My 18 month old child refuses milk from sippy cup at home, but takes it at his daycare. Is this typical? Any tips on how to get him to take the milk at home? My MIL seems to think the daycare is lying, and wants to give him a bottle just to witness that he is getting calcium (I don't want to revert back to bottles, so this is a debate we're having).
Thanks in advance to Moms that answer!
Try a regular cup. Messier at first but he might prefer it and learn that cups go right side up now rather than later. You could just watch him drink at daycare to see how that is going.
D.
milk is overrated. Does your child eat cheese and yogurt as well as drink milk at daycare? Does the child eat veggies of all colors? How about a multi-vitamin? They should be just fine.
He's giving you a hard time because he has tested you and knows that it gets a rise out of you. That's just what kids do. He's not going to die - if you decide he needs to drink out of a sippy, then give it to him. If he refuses it, put it to the side, teach him the sign language for 'drink' and when he wants a drink, give him the same sippy. If you give him something else, you will be teaching him that he can refuse the sippy and get something else.
I go organic and totally healthy, but for the sake of an experiment (is it the sippy or me?) I'd try putting something really sweet in the sippy that he doesn't ever get - ie chocolate milk. Then put some of the chocolate milk on his tongue so he knows what's in the sippy. Then let him down the chocolate milk. (Don't gloat that you caught him). Next time it's milk time, just give him plain milk - sugared is a horrible idea for his body - but now you know it's not the sippy, but his will.
He's growing up - his will will assert itself over and again. It's our job to help him grow up and know how to control his own will. My favorite parenting advocate is James Stenson. I highly recommend his website (and books) - www.parentleadership.com
Enjoy.
E.
well if the day care says he's taking one for them then he probably is. I mean he's probably around a bunch of other kids also drinking from sippy cups so he sees them doing it too. Also he probably knows that there he as no other option. It's drink from a sippy or be thirsty so he drinks it. Just give him time. He won't starve or anything if he's really that thirsty he will drink from a sippy for you too. Don't go back to a bottle.
Give him an open cup or a straw cup! My daughter has been drinking from an open cup since around 20 months.
He is way too old for a bottle.
And it easy enough to watch the day care teacher offer him a bottle - if you dont' trust them, which woudl be a bigger problem.
Besdies I am sure he gets plenty of calcium from yogurt, cheese, etc. Don't worry about it.
Are you using the same sippy cups that the daycare is? Try and see if you can match sippys. My youngest only like a couple of sippys.
I can't imagine they'd really be lying but I would ask them if they have any trouble, how many other kids are doing it, do they think he's being influenced, do they have to cajole him, etc. Don't go back to a bottle...he'll get it eventually. you didn't say how long he'd been on the cup, but it's fairly common to have this reaction, so keep at it, he'll get it!
Sighhhhh. The Joys of having a Mother In Law....
Kids go through lots of stages. I have two kids that eat for the Nanny but they all but throw food in my face and refuse to eat. Go fig.
If he is drinking milk at daycare then let him drink it there. Milk is like food. If he is drinking milk he is probably eating less food. Kids don't need more than 2 cups of milk a day anyway. So if he doesn't drink milk at home with you, he is probably eating more with you. And since he is drinking milk at school, if he eats more with you there is a better chance that his diet is more balanced.
Also--try googling "foods with calcium" You will see that milk isn't even the best source of calcium out there. And lowfat milks have had most of their natural vitamin content stripped away (Vitamin A is fat-soluable, so take away the fat and take away the vitamins). The vitamin content is added back usually in the form of synthetic supplements. So you start to see all the controversy over milk...I prefer more natural foods with no synthetic supplements added to them. I mean, God intended milk to have fat! I bet there is a reason, right? I think we get more useable nutrients from foods that are whole and less processed.
I am trying to get my kid's to eat healthier too. I blog about it at--
www.thetableofpromise.blogspot.com
