fully transitioned to cows milk we'll start offering her that in a sippy.

LoveLee85

ElleMF728 said:

I know there is a big push to get rid of bottles around a year but DH and I personally make 18 months our absolute end goal.  I like to completely finish the transition to cows milk and then start moving over to sippy cups a week or two after.  

I think DS1 got a bottle until he was 15 or 16 months at the start of his bedtime routine even though he was on sippy cups the rest of the day.  DS2 gets water in sippy cups but I've still got him on 1/2 formula, 1/2 milk before bed.  Once I'm completely done with that I'll start switching him over to milk in a sippy.  Right now he just gets water in a cup. 

This is what I was brainstorming last night! So much change in such a little time. Plus, my LO isn't interested in his sippy cup at all. He won't drink water or whole cows milk or formula or almond milk, nothing out of it. I try a lot. So, I was thinking switchimg im off formula slowly then once he's off that start really phasing in the cup. Ugh. We JUST got into a good groove and now I have to change everything. Lol 

amp61470

He wants nothing to do with a sippy but I keep offering. Sooner or later he will get it. 

christina4436

LO nurses when she wakes up, before both naps, and a frozen bm bottle before bed. Sometimes she wants to when she wakes up from nap but I have trying to fend off with straw sippy. I want to wean soon but don't know how considering when she gets sleepy she whines and won't take straw sippy bc she wants to nurse or bottle. But I don't want to give her bottle for all feeds and then her get used to that! Tips!?