sippy cups now?

bim38106

DD1 just turned 4 this past Saturday. She loves her "baby cups" (soft spout Nuby sippy, 10oz) and can not fall asleep w/out it. We told her once she turned 4, that was it. No more.

She's totally fine w/out it during the day. She drinks out of a regular cup like a champ. Problem is, she will not drink a drop of milk in a regular cup. She decided about 6 months ago that she was done w/ the sippy during the day and went 2 weeks w/out any milk before I gave her the sippy back. Now she hasn't had any milk since Saturday. We've tried regular cups, straws, etc..

I know milk isn't super necessary...but she doesn't eat much cheese or yogurt either. I got her calcium supplements... I don't know if I should just go back to the sippy just 1x a day so she gets at least 10oz of milk, or just let it go?

This kid basically lives of fresh fruit and veggies. And I'm also worried that she's not getting enough liquids now either. She'll basically go all day w/out drinking and then drink 1-2 5oz cups of water around dinner time. The only way she drinks in the morning now is if I give her 4oz of juice.

So with all this rambling....WWYD? Cut the sippy cup out completely and let her figure it out. She'll drink when she's thirsty, use supplements for Vit D and Calcium? Or just give her 1 sippy cup of milk a day and let the rest be from regular cups?

What about for night time? Just tough it out a few nights until she's used to it (geez, back to like a baby weaning from a paci or just let it go until she outgrows it?

We have her 4yr well-visit on Saturday so I'll discuss this all with her pedi then, but just thought I'd see what you guys thought

KatFCo

DD  went through an anti-milk stage around that time (she'll be 5 in June), so I started making "colored" milk--I put a drop of food coloring in and she loved the novelty. Even now, she requests it sometimes and loves being able to pick her colors and mix it all together (I highly encourage the use of straws with it, though, because even a few drops spilled can be murder to clean up).

 

jsugrin

I give any major change 2-3 weeks before I give up on it.  It sounds like the sippy is part of her nighttime routine so I would expect that to cause some issues, especially since it seems to be some sort of security thing for her.

jlw2505

I personally would do away with sippy cups.  Get her some really fun sports bottle style cups with lids and straws for bedtime and when is out and about and move onto real cups the rest of the time.  Talk to her doctor if you are concerned about her getting enough calcium and liquid but I really would not worry about it.  Sounds like she is a good over all eater and honestly, at this point, I would be more worried about the damage the sippy cups are doing to her teach than anything else.  I cut all sippy cups out at around 2 years with my kids and moved to regular or straw cups and after a few days, they both adjusted in no time.