Milk from cup: wait or persuade?

[franch]

She's over 14m now and loves her milk (still on 3 bottles a day, and eats 3 hearty meals too), but refuses to take it from a cup. She drinks water from a spouted cup no problem, but turns open cups upside down.

Is there something I can do to persuade DD to take milk from a cup? I've tried various types to no avail. Will she just naturally move on to a cup at some point if I just keep offering it to her occasionally, or do I need to be more proactive? Is there some kind of transitional cup/bottle I should try?

And should I be worried by the dire warnings about speech/dental problems from bottle use? It's not as if she's sucking on a teat all day long - she drains each bottle without a pause for breath, so how much harm can it do??

Thoughts please

Well personally I've always done it the other way round - stop the bottle and then just let them take what they want from the cup. I found that ds1 only started drinking from the cup once all his bottles had been stopped - think if I'd waited for him to do it first he'd still be having bottles now!
They do tend to take less milk from a cup ime but I think that's fine if they are good eaters and getting at least 12oz daily.

Thanks elliott. At what age did yours make the switch? I'm just such a softie - she guzzles her milk so enthusiastically I'm loath to take it away

bump

franch, I can't offer you any advice as I am in the same boat, but my dd is 21 months! She has 4 bottles of milk a day, and like your dd she guzzles it without pausing. She won't drink out of anything else, just very rarely out of a beaker with a lid she will have water, but that is rare. I tried giving her milk in a beaker and she was totally distraught, so I am leaving it for a while!! She eats well, and doc and hv both say don't worry about it, so I don't. Her sister was slow to move onto a cup too. I just wish she would drink more water, but I am hoping that will come eventually. Good luck to you!

Why do you need to take it away though, is there such a problem with a baby having a bottle

My DS had a bottle of milk at nightime till he was 3 years and 3 months old (when I finally bribed him to give it up), I spent about a year feeling guilty he was still drinking from a bottle and tried everything to make him stop (but nothing effectively) - he has only just started drinking milk now from a glass, a whole year later

I must admit, I love giving her a bottle, its so cosy and nice. She loves it too, she positively clambers onto my knee and gets in a snuggly position. I just wish she would drink something other than milk!

DS (15mths) takes water from a Tommee Tippee Easyflow non spill cup and has done for 2 mths. Decided to ditch the bottles 6 weeks ago (he was having 9oz at 6.30pm) and transfer to the Boots own free flow beakers (£2.00 for a 5oz cup) he now has 2 of these at bedtime, so is still having the same amount of milk. I did this as DS very tired at bedtime and he had refused the non spill cup as it was too much effort. He can either sit and drink his self or I can still feed him 'like a bottle' if he is unwell.

That was part of my original question Twiglett: IS there a big problem with prolonged bottle use?? I have read stuff on the net about dental & speech problems but then you can get scaremongering about just about anything off the net ...

oooggs, I'll invest in the beakers you describe and give the whole thing another go - but thanks for the reassurance, Dahlia & others - I'll try not to fret as I know these things always seem so trivial in retrospect

My dd is still having a morning and night bottle and she's nearly 18 months. My HV said there was no problem with it as long as she drank from a cup or beaker in the day and didn't fall asleep with one.

I have just been reading this thread and I am assuming that you are talking about cows milk and not formulae? I was particulary interested because my dd who is 15 mths will only entertain cows milk on her weetabix. If I give her cows milk in a bottle or beaker she just takes a sip and pulls a face and leaves it. As a result I am still buyting formulae at the rate of knots - should I be bothered about this?

Deeno, Have you tried mixing the formula and cows milk together and then gradually increasing the ratio of cows milk to formula until it is all cows milk?

My dd was off bottles by 13/14 months. I switched the breakfast one first - offered the tommee tippee first cup instead(is not non-spill so it is easy to use). Once she learned to use this cup I started offering the avent magic cup which is non-spill and less messy.

After a couple of weeks I stopped the bedtime bottle as well. She still has milk at bedtime but it is now out of an avent magic cup rather than a bottle. I also let her use an open top cup with her meals as the highchair tray can then catch most of the spillages!!

It's advised that they shouldnt drink more than a pint of milk a day after 1 year old as it can spoil the appetite for solids which are now more important. (minimum is around 350mls or 12ounces but that includes milk used in cereal, in cooking, etc)

That's helpful Seona. I keep changing my mind on this but have decided to give it another go. I'm going to start by gradually cutting out the afternoon bottle - then try again with the cup for her morning milk. Thanks again for the advice everyone.

just back after the weekend - I would echo what seona says really. with ds1 i phased out his bottles at around 12 months. it wasn't difficult but I did have to decide to do it. with ds2 he actually started refusing his bottle at about 10 months so it was even easier! both had been given cups from about 6 months and I knew they were physically capable of drinking from them even if they didn't choose to! I found any simple non-valved cup easiest (but they also had avent magic spouts for out and about).

Does it matter? Well the official recommendation is based on two issues - tooth decay (not too much of an issue as long as you don't allow prolonged sucking and clean teeth afterwards) and also the discouragement of large quantities of milk as seona says. So probably not really as long as you are aware of these issues. Personally though I think its loads easier to bin the bottle around 12 months than to leave it later when it can become a bit of a battle/issue.

Just read this thread and so glad to hear I'm not the only one having the milk in a beaker battle. My DS is 8 months old with 4 teeth (5th one poking through), my HV last week said he should be having his milk through a beaker now. He'll take weak juice and water from a cup or beaker but put milk and and we have a screaming fit. As he's only 8 months old I didn't see what harm it could do leaving him with his bottles as he only has 3 a day (570ml)until he's 12 months old. His afternoon milk is in a bottle with handles by Tommee Tippee and he loves it. I bought it from boots and it also comes with a spout for training and a straw hole for travelling when older. Put any milk in any type of cup, beaker whether valved or not and he throws it or spits the milk out. Personally I feel that as long as he's having his daily quota of milk, until he's a year old does it matter whether it's a bottle or beaker. After that when solids need to start overtaking the milk I'll try what some of you have suggested and just get rid of the bottles altogether, then if he wants milk it'll be in a beaker.

8 months!!! Your HV needs to chill, wanna - sounds like you're doing great

I know!!

I never even thought about taking away dd's bottles before she was 1 year old. Yes, I started giving her other drinks out of a beaker but not her main milk at that age.

For one thing I knew her milk intake would drop once she was taking it from a cup and I know that she would have taken nowhere near what she should have at that age if I switched. It was hard enough getting her to take the milk in the first place - I dont know what planet some of these hv's are on sometimes!!