My daughter is almost 14 months old and refuses to drink from a cup -- sippy cup or regular cup. She knows how, she just won't do it. We have tried different kinds of cups, every brand, with handles, without handles, hard spout, soft spout, straws, regular cups. You name it, we've tried it. I've filled it with water, milk, juice. Nothing seems to interest her. My doctor says to give up the bottle cold turkey, but this seems rather harsh to me given the fact that she doesn't drink out of a sippy at all. I'm worried about her getting enough fluid.
Has anyone else had this issue come up? I've asked my friends with kids, but everyone seems to have made the transition without incident. Any suggestions or advice would be greatly appreciated!
M.
I would ony offer juice in a cup keep milk down to 8 to 10 oz a day and do water the rest of the day. Atleast then you wont have to worry too much about her teeth. She will come around. What is her favorite thing to drink? use that to bribe her to use a cup. And remember all kids learn at different times. she will come around.
I think your daughter is just smarter than you give her credit for. She knows that if she doesn't drink from her sippy cup, you will eventually give in and give her the bottle. I would listen to your doctor. Just take the bottle away and when she has no choice, she will drink from the sippy cup.
I never had this problem because I gave my son sippy cups as soon as he was able to hold something in his hand. I will give you suggestions anyways. If your worried about her not getting enough fluid don't because she may be stuborn but if she really gets thirsty then she will drink what is given to her. Two ways to go and the first is give her the sippy cup with her favorite drink in it and the bottle with something she probably won't like (don't use water because you don't want that to be a punishment) like prune juice, cranberry juice, lemonade with no sugar. She will eventually go ahead and drink the sippy cup but you have to let her see that your putting her favorite drink in that oe. They do know the difference. Of course I think this one is a drawn out, long, and emotionally tiring thing to do.
The other is what your doctor told you to do and just take it cold turkey. She has to eventually drink something and will eventually pick up that sippy cup and realize that it's not so bad. It will be a battle at first but in the long run you won't have to worry about the rotting teeth because of prolonged use of the bottle. Just keep reminding yourself that and you will be able to endure.
Hi M.,
My daughter was breastfed, but also resisted a sippy. I ended up stopping nursing cold turkey, and she became more accepting of her cup. Go figure- she got thirsty! It sounds harsh, but she will drink when she is thirsty. You will probably have a difficult day at first, but try ust not offering a bottle at all. This happened to a friend of mine and (How smart are babies!) she still had the bottle sterilizer on the counter, so she put that away, and then her dd seemed to understand that bottles were gone. Try making sure all bottle related items are gone as well. Good luck!!!!
E.
hi i can empathize with you. my daughter refused to drink from a cup and then i discovered the "nuby" sippy. it is like a bottle but not. it took one week and now she is only on that. the hardest part was getting her to take her morning cup i/o of the bottle.
btw - she is 13 months old.
hope this helps!
J.
My daughter is 13 months old and I had a problem with her and the sippy cup too. I found that if I held her and gave it to her like a bottle she would drink it. Eventually she started to hold it on her own and now she is doing great with it. Good Luck!
I have to agree that your daughter will drink when she gets thirsty enough. I had a similar problem with my son and ended up putting a sippy cup in every single room of the house that he spent any time in (family room, kitchen, living room, his bedroom, etc.) so that there was a cup of water everywhere for him whenever he got thirsty. After a while he finally did start drinking from them. I let the bedtime bottle last a little longer, however, just to ease my own concerns about him getting dehydrated. It was actually harder for me to wean him from that bottle and get him to drink anything other than water from the cups. He still (at nearly four years old) usually only likes water or milk to drink.
