My daughter just turned 9 months old and has been an exclusively breastfed baby. Never used a bottle, I just took her with me wherever I went. So for the past 3 weeks I have been trying to get her to first drink from a bottle and all she did was chew on it and thought that was great fun. So I thought that maybe I should just go to a sippy, so I pulled out my son's first sippy cups that I saved. They are Gerber and have the stopped and a soft spout... still she just chewed and giggled and played with it, so I bought a Munchkin sippy (again with a soft spout) and she did the same thing. She nurses 4-5 times a day, but she is at the age where she should be drinking something with her meals. I tried juice, water and today I mixed up some formula (have it because I use it for her cereal because I hate pumping), and nothing is helping. I actually have 2 baggies of my pumped milk in the freezer (this was before I realized how much I hate pumping and also she wasn't taking a bottle anyway). I put one bag in the fridge to defrost and I am going to try my milk in a sippy. But I'm wondering now if maybe I should just try to get her on a bottle and get used to it.... trial and error until I find a brand with a nipple she likes?? Suggestions or your experience?
Well, she had her 9 month wellness dr. Visit today because she just turned 9 months. I asked the doctor and he said she's too young for sippy and keep trying a bottle. I've never heard that advice before. So last night I pulled out a Platex drop-in bottle and a nipple that looks like her binky (I had one of those bottle gift sets leftover from my son but never used them really). And she actually sucked on it and drank! So I'm gonna go with that for now, but I think I will try a straw cup. My son has some of them. The only thing I don't like about them is it's too easy to flick juice or water with it. Something my son does often. I also have Tupperware bell tumblers with th lids so I can try that with her also. I think I'd be afraid to just let her drink out of a regular cup now because she's got a good grip on her... Lil miss grabby.
Try a straw...my son skipped the bottle and sippy and wants a straw like his big sister. We introduced other fluids around 6 months and he was otherwise breastfed until 14 months. His sister took to the sippy like a champ, but she also took the occasional bottle. Good luck - just keep trying:)
And there is NO problem skipping the use of the bottle - I wouldn't even deal with it at this age.
Well I have no hope or help to offer you. My son is 18 months old and he just started taking a sippy cup. He too was only breastfed and refused all bottles and I tried a ton. I just held a cup to his lips and he drank like a big boy from about 9 months or so. He literally just started taking the sippy cup like 2 weeks ago. He was doing great drinking from a cup and sometimes I would put tiny amounts in and let him practice drinking himself. He did great then all of a sudden he would just dump the cup out or try to rip it out of my hands and cause it to spill..He thinks it's funny,I do not. So I bought a Nuby sippy from Walmart for 2.50 and he drank from it right away,like he always knew what to do even though he refused all the other ones I tried the months before I finally gave up. My son also has no clue how to drink from a straw yet but if you drop the liquid in his mouth like a bird he sucks yet when you put the straw in his mouth to drink out of the actual cup he tries to rip the straw out of the drink to be funny...Good luck,sorry I couldn't help.
Have you tried just letting her (with your help) drink out of a normal cup? My son hates sippy cups (he is 10 mo) and does the same thing, mostly chews on the nipples. But at about 7 mo we started letting him drink out of normal cups/glasses and he does great! We have to help hold the glass, and it gets kinda messy, but he drinks!
But starting with a bottle first may help.
Did you take the valve out of the sippy cup? The first few times, it helps to take the valve/stopper out so that when you tip it up, the milk drips out a bit into her mouth. That gives the baby a taste so that she knows there is something in there. Once she figures that out, she'll learn to suck on the sippy and you can put the valves back in to prevent spills.
With my boys, I took the stopper our of the Gerber and gave that to them. It was a little messy, but it helped them grasp the concept that, "Oh, there's something to drink in here! That's what it's for." It only took them an hour or so. Once it clicked, I put the stopper back in. They never had any trouble after that.
Good luck! (Oh, and I'd also skip the bottle!)
