Won't drink anything out of a cup, only wants me! HELP

[madalyar]

Hi,
My dd is 8 months old and has been exclusively breastfed. No success with bottles, tried all sorts of different teats etc...she won't even have expressed breast milk. Now she's eating 3 meals a day and having about 3 to 4 breastfeeds a day. I've tried her with a cup but she won't drink anything out of it. I'm worried she isn't getting enough fluids. HELP!

If you're still b/f then she should be getting enough fluids. have to confess my ds3 has suddenly started refusing bottles even though a couple of weeks ago he was taking them with no trouble at all!

Leave a cup of water (a non-spill one - I find the Tommee TIppee ones of various kinds good) next to your DD when she's playing. She will soon pick it up and investigate it.

I did this with DS and he's a great water out of a beaker of any kind drinker now. I'm sure she's getting enough fluids - if she's not asking to be nursed more often, she's fine, I'm sure. As it gets hotter, she may well ask more often, but keep persisting with the cup and she'll get it one day!

Doidy cup is good, mine has now moved onto a tommee tippee, won't use this for milk though, but drinks water happily from tommee cup. Doidy cup was good, but found that my lo wants to hold a cup alone and found doidy was really only good at this age for me to hold.

From about 6 months, my dd only took a bit of fluids from a Heinz beaker, which had a soft spout and was small enough for her to hold; she didn't have to suck on it. She found Tommy tippee far too big and far too hard to suck on until she was about 10 months. In the end, the Tommy tippee soft-spout beaker lasted her until she was 3. She's never drunk from a bottle and the only problem on that front was with inexperienced nursery nurses.

Thanks ladies, you've been very helpful . I've only tried her with a basic tommee tippee cup at the moment, but will try the others you recommended. Hunkermunker, that's a good idea about leaving the cup next to her when she's playing. Thankyou!

Ds didn't use a cup at all until he was 12 months old. He just couldn't grasp the concept. Now he is a great water drinker, so just leave it around and one day it'll happen.

Just keep going with water - if you try juice and that's the day it's successful you will think it's the juice when it's probably just a coincidence.

My ds is just over 7mths. He has been on solids since 6mths. I offered him water in a cup that I held and tipped for him initially until he got the concept. He now holds and sips himself without a problem. Just keep offering but dont pressure, give baby lots of praise for any efforts made and she will get it in her own time. Mostly try not to stress, she will take fluids through breastmilk and through solids and will ask if she is thirsty.

My DS2 didn't seem to like bottles with water, or cups. But Volvic bottles, with spouts, are fine. And as that's what I'm always drinking water from, it works great.

He also gets water fine from an open cup, but with a bit of mess.