Weaning off the bottle and on to cups - she can but won't drink milk from a beaker

[Witchycat]

DD has just turned one and has until recently been on 4 x 6oz bottles per day.

Now she doesn't need so much milk I want to stop her bottles at least in the day time.

She has been able to drink from a beaker for months but she only ever drinks water from the beaker in small sips. I've tried cold or warm milk in the same beaker but she won't drink it. She will still happily drink milk (cow's or formula) from the bottle.

Any idea how I encourage her to drink milk from a beaker? Should I just stop her having milk in a bottle in the day time and not worry if she has very little milk (apart from the 6oz she will still have at bedtime & she usually has another 5oz about 10.30pm)?

Also, has anyone noticed their baby getting spots when switching to cow's milk?

[fisiltoe]

Hi witchycat. I don't know if I can offer much help.

DS1 only had one bottle of milk from when he was about one. He had it after his bath before bedtime. We kept him on the bottle cos we loved the cuddle, and we cleaned his teeth afterwards anyway. Eventually when he was 2 & ds2 was on the way we decided to take away the bottle because we wanted him to feel different to the baby. By then he was old enough to understand and we went to Tescos and chose some special grown up mugs and then went cold turkey.

He also didn't ever drink water from a beaker or bottle. We eventually found that he liked (wait for it, this is very bizarre), water mixed with an ice cube of the cooking water from some pears or apples. So this is what he drank during the day. He always had a lid beaker with him wherever he went so he could drink when he wanted.

I know this doesn't fully answer your questions (oh, don't remember any spots). With any feeding question I always started with the assumption that my child knew far better what they needed than I did!

[expatinscotland]

DD1 drank from a bottle until last week. She's 2.5. Two days ago, she came up to me and kept wanting me to 'open it' - b/c she wanted to drink from the bottle as a beaker. I gave her a straw w/a cup and she's never looked back.

Any chance of leaving it till she's ready?

We've done the same w/potty training and SHE is the one now asking for the toilet w/nary an accident.

[Witchycat]

Thanks Fisiltoe. I think I'll just stop the day time bottles & offer her however much milk as she wants on the day but from beaker only.

I'd like to stop the 10.30pm feed as well (ocassionally she misses it out & sleeps through) but there always seems to be a reason to let her have it - teething, a cold, whatever keeping her awake.

[Witchycat]

Thanks Expat - your post came while I was typing my last one. I could leave it a while longer, it's just that I know she's fine with her beaker for water so I don't understand why she won't drink milk from it. It's not as if she doesn't know how to use it.

[expatinscotland]

DD1 drank the milk from the bottle. So we just left it. It was only her water/juice - we give her 8 oz. of water diluted w/2 oz. real fruit juice that she wanted from cups until now.

Dunno why. Maybe she associates milk w/some type of security feeling.

That's why we chose to leave it in her case.

Kids need an entire pint of milk until they're two. Whole milk, too.

Organic naturally has more Omega3s, so it may be worth springing for.

[gladbag]

At one year I was doing the same with my ds (trying to get him to drink milk from a beaker). For ages he refused, but we just kept offering, and trying different beakers until eventually he accepted it.

We focused on the morning drink first (as the bedtime bottle was so much a comfort thing) and after a couple of weeks of offering, followed by refusal, one day he just drank it. We also found that he struggled with lots of beakers (didn't seem to have the sucking power for things like the anywayup cup) and eventually settled on the Heinz starter cups and Avent magic cups, both of which are v easy to drink from.

So the only advice I can give is to keep trying and trying. HTH

[Witchycat]

Expat - I thought it was half a pint from one year. If it's still a whole pint, maybe I'll try the beaker a little longer & if it doesn't work go back to the bottles. (I buy organic milk already but didn't know about the Omega 3 - that's worth knowing. Thanks)

[Witchycat]

Thanks gladbag - might try other cups