BF baby with cold refuses his usual bottle - How to get him back on track?

[lynners]

Hi Paula,

LO has just started spitting both his solids and milk from his bottle now as well as his water from his sippy cup.  Advice from the solids board is that it's just a stage so to ignore it rather than saying 'no' and making too big a deal about it.  Do you think that's what i should be doing about the milk spitting too?

Definitely getting sprayed from all directions!!

[* Paula *]

I remember my DS doing this with his solids, kinda like blowing rasberries.  He never did it with his milk though.

Is he doing it constantly with his milk?  or just a little bit?

[lynners]

Not constantly - more towards the end, but he still accepts the bottle after doing it.

[* Paula *]

Hmmm  Boredom maybe?  What size teat is he on?

I would try to ignore it as much as possible and see if he stops doing it cause he is not getting any attention for it.

[lynners]

On fast flow teat for 6 months plus.

[* Paula *]

Hmm my guess is it is just a phase and to try and not give any reaction when he does it.

How many bottles is he on again?  Could be that he is getting ready to drop one - showing signs that he is not interested in his milk

[lynners]

Will try and ignore it and see how we go.  He's on four milk feeds a day which I have to try quite hard to get him to take.  Will think about dropping a feed if he keeps spitting.

Thanks.

[* Paula *]

Good luck, keep us posted 

[lynners]

Hi Paula,

I seem to be having sippy-cup freak out!!!

I had been having problems with LO spitting out liquid from cup/bottle etc. but as advised this seems to have just been a stage.  I had been sticking to the use of one sippy (Avent with sippy spout) and it was going along ok - just a few sips mind but better than nothing.

When we flew to Australia mid December my DH and I were served water in a little plastic cup.  Well LO lunged for it and absolutely loved drinking from a cup.  We needed to hold it for him and there was a fair mess but we kept going all holiday with a plastic cup and would offer water with it at least three times a day - still liked it, only a few sips though.

Since we've been back in the UK we have continued with a cup which still creates a lot of mess.  I decided that really we needed something too that he could, in theory, use without creating so much of a mess so went back to trying the Tommee Tippee with the flip spout (thought this would be more portable when out and about).

He's taking to this ok but with both versions there's still a lot of mess and I'm not sure what exactly what I'm aiming for.

He has a BF before breakfast and I have been putting formula into either cup for him to try after breakfast.  He does take it but only a few sips like the water. After his other two meals, and sometimes between, I offer water in either cup which he takes a little only.

All in all I would be fairly happy with what's going on but I have hanging over my head that in theory he is supposed to give up the bottle and use sippy cups only by 12 months, and he's nearly 10 months.  We've been practiscing for months and don't really seem to have got anywhere and we really have stuck one cup for most of the times.

At the moment we are now down to three milk feeds a day.  One BF in the morning (which I'll be turning into a bottle/sippy feed soon as I'm going back to work) one afternoon and one evening bottle feed.

What I am freaking out about is how on earth am I going to be able to get the amount of milk he needs into him by cup unless some major miracle happens?

Also I read a post about signs that your'e LO is ready to tdrop a feed but it doesn't refer to ages.  Are you able to give me an approximate age when an LO goes from 3 to 2 feeds?

Could really do with some advice.

PS  Have also just ordered a doidy cup see link below -

 http://www.amazon.co.uk/s/?ie=UTF8&keywords=doidy&tag=googhydr-21&index=aps&hvadid=3397294775&ref=pd_sl_8e9c8r0rw1_b

Really want to try him on it as appears to be an easier version of cup for an LO.  Would obviously stop using normal cup altogether but am worried that I'd be making too many changes (all though this has been going on for months)

[*~goldie~*]

hey there,
have any of you ever tried sippig from a sippy cup??? Its so hard I could babrely do it, so use the doidy cup - available on amazon.
Get some sailine drops from the pharmacy, this will unblock the nose and make it easier to drink
xxx

[lynners]

OK have decided to go with the Doidy cup.  LO seems to like it but so far we have a few sips then a lot of hands in the water, which is what we've had a lot of with the water in the normal cup.  At the moment I just assume it's a phase and don't make a big deal about it but yes there's a whole lot of water everywhere.  If i can get him to go back to taking a sip at some stage I do, but if he just keeps playing with/in the water I eventually take it off him.

I'm not sure what to do about giving him milk.  If I give it to him in the Doidy cup at the moment it'll  be all over the place - slightly more annoying than water all over the place.  Do you think I should stick to the Tommee Tippee 'flip spout' one for milk in the morning so at least it's more contained and only move over to the Doidy for milk once he's mastered it more with the water?

Not sure.  Would love an opinion.  This sippy cup business is pretty tricky!

[* Paula *]

Personally I would not worry too much about him takin a while to get used to the cups etc.  Every lo is different, and if I can remember quickly it took DS until after 1 before he was drinking out of the cup properly.

It is up to you.  If you want to persist with the sippy cup, then just keep on offering it.  If your lo still  has a bottle then I don't think it is a problem.

My DD is 15 months and is still refusing to drink her milk out of a cup.  We are trying, but she still wants her bottle at night, and I personally don't think that there is a problem with it.

With the sippy is there a flow controller in it?  If there is could you take it out to let it be free flow?With the sippy is there a flow controller in it?  If there is could you take it out to let it be free flow?

[lynners]

No there is no valve/control flow in either cup.  It's just that I'm starting to feel like the woman Tracey describes in Secrets of the B W pg 131.

I'm trying to follow all her techniques -

- Use cup at least twice a day.

- I have stuck with a type of cup for at least a month (We started using trainer cups at least four months ago).  It is only now I am proposing two types of cup because if you look at the link below to see the Doidy cup, which my LO seems to be responding to, you can see that it would create a compete mess using milk in it until he masters drinking water.

http://www.amazon.co.uk/s/?ie=UTF8&keywords=doidy&tag=googhydr-21&index=aps&hvadid=3397294775&ref=pd_sl_8e9c8r0rw1_b

The other cup I want to use is the Tommee Tippee cup (see below) which does not have a valve but at last had a flip top spout which makes it useful for travelling

http://www.tommeetippee.co.uk/product/first_cup_4_months_pack_of_4/

- Tracy also suggests having your LO sit on your lap when feeding them with trainer cup but I am finding this hard with open top cup like Doidy cup because you can't see guide it properly in to mouth.  Should try the 'on lap game' with the Tommee Tippee cup again.  Haven't done that for a while.

Do you think it will be confusing for my LO to have two type of cups?

Really don't want to give up as I have put a lot of effort in to this.

[* Paula *]

I don't think that having 2 types of cups will be confusing.  It is really giving your lo the opportunity to master a sippy cup and a open cup at the same time.

We use the tommee tippee cup like you have.  We bought it and it has been the only cup that my dd will drink out of, even now at 15 months she still prefers this one just not for milk.

I personally would not worry about it.  Just make sure you keep on offering it.  Try not to stress about it as your DS can pick up on your stress, and he could end up not wanting the cup at all. 

Try and keep it light and cheerful.  As the weather gets warmer, it can become more of a game when he is outside, as you won't mind him getting wet.

Hugs hun, things will get better I promise.

[lynners]

Thanks Paula,

You always cheer me up.  That's a great way to look at it.  I think I'll keep going with both cups and try to chill about it.  Thanks.

Also, can you rmemebr at what stage your LO dropped from three to two and then from two to one bottles of milk?