My 20 month old daughter wakes up every night at least once a night and will cry for her sippy cup. She has to have it to go to sleep too and this I know is a very bad habit and not to mention bad for her teeth! I brush her teeth every night while she's having bath time, but as soon as I put her in bed, she'll ask for her cup. I've tried reading to her and doing other things to distract her and this only works some nights and then if it does work before going to sleep she'll wake in the early am crying for her cup. For the sake of getting any sleep I give in, but I dont want her to continue this way. Any suggestions or advice would be greatly appreciated.
I have been dealing with this myself and as long as you just give her water in it, you are doing great.
My daughter was the same way. I gave her a cup filled with water. She is my water baby. She still occasionally wakes up and wants a drink of water and she is 4 now. Good luck.
Hi L.,
Although my daughter is now 3yrs old, I too experienced great challenges with the sippy cup, even moreso than the bottle. The sippy cup became my daughter's complete comforter and she clung to it with all her might. A couple of things helped me until I was strong enough to really just break the habit and put an end to sippy cup.
1. I got her interested in another form of cup. The whole transfer of emotions thing really help. I made a big deal for at least two weeks about the big girl cup and fun straws. She loved it, at least until it was time for bed which brought me to point two.
2. Only give water in the sippy cup period. (no juice, no milk nothing!) It makes it less desireable and she'll start to make the adjustment better. Inform her that she may have her sippy cup, but that there are other cups now for milk and juice ect. She may not like it but if she wants the cup (which she will) it will help and alleviate the concerns of oral hygene if she needs it for bed.
3 Thirdly, I made an equal production of shopping for a night time toy, (doll, bear ect) and again giving her something else to think about at night. It works great when you're trying to seperate your child from something like a sippy, mainly, because their toys don't drink from sippy's and she'll like feeling like the big kid for a change vs being the baby. (Even if it's only a doll.)
4. Finally, have her assume the responsibiliy of keeping up with her cup. This one is tricky but it helps make the transition of importance. When my daughter got distracted and left her cup somewhere, if she wanted it, I'd make her find it or at least help me look for it, after a while if she didn't find it, (which wasn't very often but often enough) there was less fretting about it because she felt like there was no other option.
And when you've just had it (like I did at around 24mos), just load them all up in a paper bag one day while she's napping and toss them in the trash can across the street, and tell her they went to sippy cup heaven to be with all the other little girls who need them. After three days of nothing, she'll be fine. But by all means avoid the sippy cup isle in TARGET!!!!! LOL!
I too love being a mommie. Hope this helps. C.~
I raised 2 boys with no cavities. Neither has had a cavity one is 12, the other, 9. Both of my boys needed nourishment in the middle of the night. I would allow him a drink of milk or formula (my little one drank formula until he was 3) I also did the unthinkable - they had pacifiers! Sometimes you just have to do what you have to do for a little time. Remember with her everything is temporary. Heck, my mom has hypoglycemia and has to get a glass of milk in the middle of the night quite often. If you can't stand the thought of giving her the cup, try loading her up on protein right before bed. I hope something I said is helpful.
My son was the same way, with the bottle and then the sippy cup. We started giving him a sippy cup with water in it before right before putting him in his crib (for naps and night time) and he is fine with it. It took a while for him to get used to having water instead of milk but now he is ok with it and I don't have to worry about teeth issues, he has his sippy, sleeps great and when he wakes in the morning he drinks it before I even get him.
