12 mo bottle weaning but doesn't drink much from sippy

[SukieCat]

Hi - I am starting to wean my 12 mo DS from bottles.  We were on three a day, but today I cut out the middle bottle so he is only getting two: one first thing in the morning and one before bed.  My question is, he doesn't drink much from the sippy cup that I offer at meal and snack times, so how can I make sure he is getting enough milk/liquid?  Bottles are whole milk, and sippys are either milk or water (but he doesn't drink much water either).  The doc said he should be getting 12 - 16oz of milk, which right now he is getting with just bottles (he was getting 20oz per day before I cut the mid-day bottle).  But once I cut the other bottles, how can I make sure he gets enough to drink?

[*Becky*]

It can take them a while to get used to a sippy. DD did not like hers and when I switched to the am bottle being from a sippy she just would not take it. I did not go back to a bottle, just made sure she had plenty of calcium. 12-16oz is in total so does she have milk on her cereal? Cheese? yoghurt? I would keep persevering with the sippy but also adding in plenty of calcium rich foods. FWIW calcium does not all come from dairy - almond butter is rich in calcium, so is tinned salmon (not sure about fresh?) Am sure of you google you can find a list of calcium rich foods and try to incorporate them into her diet.

[creations]

You might find by the time you drop the other bottles he is taking a bit more from the sippy or that his daily dairy solids is adequate for how much the liquid milk drops.  You can also try a straw rather than a sippy cup.  I used one of those fat straws with the bendy bit to ensure my DS got one good milk drink each day, the other is a sippy and he didn't take very much milk from the sippy for about a year but now I could fill the whole cup and he will drink it all...just as we are moving to open cup instead of sippy cup!
In terms of just taking liquid on board, I don't think you need to worry about LO drinking enough, milk is a food rather than a drink (although both for babies) and doesn't need to be replaced with the same amount of water to keep him hydrated.  He will take the water he needs either from the cup or from things like fruit which are usually high water content.

[SukieCat]

Thanks.  I guess I am more concerned about liquids / hydration than about calcium specifically.  Today it was quite warm here, and we were outside for much of the afternoon.  I kept offering him water in a sippy (I downed a whole water bottle myself!) but he would hardly take any.  Just a couple of sips, then he'd push it away.  I'm afraid he'll get dehydrated but I don't know how to encourage him to drink more.  I've tried to get him to use a straw before but he didn't get it.   

[creations]

With the straw it can help if you dip the straw into water, put your finger over the other end (to form a vacuum so the water stays in the straw) then lift the straw to LOs mouth and once in release your finger from the other end. Hope that makes sense, it releases a bit of water into LOs mouth. Obviously make sure LO is sitting/standing upright.  It can just give him the idea that water/milk comes out of the straw.

WRT hydration if you are getting wet nappies he is drinking enough.  If you are very concerned I would offer a bottle of water so he can comfortably suck and take a drink the way he knows how, but it's surprising just how little water they seem to need in comparison to the volume of milk they might have taken.  I think he will ensure he is not dehydrated.  If he will only take water from a bottle you can try splitting the teat to make a bigger hole which gets him used to a more rapid flow, less comfort sucking and more drinking.

hth