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Enter the sippy cup

Gemma - posted on 05/31/2011 ( 1 mom has responded )

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17

My daughter is 13 months old. She took to breast, bottle and solids with no problems at all but I am having no luck introducing a sippy cup. She is happy to play with it, shake water out of it and even chew it but she hasn't worked out how to drink from it. I've even tried feeding her with it myself but she pushes me away (she does her own bottles now). People have suggested just not offering the bottle but I don't want her to dehydrate. If she was just refusing I'd be happier trying it but she honestly doesn't grasp that it's for drinking with. She has loads of fun with it and always ends up soaking wet so I have to change her clothes. I tried a non-spill one but found that even harder as she couldn't tell there was liquid in it. One helpful person even advised that my daughter needs an older sister to learn from! Any advice would be welcome please as she is getting too big for bottles now and has started chewing the teats.

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Jody - posted on 05/31/2011

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6

http://www.babycenter.com/0_sippy-cup-do...

the link above has some interesting tips you could try. Some kids never take to a sippy cup and move straight to a straw or regular cup. Considering your childs age you might want to try a straw, there are sippy cup type trainers to teach a child how to drink from a straw designed that an adult can squeeze the container and force a little drink up the straw and into the childs mouth when they suck to help them get the hang of it. Also try to find a sippy cup with a soft flexible spout, I tried three types before I found one my little guy liked and could actually get water out of consistantly, he also likes ot chew it lol, The brand was Nuby I am not sure if it is available where you are. The nuby doesn't have a seperate valve it's just a soft silicone spout that when they chew or suck it opens to let water squirt into their mouth.

You can also try putting a little water unto a small wide plastic cup and help your baby "drink" from the cup, messy yes but it always is even if they learn to use a sippy cup first, drinking from a cup and "sucking" from a bottle or sippy cup is a different motion, and it takes a while to break the old habit and form the new one. It helps if you drink from a cup identical to your child so....go get yourself a sippy cup :) ( or matching set of plastic kids cups) make sure you drink from it in front of your child whenever possible, kids love to imitate their parents so when you sit down to dinner everyone drinks from identical sippy cup ( or regular cup) and offer your child their sippy on and off during the meal to encourage them to be like mommy and daddy :) sounds strange but hey you do what you gottta do right :)

Good luck!!

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