Won't drink milk out of open cup. Help pls

[miasmum79]

Hi lo is 20 mo old and is still on 3 or maybe 2&1/2 bottles now. She will drink water/ juice out of open cup easily but refuses milk out of same. Should I just go cold turkey. I am hoping to target day bottles first coz I see a lot of resistance to the bedtime bottle. When she was younger, I tried milk thro her sippy cup but she refused this as well. Pls do not judge me for leaving her with bottles at her age. Any advice please

[lilisuze]

no judging!

I have had great success with a sippy that still needs a suck. I am not sure where you are in the world, but the avent toddler spout magic cup is a good example. And the boots bottle to cup trainer also works good here.

Is that type of sippy worth a try? like a kind of halfway house?

[alohahellokitty]

Yes the avent white soft spout sippy worked for us too weaning our lo off the bottle. She still sucks it like a bottle (curing her tongue around the spout) but its the next step to a more advanced sippy and most importantly off the bottle.

If it were me, I would start one bottle a week to stop. And I would give it JUST like you give the bottle... ie lay her back, hold her or whatever you do when she's normally drinking a bottle. I would hold out on that bottle and never go back. So once you stop the first bottle NEVER give it... and just keep slowly eliminating each bottle till they are sippy feeds.

Then I'd start sitting her up (after she's adjusted to no more bottles) and let her drink it like a big girl.

The night bottle was our hardest to wean. But once we eliminated everyone but that one, we just went cold turkey and gave the sippy for that feed. She did GREAT with it. I think its b/c she could still curl her tongue around the spout like a bottle. But its not a bottle its a sippy.

Now she's using a sippy without a long spout...

Good luck!!

[miasmum79]

Hi. Thanks for ur replies. I guess we just need to decide when we wud b ready to start, coz the few times iv tried from open cup, she just refused all of her milk. Will try ur suggestions. Thanks again

[Mashi]

Does she get other dairy and calcium sources in her diet - cheese, yogurt, oatmeal, etc? There is nothing in milk that is not in other dairy sources. At her age she needs about 500 mg of calcium per day and there is a good list of what foods that can come from here:
http://www.keepkidshealthy.com/nutrition/calcium_requirements.html

So for instance a serving of yogurt, a chunk of cheese and a bit of oatmeal, and she has enough calcium in her diet that she does not need the milk.

I would start by switching her mid-day bottle to a sippy cup, handing it to her and letting her have it as a drink not a meal, at her chair with lunch or with a snack and just letting her be, she can walk around with it as she would with water or juice.  After 20-30 minutes take it from her and if she did not drink then oh well.   After a couple of weeks do the morning bottle - the bedtime one is usually the last to go and a lot of toddler hold on to this one for a LONG time for comfort reasons, so I would let that one be for a while.

[skatty]

I'd let her have a her bottle!! As long as you brush her teeth I really don't see why there is all this pressure to get los to stop having their milk from a bottle if they like it, it is a comfort to them, they grow up so fast you can understand their need to keep hold of some things longer than the books say. I don't know, it is only mho but I look back on some of the things that me and my friend with a dd the same age as Leorah worried about not so long ago and really wished we hadn't!! It wasn't that long ago that toddlers regularly drank from bottles. BTW I don't mean that she should have milk instead of food just that when she does have milk does it really matter if she has it from a bottle if that makes her cosy, we have enough to feel guilty about and she is still a baby really 

[Mom to M&M]

I agree that there is nothing wrong with her having a bottle. I'd keep working on cups and maybe cut out the afternoon bottle for now (just keeping morning and evening) but not stress about it. My DD did drop bottles on her own by 13 months BUT she was a rabid thumb sucker. My DS does not suck his thumb or a pacifier and he drinks water happily out of cups but only wants his milk from a bottle still and I don't see that changing anytime soon - it's a comfort thing for him and I don't see the need to begrudge him that at such a young age.

Also - have you tried straw cups? My DD LOVED those. She didn't start using sippies until almost 3 but was exclusively on straw cups early on...

[lilisuze]

mashi - you switched names! i miss the maro already!

oh yes, straw cups are great! gotta go, number 2 alert!!!!!

Lili xx