Okay, so it's a trivial request, but I wouldn't mind suggestions. My son (almost 1 year) has been using a sippy cup with a soft spout for a while now, quite happily. When I've tried to get him to use one with a hard spout, he's resisted, so I didn't bother to try very hard. If he's happy with the soft spout, let him use it, right? Well, lately he's been chewing on the spout (potentially a hazard, but no problems so far) and when he chews on it, he dribbles on himself until his shirt is soaked. Most of the time I just don't let him have it that long, but sometimes I get distracted (I also have a 3-1/2 year old) or he's with others who don't or can't watch as closely (like in the church nursery). Any attempts I've made to introduce a hard spout cup have been met with funny faces and refusal to use. Is there anything I can do to help or do I have to just consistently offer it until he gets used to it? How would I do it without going from a kids who happily drinks water all day to a kid who refuses to drink? Thanks for the help!
try a hard spout with no plug in it to show him that it still gives him the same thing... then put the plug into it. Just have to moniter him a little. I gave my kids sippys with no plugs and it would prevents big messes but also taught them that they had to set the cup on the table or counter when they were done.
give him the hard one, he will eventually take it if you stand your ground. They're just so use to the soft cup.
Good luck
I have a 16 mo old and I had a very hard time getting her to transition from a bottle drinking her milk to a sippy cup (my oldest did not have any trouble at all). I realized that she is just a more stubborn child, so I just had to drop the bottle cold turkey. The first couple of days was rough, but once she realized that there was no more bottle, she just accepted drinking out of a sippy. If I were you, I would just throw away the soft sippys and just give him the hard top ones and after a few days, you should not have any trouble.
Have you tried straw cups yet? We started my son on them at 10 months & he loved it. He was off the bottle at 12 months. The take & toss ones are the best since they don't have to suck hard. We just wash them & reuse them for months.
We never did make the switch to hard tops with the cups - my son refused them as well as never accepted them. He is 4 and still loves those soft topped ones. The chewing stage on the tip goes away. He's probably cutting teeth just now. Try to let him take a drink and then sit it on the table or watch him with it and then take it away rather than let him carry it around until he stops chewing. It's messy and you have to keep replacing for awhile, but it will stop eventually as he matures and possibly restart later when those teeth come in again. We had this issue 2 or 3 times over the course of 4 years. Good luck!
May I ask you a question I am a childcare provider. Why are you switching him. It is not going to matter when it is time to take the sippy cup away and go into him drinking from a regular cup.
Hi B.,
I had the opposite problem. We did the hard spout from Gerber first. I tried a soft spout to try to get him to drink some milk now that he's 1 year old but to no avail. He loves the Nuby cup now though and I think it took around 4-5 days for him, he was thirsty a lot till he could figure out how to use it! Just keep trying is all I can say :)
A.
My son is 5 and whenever I upgraded him to a different drinking cup, I simply "lost" the old one- I actually threw them away so they could not be found by accident or be available for my caving in! I lamented with him that we could not find it, this did involve participating in a search and rescue effort for the lost cup. So, then you can either run to the store to pick out a new one with him to get a big boy cup, or have the replacement on hand. Trust me the desire to drink milk or juice will win out over the stucture, color, or straw content of the new cup. It may take a day of a grumpy & whiney kid, but he will not starve or dehydrate in that small period- he will just be REALLY annoying for a day. Worked everytime and helped me teach him to keep track of his stuff(a cool side effect)- he had a habit of taking his cup(or toys) and leaving it somewhere and forgetting where he left it. Good luck!
The Take & Toss cups by First Years are great. They have a hard spout and measure 4 ounces. They come in a pack of six or so. Then when he chews on them and they get all scratched up or he splits the plastic the cost is minimal to throw away.
I still use the Playtex with the soft spot for him to have in the play room and I've noticed a lot of chewing recently but no damage to the integrity.
I'm going through the same things right now! I'm trying to switch my son to the Playtex cups because the Nuby ones leak. I even contacted Nuby, but they have not responded. I just keep offering the Playtex cups figuring at some point he will just take to it.
My daughter had the same issues and would chew them until they had huge holes in them. I switched her to the playtex cups. I got rid off all of the soft spout sippies (well actually I just bagged them up so she couldn't find them) and told her they were gone and these were her new cups. She didn't drink as much as first but eventually she got the hang of it. Her pediatrician told me that thirst is one of the strongest human urges and that when she was truly thirsty she would drink from the new cups and she did. Now I will tell you that my daughter was much older almost 2 1/2 before I had to take the soft spouts away so I would of course suggest making sure that he knows how to drink from the hard spouts. With my daughter is was purely a preference on her part.
Best Wishes!
