Is She Getting Enough? and Sippy Cups

If you little girl likes to drink out of a regular cup, then why not? Montessori suggests that a child be taught how to drink out a regular cup to from the beginning. Most mother's just don't have the patience for this and thus, the sippy cup.
I would go with the flow on this one. My little girl, now 10 months, refused to drink out of sippy cups with the valves that keep them from spilling, but she is happy with the old fashioned kind without the valve. Best of luck :)

I would definitely ask your pediatrician about the milk intake but as far as the sippy cup goes-I am a pediatric occupational therapist and I say-skip the sippy cup--especially if she already hates it. After she learns to drink from a sippy cup, you're going to have to turn around and teach her to drink from a cup anyway. When she's a few months older and you want a cup with a lid, get a straw cup (playtex makes a good one with a soft straw). You can teach her to learn to drink from a straw by letting her put her lips around a juice box straw and then squeezing the box a little-she'll get it.

Hi H.,
What my pediatrician told me when my son was doing what your daughter is doing is that formula has the nutrients she needs until the age of one so it should be offered first. You may need to restrict a little food to get her the daily requirements of formula but all I really had to do is continue to offer the bottle before feeding. You can sit with her or put her in the high chair or let her have it in a bouncy if she can hold it.
My kids won't take any milk from the sippy and wouldn't until I stopped the bottle but again that should not be happening now....in fact there is research showing that babies who use bottles until about 14 months have better language positioning from using their tongue properly.
When you go to the pediatrician ask how many oz she is to be taking per day and use that as your guide. If it is more than a few weeks away, I'd call and ask the nurse, they have that info and you could probably even find it online.
As far as the sippy cup, she is pretty young for that but if she will drink from a regular cup she is doing fine on her skills so I would just re-offer it in a few months with juice and go from there maybe once a day, let her play with it etc.
Good luck, sounds like she is an early baby with things! Also, you may want to avoid certain foods like berries, nuts, eggs and dairy foods until at LEAST one year. The stomach needs time to adjust to these things and the longer you wait on food in general the more her stomach will be prepared and the less likely food allergies are. If I were in your shoes I would really limit what you give her to single foods that are stage 1. There is no way her body is THAT advanced and ready for chewing at 6 months. I personally would keep it to carrots, sweet potatoes, peas, apples, bananas and other single simpler foods in stage 1 jars and start meats and all the rest in maybe 2-4 months based on my research.
Good luck!
L.

Hi H.,

I had the same question and was told a 6 month old should be drinking between 25-32ozs of breast milk or formula per day. Hope this helps.

K.