Getting to Drink Milk NOT in a Bottle

L., my advise is that little ones need to be introduced to a cup while still ona bottle- I always started with a cup at mealtime when the kids were about 6 months old. They didn't drink much out of a cup at this age but they need to get used to the idea.

Sometimes it was a matter of trying different cups until one is found.

I would suggest you keep trying with whichever cup she prefers and not switch around too many until after she gets the hang of it. Good luck.

My pediatrician always has aid they will eventually eat and drink!
S. S.

Hi L.
I was worried about this with my daughter as well. But we got thru it. First of all she won't use a sippy cup, it makes such a mess, yes even the non spill ones! During the day I had no problem but come bed time and one wake up time she had to have a bottle. I gave her water for one night and then we kept a water bottle with a sports cap next to the bed and within two nights she stopped waking up for a drink.
As far as milk, if she won't drink it from her cups just push the cheese, ice cream and yogurt, she will surely get her calcium and vitamins. My daughter really won't drink more than a few ounces of milk a day but she has at least two cheese and or yogurt snacks a day. She is thriving even without the "milk".
I hope this helps
N.

My son stopped drinking milk at 18 months when he stopped drinking from a bottle. Instead I give him yogurt and then give him a vitamin to make sure he is getting the right nutrients. I was always a big milk drinker as a child so it was difficult for me to understand. But my husband said he never drank milk as a child and still doesn't.So I think it might be from him. He is now 3 years old and the only time he drinks milk is when he has cereal or he will drink chocolate milk. But Don't stress over it. She may come around. Especially since both you and your husband are big milk dinkers. But if she doesn't just make up for it in food like yogurt and be sure to give her a daily vitamin.

Hi,
I went through the same struggle with my daughter (at 10 months, but the same nonetheless). One thing I learned is that once your daughter's at the age she is, she only needs 16oz of milk a day. Feed cheese and yogurt, things of that nature to make up the difference.

With our daughter we found that warming up some milk, not a lot, just enough to take the chill off of it, and giving it to her when she hops out of bed in the morning, works wonders. She drinks the whole cup down and that's fills her milk requirement for the day. The rest of the day she drinks water. Makes traveling during the day easier as well if I know she only needs to have water and not a drink that needs to be kept cold.

Have you tried a straw? Sometimes that can be fun, or try leaving the valve out of the sippy until she gets the idea, just make sure you supervise as it can leak or overwhelm her with the volume of fluid arriving all at once.

Mostly, realize that it takes time and yes, she will decide to drink. I went cold turkey with my daughter. We tried to go gradually but never really made much process so one morning I put everything in storage before she got up and that was that. She was upset the first day, but I could honestly tell her and show her that at home, there was no other option. By day two she decided that she could deal and life went on with no major disasters.

Good luck and remember you are already a great mom for seeking the advice of others!

Kate <><

My son drinks alot less milk from the cup, than he did from the bottle.. But I give him milk at every chance. I give him a peanut butter and jelly half sandwich for a snack almost every day.. and he will drink milk with that (who wouldn't) also, cookies (teddy grams) I give him one at a time while he is drinking milk... Try to give the baby plenty of foods like that at snack times, ones that bring on a craving for milk.
Also, offer her cheese sticks, yogurt, or smoothies to keep up the milk fat and calcium while she works on it.

Hi L.,
This is a really hard thing to break. I would suggest sticking to one type of sippy. Keep offering it to her. So she has time to get used to it. I recommend the playtex sippys the have handles and the spout isn't completely hard. Just be consistant with her. Eventually she will take to it.
GOOD LUCK
C.

Don't give up! I know what you're going through. We took our little guy (now 28 months) off of his bottle when he was 18 months old. He didn't even want to touch his lips with a sippy cup! And yes, we went out and got all sorts of cups. The one he ended up liking was just a cheap Gerber kind that has two handles and a comes with a stopper. We had to remove the stopper because Adam was getting really frustrated by the fact that no liquid would come out. One morning we got him out of his crib and had a sippy cup of milk on the table. He cried off and on for a week or so for a "BaBa." Every day we left the cup on the coffee table. Soon, Adam got thristy and tried it. The doctors did tell us that a baby's consumption of milk intake would probably drop to 10 or less oz. of milk a day when we switched him to a sippy cup. I guess that's normal for little ones who are adjusting. Will your daughter drink other fluid out of a sippy cup? If your daughter goes off of milk for a while, don't panic. Make sure she's getting low fat cheeses, yogurts, etc. for calcium and just try milk again in a little while. She'll come around.

I know every child is different, but what worked for me was that my child just switched when he was ready. Giving her a choice might persuade her, try putting both cup and bottle in front of her and let her choose. Eventually she is going to choose the cup over the bottle, explain that mommy and daddy drink from cups because thats what big people do.Kids love to immulate grown ups. I think she is just protesting right now. She'll switch sooner than you think.

I wouldn't worry too much. My oldest daughter, who is now 16 yrs old and healthy, never really drank milk. There are other ways for her to get the nutrients. If you push her too hard then you will have a power struggle. If nutrients is the real concern, feed her calcuium rich foods and vitamins. Yogurt and some cheese etc...... You and your husband are modeling drinking milk and she just may come around. It taste different drinking it from a cup. Why, because you are getting more out at a time. It taste fuller. Bottles let a little stream as she sucks, but cups flow out and it may taste funny at first and feel funny too. You never know. I am sure she will be fine.