Sippy cup fiasco! / how to wean from bottle?

ML*

Grace is now 14 months and I think it's time to get rid of the bottle.  Until this weekend she was getting 4 per day, morning, 2 naps, and bed time.  Over the weekend I dropped the 2 nap bottles and just did morning and night.  She goes to sleep just fine without the nap bottles.

The problem we are having is she purposefully refuses the sippy cup.  We started her on it when she was about 8 months but she just doesn't like it.  She knows how to use it and on the occasion that she is VERY thirsty she uses it with no issues. 

Sometimes I think she just isn't a thirsty person (I'm kind of like that).  But there have also been times where she refuses the sippy so we take the lid off to use as a regular cup and she drinks it right down. 

So 2 questions--- if we drop 2 bottles and she won't use the sippy, should I be worried about dehydration?

And, how do you drop the morning and bed time bottle?  Those seem kind of tough to get rid of without messing up the sleep routine.

 

ps we have tried both the straw and non-straw sippies and she doesnt like either

kel716

We're struggling with cups too.  B wants nothing to do with sippy cups, and will sometimes think about a straw cup (but wants nothing to do with it most of the time).  My pedi wants him off of bottles by his first birthday, so in other words I have a month (well 2 because our appt isn't until the 23rd of sept b/c of scheduling issues- more so dh and I and not them). 

We're leaving the straw cup out for B to play with during the day.  He flirts with it... sometimes he thinks it's a great toy, other times he wants nothing to do with it.  The one thing I've learned is that he'll probably do it in his own time in his own way.  If I fight him on it, I'll get no where.  I wish I could be more help, but I have no brilliant ideas. 

KristenBtobe

The straw cup worked wonders for us, Maggie loves it.

MrsMoher

I know every kid is different so this might not work for you, but we weaned in about 3 days from the bottle to the sippy cup ENTIRELY.  I think it was the type of cup we used.  Eli hated sippys at first, but then we tried this new kind that worked really well.  I can't remember the brand name (maybe Nuby?), but Wal-Mart has these sippy cups that are about a buck each that are almost bottle like.  They don't have any handles and are tall like a bottle (just contoured in the middle), so they feel more like a bottle and the spout is almost like a nipple, just with a really big hole.  It worked wonders for Eli.  After that we transitioned to soft normal spout sippy cups and from there to the hard and eventually the straws.  Try those, because they were a God send.

hav2run

We thought about going cold turkey, but decided her first bottle of the day is a comfort thing for her, so we will continue that one a little while longer.  Straw cups are the way to go when starting out.  If it takes awhile, that is ok.  There is really no written in stone rule that says your child should be bottle free by a certain age.  They all do things when they are ready. Keep encouraging the cup.  It will work itself out soon.

JLPT830

At first Caleb refused all sippy cups except the cheapo $.99 ones from Target.  If I tried to give him anything in any other cup he would refuse it.  I think he liked the spout on those cups.  Now he'll drink out of other cups.  Have you tried other kinds of sippy cups with different types of spouts?  Or with/without handles?

courtneylwilson@me.com

Charlie definitely has some cups he likes, some he doesn't We got rid of the ones he doesn't and now he's fine. We tried to wean for months, and finally got fed up and went cold turkey. If he refused it, we said "okay" and just did something else. After a day or two, he started using them. I made sure he was eating fruit and yogurt and other things with water content. Good luck!?