Sippy Cups: How? Is it necessary?

fallingobsession · May 2012

She just turned one.. I have been offering her a sippy cup for 5-6 months. She HATES it. I have a few, she hates them all. I've tried showing her how to use it, using one myself, trying different liquids in them, taking the valves out to show her there's liquid it. Holding her like I do when it's for a bottle. She. does. not. want. one. The ONLY one she'll kind of take,( NUK w/ soft tip) I absolutely HATE bc it's basically a weird shaped nipple/cup, but she can bite it and pop out the "nipple" and then she throws it and it spills everywhere.

She is able to drink out of another cup, but as soon as liquid touches her mouth, she spits out the cup and refuses to take it again.

What did you do? I'm scared to go cold turkey and then she end up seriously dehydrated. Or would this work?

Also, is it necessary to even switch them so soon? They "say" no bottles after they turn a year, but why? And for the teeth argument: is the sippy cup REALLY that different? I only ask because.. as my mom said, "I never got you kids off of it soon early..."

Wufroggy79 · May 2012

Read the AAP site. They rec you are done with bottles at one due to teeth decay and development. IMO, yes, it is important to drop the bottle.

cali2va · May 2012

There is a sippy cup by nubby that comes with a bottle nipple and a sippy cup nipple. It has the handles on it so the kids can hold it themselves. What we did was use the bottle nipple until I thought she had a good hold and idea on the cup. Once I felt she mastered it I switched to the sippy nipple and it was seamless. I would recommend finding a cup like that.

fallingobsession · May 2012

Thanks, part of the problem is that we are military stationed overseas, and so there aren't very many "soft" sippy cup options, which is what she wants. And we're moving in a couple weeks, so more than likely, the bottle is her source of "comfort" through all this chaos.

Chelle112 · May 2012

Will she take straw cups? That's the only sippy that DS would use. Even now at 2 years old, he won't touch a "normal" cup. He wants a straw.

cali2va · May 2012

Do you have any family in the states that could mail you a couple? It would be worth your sanity.

fallingobsession · May 2012

We are leaving at the end of next week, so not anymore. But at least then I will be able to check out more options since we'll be back stateside. My sister never had this problem, her kids (she has 6) transitioned seamlessly - but again, she didn't do it so young.

And no, we haven't tried straws yet, not cups, I've let her try to use adult straws, but she doesn't get it. Haha.

monkey_pants · May 2012

I agree about the straw cups. DD didn't like sippy cups at all so we tried a straw cup and she got it right away. We use this one (I'm sure it's available cheaper elsewhere) and it's got a little spot you can squeeze to force liquid up the straw to help them understand how it works.

violaplayer · May 2012

One of my guys had no problem moving to a sippy - he didn't care what kind.

My other guy .... Yipes. Hated them! It took many different sippies to figure out what he liked. (Soft spout, not a nipple kind, a flat more cup-like type) And we had to leave it alone for a bit and come back to it. We tried at 12m and he just wasn't having it. We stopped trying for about 3 weeks or so and came back to it. He was more willing at that point and went for it.

shannond354 · May 2012

Why not jump straight to cup training? I know it's messy to start with but she might like it better. Gl!

synchrosally · May 2012

Have you tried a straw sippy? My son couldn't figure out how to tip a cup until he was 15 months old. You should definitely be trying to eliminate the bottle because the milk really does sit around their teeth more in a bottle than a sippy cup. You could always just do an open cup. I would start by taking away one bottle and refusing to give her anything but a sippy or open cup.

LilyRose28 · May 2012

Ditto the straw cup here, too.

But honestly, if she's really not ready, there's no need to rush just because that's the guideline. Every baby is different. Obviously you're not going to prohibit her from drinking milk and water because she won't take it out of a cup. If she needs a bottle for a couple more months, it's not the end of the world. She may take to it no problem in another month.

amykins1283 · May 2012

We dropped the bottle at 14 1/2 months. Liam refused to drink milk out of a sippy and I figured he would do it when he was ready just like everything else. I just kept offering and offering and offering until one morning he just took it like he'd been drinking out of it all his life. I put the bottles away that day and never looked back. It wasn't a moment too soon because I had decided that if he still hadn't taken to the cup at 15 months we were going to have to go cold turkey.

The 12 month rule is a good guideline but I think kids can handle going longer without experiencing any ill effects. As long as you are brushing teeth before bed, not letting them go to sleep with a bottle of milk, and they aren't sucking on a paci or bottle all day every day then you can stretch out the weaning age.

xmanmama2010 · May 2012

Chelle112:
Will she take straw cups? That's the only sippy that DS would use. Even now at 2 years old, he won't touch a "normal" cup. He wants a straw.

this Ds has been using a straw since 7 months and dropped his bottle at 9 months.

witch_city_wife · May 2012

I spent a small fortune in different kinds of sippy cups. The ones that finally worked were the cheap "Take and Toss" ones. They only have two parts and are wonderful. It's worth trying.

Or you could do the Montessori-esque thing and give the baby a shot glass or small juice glass to drink from. Then, at least if she spills, it's only a small amount.

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