I would avoid the bottle too, just another habit to try to break later! My son was breastfed too, didn't mind a bottle, but rarely got one. Sippys took a while too. He also started by chewing. And I tested every sippy we gave him and most let something out when chewed. We liked munchkin and playtex best. Playtex has the removable valve that we sometimes took out and carefully poured into his mouth so he knew what he would get. Eventually he has gotten the hang of it!! Or, try a straw!! Our son amazed us at a restaurant one evening by drinking perfectly from a straw!!!
normal cup (juice tumbler or espresso cup or a shot glass - no really, they are great). Also, we use a sippy cup with a hard spout. I think it is called "green sprouts." It is the only one she ever liked. She is three and we still use it for portable drinks (like in the car), although the rest of the time she uses a regular little juice tumber.
You got a lot of answers already so you may have gotten this response. I would try to teach her to drink from a straw. Both of my kids were exclusively breast fed and would never take a bottle. They had trouble with spout-like sippies too. So, I tried the sippy cups that have a straw-like spout, the ones with the straw that goes to the bottom (there are some that look like a straw, but don't have the tube that goes down to the bottom of the cup). Both of my kids easily took to the straw. The way I taught my kids to suck, was to give them a CapriSun drink. I would show them how to hold the bag and then give it a L. squeeze and they caught on. At 6 months my daughter was able to drink from a cup, but my son, who is almost 2, just recently started getting the hang of drinking from a regular cup. Also, a cup is great for sitting at the table, but you'll want a sippy for during the day and when you're out and about. I really didn't like the water/juice/milk spilt all over the place!!
My children were also exclusively breast fed but at 10/11 months I wanted them to start getting practice with a sippy cup. It took quite a while. I only gave water in the sippy cup but wanted to get my children used to it so that they could start drinking whole milk from it at a year. I wouldn't regress to bottles. Your daughter really doesn't need anything to drink but milk. I would just continue with the sippy cup with your pumped milk/formula. My children did well with the Gerber cups and the Take and Toss sippy cups.
my lo was the same, try one of those straw cups
They are all different. We have 4 kids and BF all of them. The only one that would take a bottle was #1, because I was taking national boards and had to have someone watch him, so I got him to reluctantly take a bottle at 1 month old. I waited too long with the others and none of them took a bottle. A sippy cup came later and just water. My DD was exclusively BF for 18 months and I finally had to cut her off and she started drinking out of disposible sippy cups, but I cut the top part with the holes off and she was fine.
I second the normal cup! If you've never used a bottle and plan to breastfeed at least the first year, do not bother with a bottle.
Let her play with a regular cup with a small amount of water, or buy the take-n-toss ones without a stopper, just tiny holes. I don't think there is a magic sippy cup, and I don't think you need to invest a lot in them (not like a bottle where babies are still learning to eat and you just want to support the nursing as much as possible--they know how to nurse/eat/drink by 9 months, just need to learn to use something else in addition). It will take a while and if she's nursing that often she's still getting water in the breastmilk, so you have time and she should be fine. Playing with the cup is part of learning to use it. :)
My exclusively breast fed daughter also wouldn't take a sippy cup. I've been successful with a straw sippy cup (Playtex I think). She's now 17 mos and still only does a straw cup, and I'm trying to introduce a real cup (me holding it of course).
"They" saw that sippy cups are bad for speech development and you should move them to a straw or real cup anyway. I guess we lucked out! (my straws never mildew either like some people complain -- I mainly hand wash, and throw it in the dishwasher maybe every 5th time of use (4 hand washes, then a dishwash wash)
Skip the sippy cup and just offer a plastic cup she can drink out of. My kids drank out of normal kid cups started at 6 months. Developmentally, they know what to do, if we let them......
Maybe its not the contents. Sippy cups don't do any developmental favors because they work just like bottles. My son went to straight to straw cups, which teaches them knew things, including builing up muscles in the backs of their mouths for speech later on. Closer to 12mos, most kids want to drink while watching their surroundings, so the straw cups are better for that as well. Good luck!
Skip the bottle. I second the straw sippies.
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