Bottle vs cup?

ReginaLV · September 2012

C really hates bottles and rather than try and force her to accept them, I'm thinking of skipping them completely and instead teaching her how to drink from a cup. If I do this, I'll probably start introducing the cup around 4 months. Anyone else thinking of doing this or have prior experience with this?

AliciaS1411 · September 2012

I don't have experience but good luck. Thats extremely brave of you! Elliot doesn't have even the slightest grasp on the whole "holding-the-bottle" thing.

Gismo123 · September 2012

In the beginning when DS wouldn't latch properly we cup fed him so he wouldn't "prefer" the fast flow of a bottle over my boob. It took forever to feed him but it worked....he just lapped at the milk with his tongue. We held it really close and didn't tip it very far to keep the milk from going in too fast and choking him.

ReginaLV · September 2012

Gismo123:
In the beginning when DS wouldn't latch properly we cup fed him so he wouldn't "prefer" the fast flow of a bottle over my boob. It took forever to feed him but it worked....he just lapped at the milk with his tongue. We held it really close and didn't tip it very far to keep the milk from going in too fast and choking him.

The image of a little baby lapping milk from a cup like a kitten is so incredibly cute!!!! Though I'm sorry you had latching problems. I do not miss the very early days of breastfeeding.

I'm not going to worry about teaching her to hold the cup, not for a while anyway. This is strictly for the rare cases in which SO is alone with her and he has to give her expressed milk. The occasion has only arisen twice, and neither time went very well for either of them.

richards897 · September 2012

I'm planning on doing this too. She gags herself if I try to get her to take a bottle so I'm not sure I have much of a choice.

jamiah18 · September 2012

richards897:
I'm planning on doing this too. She gags herself if I try to get her to take a bottle so I'm not sure I have much of a choice.

Me too. Poor lil thing has such a hard time with the bottle.

ReginaLV · September 2012

richards897:
I'm planning on doing this too. She gags herself if I try to get her to take a bottle so I'm not sure I have much of a choice.

Yup, that's the same thing going on with us. My SO told me she acts like he is trying to murder her when he tries to give her a bottle. I was out for 5 hours once and he was only able to get her to eat 3oz, and it was apparently an epic battle getting her to take even that. Poor thing was starving when I got home.

Sawyerplus1 · September 2012

I think that's a fine idea! Extended bottle, or even sippy cup, use can affect mouth muscle development, and open cups or straws are ideal. If it works for you and LO then it's not a bad idea to skip the middle man (bottles and sippy cups).

ReginaLV · September 2012

Sawyerplus1:
I think that's a fine idea! Extended bottle, or even sippy cup, use can affect mouth muscle development, and open cups or straws are ideal. If it works for you and LO then it's not a bad idea to skip the middle man (bottles and sippy cups).

I had read that! Plus, it seems like in the end it'll mean less work. Rather than teach her to take a bottle, then a sippy, and THEN a regular cup, we'll just go to cup. Depending on how she takes it, that is. I could also see her taking nothing but the breast for quite a while, she's pretty stubborn. She won't even take a pacifier (that doesn't bother me though!).

khill86 · September 2012

ReginaLV:
Sawyerplus1:
I think that's a fine idea! Extended bottle, or even sippy cup, use can affect mouth muscle development, and open cups or straws are ideal. If it works for you and LO then it's not a bad idea to skip the middle man (bottles and sippy cups). 
I had read that! Plus, it seems like in the end it'll mean less work. Rather than teach her to take a bottle, then a sippy, and THEN a regular cup, we'll just go to cup. Depending on how she takes it, that is. I could also see her taking nothing but the breast for quite a while, she's pretty stubborn. She won't even take a pacifier (that doesn't bother me though!). 

This is our situation, too. DS won't take a bottle. We've tried before a nap, after a nap, first thing in the morning, etc and have had no luck. DS chews the nipple and pushes it out. He won't take a pacifier, so I'm it.

I'm okay with everything and don't mind, but at some point I won't be able to have DS with me, so I was thinking we'll introduce a cup at 6 months. A public health nurse told me that if I was planing on doing extended BF, which I am, that it would be best to go ahead and introduce a regular cup when we start solids, skip the sippy cup. Practice with an ounce or so of water until he gets the hang of the idea and prepare for lots of spills. Once LO "gets it" we can move on to expressed milk. The transition is more about not wasting milk than anything else. I know I'll have two 3 hour seminars to go to in January or February, so to save whoever watches DS, I'd like to at least have him familiar with a cup by then. The only other time I would have liked to have a bottle available is for a wedding I'm in, in November. But the bride is fine with DS coming and knows I'm BF, so it should be fine.

GracieBlue · September 2012

I am guessing you won't have any problems! I was mind blown when they had us feed lo from a cup in the hospital. We were having latching issues so we had to supplement - the LC didn't want nipple confusion issues so the formula went in a little cup. As soon as we put it near dd's face her lips would start going and she would literally chug it.

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