The world of bottles and sippy cups is tough. There are so many brands and types that it’s hard to know what’s going to work best for your child. Before I had a child, I had no idea how every little thing was going to require research and trial and error, even down to drinking. You’d think drinking is a basic skill, and while it is, it’s still something one learns. Crazy!
Petit Macaron never took to a bottle. It was due to us not trying, but it just didn’t work out. I was of the mindset that my husband should be the one to give the bottle, at least at the start. Everything I read said how the baby can sense its mother, even in the same room, so having the mother give the bottle makes it harder to introduce. Unfortunately, my husband was (still does, sigh) working so much that he just wasn’t around to really get Petit Macaron to take to the bottle. He could do it over the weekend, but even then he often worked iat home over the weekend. There just wasn’t time enough to dedicate to it and we tried numerous bottles, but he just made it quite difficult. I even tried the bottle a few times, but he refused it and after struggles of screaming and crying, I caved in and nursed him. Luckily for us, we could just shrug and say we (or I) could manage to just nurse until he grew older since I was staying at home.
In retrospect, it would have been really nice to have the bottle as an option as I felt very tied down. There was no way to get away for alone time because basically every three hours (more or less) I had to be back with Petit Macaron to nurse. If we have another child, and my husband is still working so much, I am going to try harder to get the baby to take to a bottle myself!
In my effort to get him to drink to the sippy cup, I tried water, juice, and milk. I thought for sure apple juice would get him interested – it’s sweet, right?! Wrong…he just didn’t seem to care. Then, I did more research and found another sippy cup, the ZoLi BOT Straw sippy cup. But still no dice.
I started to get desperate. I HAD to get him to drink from a sippy cup; I couldn’t nurse forever! I decided to go onto Facebook and ask the moms’ group for any tips. (Side note: Are you on any of the mom groups on Facebook? I found that it’s common for your town/city to have a local mom Facebook group. If you aren’t on one, try doing a search. For instance, the one here is Tacoma Moms. There is even smaller one for North Tacoma Parents.)
So, I hopped online and asked for advice.
The responses I got were wonderful. Some tips included trying the Munchkin Miracle 360, sippy cups with straws, and just a regular cup (expect spills). I ended up trying one recommendation to put some milk in a shot glass and help your child take a sip. When I did this, Petit Macaron got a nice taste of milk. And would you believe it, he liked it. By golly, he liked it! He gave me a big smile and grabbed at the cup, I mean shot glass (haha), for more. Once he got a taste of the milk, he grabbed the 360 sippy cup (the version that has handles). First, I demonstrated to him how to take a sip, and then helped him take a sip as well. You could just see in his eyes the connection he made once he realized there was milk instead. He even took a few more sips on his own.
Since then, he’s been getting better and better at drinking from the sippy cup. He’s even learned the straw with the ZoLi cup as well. Oh, and he took a sip of Mr. Macaron’s smoothie the other day through a straw, too. I can see a light at the end of the tunnel. Yay!
While he doesn’t drink a ton of milk, just a little bit each day, but I’m sure it’ll increase as time moves on. I try to offer it to him with every meal so he gets the opportunity to continue to learn and drink.
In a nutshell, here’s what I’d recommend with getting your child to start a sippy cup:
- Gather some sippy cup options – maybe a fellow mom can lend you one or two to test out
- Try to get your child to get a sip of milk with a small glass so they know how it tastes (good!)
- Demonstrate to your child how to take a sip
- Assist your child in taking a sip from a sippy cup
- Give your child plenty of opportunities to work on the new skill
- Be positive when he gets a sip – my guy loves to clap!
I know I can’t be the only one out there that had a struggle with the bottle and worried about the adaptation to the sippy cup. Hopefully my story can help another mom looking to get her child to take a sippy cup! Good luck out there moms!
blogger / apricot / 275 posts
I’m having a different but similar battle with my 1 year old son! Due to food allergies and a bunch of weird issues with nursing, he took a bottle really early and was exclusively bottle fed around 9 months. He was drinking this foul smelling hypoallergenic formula though, and many people warned us he’d likely refuse to take it from a sippy cup b/c of the smell! Anyhow long story short we missed the ideal window to switch him from the bottle to the sippy cup, and now I’m desperate! My first son LOVED (and still loves) those Nuk learning cups but not his little brother. He does, however, show a lot of interest in the Munchkin 360 cups. And once he started using those, he actually then started stealing sips of milk from his brother’s Nuk cup. So fingers crossed the Munchkin 360 is a miracle worker for both of our boys!
guest
My daughter took a bottle with my milk at daycare. When I started transitioning her to cows milk, daycare suggested that they put the cows milk exclusively in the sippy (we used the nuk b/c that’s what everyone was using). When I stopped pumping, she was weaned from the bottle. Of course weaned from nursing is a very different story..
blogger / persimmon / 1225 posts
Chip won’t take a bottle either but he will use the munchkin 360 and a straw cup as well thankfully!