Losing patience re. sippy cup

[Carmela's Mom]

My son is going to be 1 tomorrow.  I've given a sippy cup religiously for the past two months.  Before that, I did it once in awhile.  I have tried sesveral different sippies and finally am ending with teh Nuby straw because at least he takes a half ounce  to ounce at a time out of that one!  A few weeks ago we went down to 2 bottles.  He has one around 1:00 and again at 7:30.  The problem is he doesn't drink until that bottle except for maybe an ounce.    

Now tomorrow I want to drop another bottle so that I can get him off bottles soon.  My pediatrician says to take away the bottle and he won't dehydrate himself, but I just don't know!  He really doesn't seem to get it.  I've been giving him water or milk and warming both (like his bottle temp).  He's been off formula for two weeks now and whole milk goes in his bottle, so its the SAME thing and temp!

Any advice?  Should I still take the bottle away (I'm going to keep night time for a bit longer).  HELP!  I'm losing patience. 

[* Paula *]

Hugs, I am sorry to hear that you are having such a rough time.

To be honest, there is no reason to take his bottles away just yet.  I know that both doctors and HV suggest trying to get rid of the bottles by the time your lo is 1, but a lot of lo's that age still have the sucking reflex that they are craving.  As long as they have gotten rid of their bottles by the time they are 2 that is usually the away to go.

I tired to take my DS off his bottles when he turned 1 and there was just no way he was interested.  I tried again at about 14 / 15 months.  His milk intake did go down quite a bit, but was still drinking juice / water out of his sippy, so I upped the amount of milk I put in his cereal as well as his yogurts etc.

It is only recently that he has started taking milk in his sippy and is drinking it like a pro now and is constantly asking for more.

I would persever offering him the sippy during the day to get him to practice with it and once he starts taking more, you can up the amount you put in the sippy.

I would not worry too much at this stage, but just keep persevering, he will take to it in the end.

HTH's

Paula

[lilmonkey]

Paula's right.  I wouldn't stress too much about it.  DD was very efficient with the sippy/cup around 1 but she wanted milk in a bottle.  I tried on two seperate occassions to get rid of the bottle but she wasn't ready (she would give it up for a short time but wanted it back during a major illness).  She finally gave up the bottle at 20 mos.  My dentist's dd is about 2 yrs old and he says that she still takes a bottle at bedtime and he's not worry about it!