Nearly weaned but wont drink from a cup. What now?

[Lilyofthevalley]

DD is 9 months and on 2 bottles a day, one on waking and the other going to bed but during the day I can't get her to drink a drop. I've tried every single cup they make, I've tried an adult glass too which got the best results (one small sip) but was ridiculously messy, not practical and probably dangerous.
I'm just concerned now about dehydration, her nappies are quite solid and she has phases of bad constipation. Anyone help?

[mummytosteven]

I would just carry on with the bottles, keeping trying ever month or so to get her to take a cup. DS wouldn't drink from a cup until 14 months, despite several attempts!

[ShaysMummy]

sorry i cant help but maybe you can help me? how do you deal with the constipation?

[lucykate]

my ds is about the same age and he won't drink water from a cup either. i've been giving the cup to him empty to play with in the hope that he'll eventually work out the spout goes in the mouth. i don't worry about it though, no-one will be asking at his first job interview, 'so, at what age did you start drinking from a cup?'. trying it when they're in the bath sounds like an excellent suggestion to me, will def give that tip a go.

[chipmonkey]

With ds1 and ds2 they used avent bottles so I just attached the avent handles to the bottles and got them to drink the bottles themselves. Then I changed the teats to spouts and they didn't find the transiton too difficult. Ds3, however, is completely different ( left here by aliens,I think!) and will only drink from Playtex bottles which don't come with handles so I don't know what I'm going to do this time!

[pucca]

I used a beaker from asda, it came with a soft spout (similar to a teat) plus a beaker type spout, and was only about £1.50, really helped when i was trying to get my dd off bottles.

HTH

[Ponka]

Just keep trying. It'll get better. Perhaps use bottles a bit more than twice at this stage for the milk and water? I had all the same problems and tried every cup going with water, milk, orange etc. The best I came across was a Doidy cup (a slanty plastic open cup) which I held for DS while he drank. One day (in the summer, I have to admit) I just put him on a towel with it in his nappy on the kitchen floor with it and kept filling it. He had great fun and I think it helped encourage him to drink from it more, after.

Now he's 21 months and I wonder why I worried so much about getting him to use a cup and come off bottles because it just sort of happened in his own time (around a year old). Now I have a cupboard full of cups and he can drink from all of them!

[mumfor1standfinaltime]

I tried a NUBY cup. I bought it in asda for £1.97.

It is shaped like a bottle with 'finger spaces' for gripping, comes in bright colours like yellow and red, blue, soft spout which is easy to drink from - not too messy/fast.

Cant remember the exact name/title of the cup but it is a 'sporty,active,on the go' type of cup!

I used this after bottles and then went to TOMMEE TIPPEE first cup which I bought for around £1.50.

I am now trying a cup which makes a mess (ds is 13.5m) as I think he has to learn that when you tip the cup, it spills!

[Lilyofthevalley]

I'l try a drink in the bath, thanks KVG for that.

Shaysmummy - depends on the age of your baby. dd first had constipation at 3 months due to transition to follow-on milk, I made up her bottles heavily diluted and gave a bottle of water with glucose dissolved in it.
Once she was on solids I started to give her weetabix for breakfast which works really well, if we get a problem I give kiwi mixed with yogurt or brocolli, sweet potato and butternut squash puree. Very scary nappies!

If it's very bad, which dd's was once, you can get supositories from the doctor or chemist which soften any blockage and help the baby pass it.
HTH.

[Lilyofthevalley]

LOL at your name change mumfor1sttime!!!!

[mumfor1standfinaltime]

Thankyou! Just how I feel at the moment!!

[Lilyofthevalley]

After the night I had last night, me too!!! 3.5 hours sleep and up for the day at 4am. DD thinks it's bloody hilarious.

[mumfor1standfinaltime]

Oh dear, know how you feel. They just love to get up early and are so full of energy arent they!

Ds has a habit of waking up around 5am on my day off work, it's like he knows!

[choccywoccydoodaa]

A ha - we have had same problem with our 10month ds. We just kept persevering even though he initially refused and refused - just letting him play with the cup has helped. Now at 11 months he has finally learnt that taking a sip of water at mealtimes really isn't so bad. We use a tommee tippee with no valve so when he does try he doesn't have to try too hard! Good luck!