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Infant feeding

Get advice and support with infant feeding from other users here.

Original poster

4 months: tips for using sippy/doidy?

16 replies

squizita · 11/01/2015 19:13

Just that!
DD is ebf but takes an express bottle if hungry (and I'm not there stinking milk!). Took a while to master. Now when she's fussy (4 month fussiness) she can scream for me and I have to leave shower or whatever. OK when she's happy. Am exhausted (she still feeds every 2 hours) and it is impacting on my mental wellbeing tbh ... wondering whether it might help to use a sippy or doidy cup as she will have to learn anyway.

We have both.
Any tips for helping her learn?

As I said she takes a bottle but is in a very fussy phase eg husband can barely hold her 10 min before she demands me. Sad Or should we wait till 5 months?

OP posts:
Original poster
squizita · 11/01/2015 19:15

Sorry unclear- would literally be needed every other day so I could wash my hair or have a rest. And for peace of mind.
Eventually would like to go to the supermarket or similar alone for convenience.

OP posts:
mrsmugoo · 11/01/2015 21:01

I have to say cups did take my DS aaaaaages to master. He still spits water out quite a bit when drinking from a doidy cup and he's 10 months!

My main tip would be to use a free flow sippy cup (no valve) so they get a bit of liquid without having to suck. And also to let them play with the cup and get to know it for a while.

But perseverance really. You're lucky she takes a bottle! Mine has never ever taken one and fed every 1.5-2 hours until 7 months so I never got any of that hallowed "me time".

At 7 months I put him on a 3 hourly feeding schedule and got serious with the sippy cup as I went back to work 2 weeks later. Managed to get him taking formula happily and going 9-6 with no breastfeeds.

Stillwishihadabs · 11/01/2015 21:13

My advice is out of date, but ds started drinking formula from a beaker at 4 months when I weaned him. So I would offer the cup with meals IWSIM with bf 3 times a day until 9 months when he would take 9oz morning and evening from a cup.

CityDweller · 11/01/2015 21:21

A bit confused as to why you can't just offer her the bottle, if she already takes it?

But, as to your actual question - DD started drinking from a Doidy at about 4.5 months (EBF, bottle refuser). It was DH's thing. He took her away downstairs every morning, put her in bouncy chair, and offered some milk I'd expressed night before in a doidy cup. He made it a game, with lots of cheering and clapping when she took a sip and not pressuring her in any way. I would then offer her a breastfeed about half an hour later, just to make sure she'd had a full feed. Took about 5 or 6 days of doing this consistently (same way, same time). From that point, she would take milk from a doidy as and when needed. It was utterly liberating! I think it was also quite empowering for my DH. A few months later, the childminder got her drinking out of a free-flow sippy cup (the most basic, cheapest Tommy Tippee one that you can get at supermarkets).

Original poster
squizita · 11/01/2015 21:31

City I thought you were supposed to try to get then onto cups ASAP? Or should I just carry on a few month with bottles?

DH is the bottle master so maybe he can master the doidy too! Thanks :)

OP posts:
PenguinsandtheTantrumofDoom · 11/01/2015 22:03

If she will take milk from a bottle, keep doing that.

There is masses of time for starting on cups once she's having water.

None of mine have even attempted cups until post 6 months. Oh, and we hated doidy cups though some like them)

Original poster
squizita · 11/01/2015 22:14

Oh cool. If it's ok to do that it makes life simpler. Smile Had envisioned a fresh hell of retraining her before I could wash hair etc again! Phew.

OP posts:
PenguinsandtheTantrumofDoom · 11/01/2015 22:17

Nah. Loads of babies keep having their milk in bottles. Some until they ditch milk entirely. It really isn't a biggy.

Of course, you should avoid other liquids (e.g. juice) in a bottle and they should learn about cups for their water once they are on solids.Smile

mrsmugoo · 11/01/2015 22:28

Advice is to wean off bottles by 12 months. Mine was an ardent bottle refuser so that is why we went straight to cups.

DS's nursery were a bit snooty with me when he started and was still getting to grips with using a sippy cup formula and they said they thought he'd be better with a bottle. I had to explain he was breastfed and had never taken a bottle but in any case I was now bypassing them so please just stick to his cup.

PenguinsandtheTantrumofDoom · 12/01/2015 11:48

Yes, the official advice is to get them off bottles by one. Smile

However, there is nothing inherently awful about a bottle of milk. I know plenty of children 1-2 who still have a bottle of milk at bedtime. As long as you clean their teeth afterwards and they learn to drink from cups too (i.e. water at mealtimes and between meals) it is fine. Most of the children I know also dropped the bottles as they dropped the milk feeds, and didn't transition to cups of breastmilk/formula.

Really what they are getting at is:
-they need to learn to drink from a cup at some point; and

  • always drinking from a bottle is bad for teeth as they get older.

Of course, some breastfed babies happily skip bottles entirely, which is great.

I think it's one of those things that books and guidance make a big deal of, but in reality happen pretty easily and naturally for most people as the babies get older. Smile

Original poster
squizita · 12/01/2015 12:00

Oh I will just start when she weans then.
Tbh the info was from the makers of doidy cups who promise gingivitis and failure to thrive if you don't start at 3 months ... hmm maybe to get me to buy more cups eh??

OP posts:
Quenelle · 12/01/2015 12:15

I can understand a sippy cup but how can a baby who can't sit up drink from a doidy cup without soaking themselves?

When DS was 5-6mo and could sit up in a highchair he started drinking a little bit of water out of a lightweight, plastic eggcup. He progressed to a doidy cup gradually but there were still spillages.

PenguinsandtheTantrumofDoom · 12/01/2015 20:14

Personally I found doidy massively overhyped. I bought them as a ftm, but both DD's were spilling them when they could drink happily from a cheapo ikea plastic cup with no lid. It's a really odd angle to judge.

Original poster
squizita · 12/01/2015 20:21

Quenelle there are instructions inside the box. We managed it but she did NOT like it and it was painstakingly slow. They also put this slightly judgey pants 'it should be messy, they're children' thing i.e. covering their arse with people trying it at 3 months (their youngest advised age) and it getting all over the shop. As if anyone would blame the child!

OP posts:
seaoflove · 12/01/2015 20:26

My DD didn't master cups until she was, ooh, 3. Years that is. You really don't have to worry about introducing a cup for a long time. I bought a Doidy cup as well, and DD never mastered using the thing.

Redling · 13/01/2015 12:01

I'm letting 21 week DS play with a Tommee Tippee sippy cup and he can't hold the thing properly yet so there's absolutly no point me trying to put milk in it! He's decided to start drinking from his bottles in a really weird way though, gripping it himself close to the teat and just sucking the end... Incredibly annoying. So I might try and feed him from the cup, although I wasnt going to as I saw the cup as a self drinking thing, until he can drink himself I don't see any benefit in me feeding him from a cup rather than a bottle.

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