How do I 'train' bf baby to drink from a cup?

[redandyellowandpinkandgreen]

DS is 8 months and my return to work is looming. He won't take a bottle, well I haven't perservered with one really as the HV said it would be 'going backwards'. He's had a Doidy for a while and will take a few gulps of water out of it but nothing more than that and it hasn't improved in months. He has a Tommee Tippee cup that again he will just take a mouthful from.

I am wasting formula as I have been buying cartons and he will taste a bit and the rest gets thrown out. Is there some trick to it? I'd really like to give up feeding in the day and it's proving impossible and I'm starting to get a bit fed up with it.

[welliesandpyjamas]

He will imitate adults/other kids when he is capable/curious enough/etc. You can't force the issue.
There are quite in-between beakers available, with the softer spout, that are easier once they are ok with holding the handles.
Do you express?

[redandyellowandpinkandgreen]

I am just panicking about nursery, he starts next month. I've tried a Nuby cup with a teat like spout but he didn't get it at all, just chewed on it. I can't express any more at all, I left a gap of a few months when I didn't and now I can't get anything at all. Well I couldn't the last couple of times I tried but I guess it would be a cheaper option than the formula.

[welliesandpyjamas]

I really wouldn't worry too much about nursery. He'll probably want to copy the other kids and, as people always say, if he is hungry/thirsty enough, nothing will stop him:)

Sometimes expressing doesn't always work. I could express like a demon with ds1 but not a drop with ds2, even though I was exclusively BFing. Just one of those things. Don't fret :)

[Nagoo]

It is a worry, I remember buying 84 different cup for DS to try and find one he would like. With DD she likes the basic 4m Tommee Tippee with no valve lazy

I have found that DD (8MO) will drink more with meals, and she will drink a lot more BM in the evenings/ night/ early morning to 'make up' for what she has missed (in her case from being too nosy to BF in the day). She's flourishing so I'm not worried at all.

My DS was fine at nursery, didn't drink a great deal while he was there, but we kept up BF morning and night, so he got what he needed.

You and DC will be fine, but it is easy to fret.

[RitaMorgan]

It took a month of trying with the cup every day to get ds to drink an oz! And that was offering no boob, just cup, between breakfast and lunch. Letting him drink milk from my mug/glass and through a straw helped.

[redandyellowandpinkandgreen]

Thanks all, I keep reading posts about nursery and how he will be fine but it's so hard to believe it when he is so reliant on bf. I tried a straw and he just chewed it! In a way I feel a bit cheated, bf was so easy after the early days but I had no idea it would be so hard to stop.

[MigGril]

Have you tired a straw cup that has a value near the top. They say 12months plus on the cups but both mine have been able to drink out of them much eariler then that, DD at 10months when I first tired and DS now at 9months. I did have to suck the drink up to start will so it's already at the value for them to get the idea.

[MoreDrizzle]

I've been trying to train my 7mo as well. Same as you, I bought the formula cartons and had to throw tons out, so now I've been letting her try with water instead. I figured since most of it ends up on the bib, it'd be cheaper and cleaner to let her practise with water. She's had no success yet though.

BTW, is it normal for babies to choke when learning this? I was trying to get her to drink earlier on and she started to choke a bit. I was pretty unfazed since I have a very strong letdown and I've been used to her choking on the boob a lot and she deals with it very calmly herself, but DH was there at the time and he's never witnessed her choking before. He totally overreacted, grabbed her off me, held her upside down, scared her to bits and imho made the choking episode worse. It took ages to calm her down, and now DH is blaming me for it, I think he's mad at me for being so calm too. He went on an infants first aid course yesterday, and I think he's confusing choking on food to inhaling a bit of fluid. The silly noodlehead chokes on her own saliva sometimes too now that she's teething and it doesn't bother her either as long as I stay calm, but I'm just wondering now if I should be panicking a bit more?

[MoreDrizzle]

Oh I meant to say as well, while we've had no success with a beaker, she intercepted a glass of water intended for me a few days ago and had it up to her mouth in a flash, and managed to get a good few sips without spilling any. I've offered her a glass a few times since but she just licks the water like a cat, so maybe it was the thrill of grabbing someone else's glass that did the trick!