Help, Trying to Wean to Sippy Cup with Soy Milk

Updated on August 03, 2008
K.H. asks from Dayton, OH
20 answers

My one year old daughter is allergic to milk, and we have been trying to wean her on soy milk for a month. She will take juice and water out of a sippy cup but not milk or formula. We have been gradually doing it, for the last two weeks I have been doing 2 oz formula with 4 oz soy milk. She will take it out of the bottle, then I tried to do just soymilk and she will not drink it out of the sippy cup or bottle. I first started with the unsweetend Silk then recently moved to the plain Silk brand. I think she associates the cup with water or juice only. She also will not drink it out of the sippy cup if we mix it. This week I am doing 1oz formula to soy milk. I also need to somehow get her used to drinking milk cold. It is still luke warm in the bottle when we give it to her. I also just weaned her off breast milk at 11 mo. Any help is appreciated.
My oldest was 20 months before she was off the bottle, and I do not want to make the same mistake. Thank you!

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K.J.

answers from Dayton on

Maybe try to find a sippy cup that is entirely different than the cups she usually drinks water or juice from. We found some that were made by Nuby that were almost like a bottle that were a good transition.

Also, my son was on soy milk too and for some reason he really liked the fortified meijer organic soy milk. We tried Silk and other brands but that was his favorite. Its not in the dairy section its in the baking aisle so it took us a while to find it. The soy formula was really expensive so we were really excited when we got him drinking regular soy milk. He is 18 months now and has actually completely grown out of his dairy allergy so he's drinking regular milk now, which also took a while to get him used to.

My only other suggestion would be maybe just to stop with the soy milk completely and then try again in a week or two. That worked with my son when we were trying to get him to drink cow's milk. At first he would spit it out and wanted nothing to do with it or we had to mix just a little bit of it with the soy milk. So we quit trying and two weeks later my husband gave him a cup of it and he drank the whole thing. That trick has worked for us a bunch of times when my daughter was little too. I think you have to catch them when they're in the right frame of mind. :)

Good luck!

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S.R.

answers from Toledo on

Hi there. I would try using either a flavored Soy Milk or mixing in flavors with it, like Strawberry or Chocolate....my baby loves Strawberry and doesn't care for Chocolate. Best of Luck!

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T.S.

answers from Columbus on

I had some of the same issues with mine. I had a special type of cup that we only used for lactaid(we had milk issues too) and I still served it warm. My daughters took it that way until they were 3. Good luck!

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O.T.

answers from Youngstown on

I can't see who all has replied yet and what they said. :)

I just wanted to say that it takes time for them to start using a sippy. My son is 14 months old and he just makes a wet mess when I give him a sippy, but I keep on keeping on! LOL He doesn't take bottles though. He's breastfed.

My sister's son had a milk allergy, which thankfully he has outgrown. He's five now. She was using soy milk for him but the only kind he would drink was strawberry flavored.

I've put cold milk into my 14 month olds bottle for awhile now but he'll take one sip and not come back. I think it's because he knows it's milk and he's used to mama's milk, like I think your daughter is use to your milk. I picked up a bottle warmer at a garage sale and warm up some milk and then put it in the sippy and he drinks that.

With all this BPA in the news I've replaced both my son's sippy's with Foogo, which has a soft, silicone spout. I think being able to gnaw on something softer than the hard Gerber cups, which he was leaving teeth marks on, is better for him and now my peace of mind. I don't know if I can put this in here, but I got my boys sippy's and a straw bottle for my oldest at www.bpafreekids.com.

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S.W.

answers from Cincinnati on

I hate to suggest this, but maybe a different type of sippy. Maybe one with a straw? Nuby makes a no spill one that my son loved. He wouldn't take a sippy style one for what seemed like forever, but used the straw type by 1 year. Also, soy milk varies in taste depending on the brand. Have you tried different brands? Best of luck!

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C.R.

answers from Cleveland on

K., will she take milk from a regular cup? My Kaitlin (14mos.) never took a pacifier and now has no interest in sippy cups - and I've purchased 5 different kinds! She readily drinks from regular cups with assistance. Her dr. said to skip sippies if she doesn't want it - just one less thing you don't have to wean her from as she gets older. Her dr. also told me to stop warming her bottles when she was a couple months old - she never warmed bottles for her own 2 - so sorry I don't have anything to help you with there. In fact, with the weather as hot as it is, I regularly put ice cubes in her water and formula before we head out of the house. Good luck!

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R.T.

answers from Cincinnati on

K.,
Don't worry, as frustrating as it is, she will get it! Try not putting so much soy milk in(it is a little thicker), but more formula. If she takes it without difficulty slowly increase the soy milk. What we had to do w/our daughter was have her a sippy w/milk and one for juice for the day. When she wanted her milk we would only let her have the sippy-no bottle!!No compromise either!
She realized the bottle was gone and the sippy was here to stay. =}
Good luck and keep up the hard work!
R.

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J.B.

answers from Evansville on

We finally went cold turkey- One day there were no more bottles. It was tough for about a week and then it was like he had always had them. We did that right around his first birthday. He had also been having juice and water in cups but not milk.

Also- have you tried the vanilla silk? My little boy LOVES it but doesn't really care for the plain silk...

Good luck!!

J.

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P.R.

answers from Indianapolis on

I am not sure why you are so worried about weaning her off a bottle at 12 months old. It could be you are trying to make too many changes in a short period of time. I would adjust her to the change in the milk/soy field and then work on weaning her off the bottle. Just a suggestion.

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S.K.

answers from South Bend on

If you can't get her to drink the soy.. try almond milk. They have 3 different flavors, vanilla,choc, & strawberry. Personally I didn't care for the taste but my son drank it. It is usually found in the larger stores such as Meijer and I have seen it in Kroger and Walmart. Except in the south.. I couldn't find it anywhere. In Meijer it is usually found in the baking isle. As far as the temperture, my son was the same way.. he liked his milk warm but I just microwaved it a lil less each time he had it till now he doesn't really notice

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A.J.

answers from Indianapolis on

My daughter, now 14 months, had a hard time transitioning to milk. I started giving her a different kind of sippy cup for the milk because she also seemed to associate the other sippy cups with water. We use the straw sippy cups for her milk and she really likes that. Also, she still likes her morning cup of milk to be lukewarm, but will then drink cold milk the rest of the day. Best of luck!

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K.M.

answers from South Bend on

My son is also allergic to milk and drinks silk soy, but we use the very vanilla for kids and also the chocolate. THe very vanilla is kinda a purpleish blue carton found in the fridge aisles. It has extra vitamins and calcium for kids and I think is a little sweeter than regular and even the plain vanilla. It you don't mind giving chocolate this early, it may be something exciting for her, especially if you make it into a big deal. Hope this helps and keep trying. They says can take 20 tries before they learn to like something new.

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C.B.

answers from Bloomington on

My daughter is lactose intolerant and also allergic to soy. I am able to get her to drink Rice Dream milk and Lactaid Lactose-free milk. I would suggest to try rice or even goat's milk to see if she can tolerate either one of those. Good Luck!

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L.H.

answers from Cincinnati on

had the same problem, my 6 1/2 year old is on soy milk also. we had to take baby steps. first we gave him just the formula a little bit colder each time. so he would get use to the temperature change of his drinks in the bottle (sippy cup). then we slowly added a little more soymilk with each drink. then eventually he was use to the cold temperature AND the flavor. we tried the Vaniliia flavor soy milk. try to find a brand with the least amount of sugar. as far as transfering from bottle to sippy cup; it was hard and took a while. they have to get use to different shape and feel in their mouths ON TOP OF the different temperature and taste. so just go slow with the flavor and coldness part of it. we would just continue to offer the sippy cup WITH HANDLES on it. he really lilked the independence of carrying it around with him instead of the frustration of the bottle slipping out his hands and stuff. we even let him go pick out which sippy cups he wanted in hopes to make him more excited about using it. hope this helps. L.

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T.W.

answers from Kokomo on

I had the tough love approach.....when each of my girls turned one year old, the bottle went away and out came the sippy cup. Cold turkey. My oldest wouldn't have anything to do with it the first night before bed, however, the second night she realized the bottle went bye-bye and if she wanted milk, then the cup was the only way. Good luck with your own approach, there are many out there!

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T.

answers from Cleveland on

K.,

You shouldn't think that 20 months of weaning of the bottle is a mistake. This is an american view you hear over and over again, but why?
If you were breastfeeding and keeping it up they would support you to the end, if the kids are on bottle they do not. The sippy cup delievers the milk and juices much in the sameway and to the same spot in the mouth, therefore there is not reason to essentially switch from bottle to "bottle". A gloreifed "bottle" is all that a sippycup is from a research and common sense standpoint. My older one, (my first one) did not want to wean from bottles and I was making myself crazy, but eventually it all stopped when she got old enough and now that I have my second girl have the same problem, I am just going to wait it out and ignore anyone who thinks otherwise.

Remeber, if you were breastfeeding it would be awesome, so see it the same way.
Some kids are just not ready yet and I'd rather have my kids fed than to follow some studpid rule that does not make sense and by the way is not practiced like that anywhere else in the world.

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K.N.

answers from Cleveland on

Well first off she is still very young and already using a cup so it's unlikely you'll end up repeating what you did the first time around. it took me forever to get the kids drinking cold milk, but i would warm it even in a sippy cup. also i have found that the sippy cups with the silicon tops are generally easier to replace the bottle with because it mimics the sucking action and feel of a bottle. also at 10 months old she should still be drinking formula so mixing it for the next two months is perfectly fine, she needs the fat and nutrition from the formula till her first birthday. other than that just keep offering it to her and try not to give in, sooner or later she will drink from a cup, and if all else fails if she is one of those babies that still needs held to take a bottle just do the same routine but with a cup, it might help her be more comfortable. good luck.

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L.S.

answers from Dayton on

Hi!

My daughter would not take anything but water out of a sippy cup either. So, I bought these Munchin straw cups from Meijers and put her milk in there. She LOVES it! They have some with Dora on it or you can get them without insulation (they are easier for her to hold) too. It has a soft straw and she can carry it around without spilling out. Just a thought.

Good luck!
L.

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S.D.

answers from Indianapolis on

Good for you for sticking with breastfeeding so long! It makes dealing with allergies easier. While she still has the cow milk protein intollerance, try goat's milk. It's the closest to human milk out there and many kids who can't take the cow's milk can drink goat's milk. I have also heard that buffalo milk is well-tollerated, but I don't have any idea where you'd buy it!

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S.E.

answers from Cleveland on

With full support of his doctor, I just finally gave up on milk with my little guy (16mo). He drank formula from a bottle fine. I switched to whole milk but that I could only change 1oz per 32oz at a time he was so picky about it. He finally stopped drinking milk even from his bottle. I would just give him a bottle of milk, he would play with it squirting milk places, then I would throw it out. Talked with the doctor and she said it isn't that big of a deal. I let him drink a little juice a day that has vitD and calcium in it. So many foods have calcium and protein that there isn't really that much concern. Do what you can, but don't worry too much.

Someone suggested Rice milk. Caution: Not intended for small children. It does not have the protein in it. It says right on the package do not give to young children.

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