DD still drinks from a bottle

[stillusingbottle]

My Dd who is about to turn 3 still drinks from a baby bottle. Does anyone have advice or has been through the same?

I've offered cups and sippy cups since the age of 1. She will sometimes take a tiny sip when prompted but won't drink normally or enough. It doesn't matter if I offer it lots, or take a break. If I let her go thirsty and then offer a cup she won't drink enough (half a cup took her a whole morning) and stays thirsty and gets constipated. I can't let her go thirsty too long because that's abusive imo. I've put lemonade or juice in the cup to make it taste better. I've tried different cups in different colours. We told her if she drinks a whole cup she is allowed to buy a game on the ipad. If she drinks cups for a whole day she can buy any stuffed animal she wants. Still no change.

I'm at my wits end. Any advice?

You can buy drinks with straws in. Have you tried a crazy straw?

If this is day one yes but give wet foods ...yoghurt etc

this and what Pp have said give her wet food and don't stress about the drinking. sometimes little kids like flavour that imo is better than just plain water.

That's because of severe allergies to milk, nuts and eggs and some fruit. Not because I don't want her to have a treat. It does make her eat more healthy than others. Most treats contain something she can't eat without going into shock. She simply doesn't like "normal" sweets that she can have. Her treats are fruits and raisins and juice.

Some suggestions like giving her yoghurt don't work for us for these reasons.

And before someone tells me it's just in my head (have had that before), she was thoroughly checked and diagnosed by a childrens allergy specialist after being blue lighted to the hospital as a baby.

DS 2yo drinks a lot better when he’s allowed to drink out of the same things as the grown ups: so a glass not a plastic cup and a boring SIS style water bottle with sports cap not a child friendly water bottle with cool characters and straw.

A wise old bird once told me that I needn't worry about anything my child does unless I think said child will still be doing it at the age of 21. Chances of your child still wanting to drink from a bottle at 21? Pretty slim I'd say. They say fed is best don't they (regardless of breast or bottle). Maybe you could adapt that to watered is best and quit worrying about the source. Good luck!

Have you tried a straw?

I still think it’s a bit strange, wouldn’t you just find a recipe that she can have? Lots of kids have allergies, loads of people are vegan, there’s recipes online that substitute for everything.

But the ‘give her yoghurt’ is really just say give her food that contains a lot of liquid. Obviously you can substitute that for a coconut yoghurt, a soy based pudding cup, jelly - whatever she can eat that has a high water content.

The worst thing to do is give her the bottle. You are better not starting the process at all as this way she learns that if she holds out you will eventually give her a bottle. It is psychology rules!

There are toddlers cups let her pick one and do the transition from bottle to big girl cup. I did that. She used baby bottles specifically the after dinner milk one she loved nearly untill 3 and a half. Then both put them in the bin because big girls don't need them. You need to be constant with it.

Top tip for after the transition.I left one of the bottles and I use it to measure liquids when I do my baking. They are small, don't take much space in the cover and very handy.

Old gimmer here.

Dd1 would have no truck with anything but a bottle. In those dark distant days we weren't given much advice. She drank from a bottle till she was about 4. One day decided they were all going in the bin and put them there herself. I was slightly horrified, fearing huge tantrums, but no. She just gave them up. She did drink from a sippy cup at Granny's house till she was about 15, but that's a whole other story.

Perfect teeth, never had any kind of issues.

DD2, perfect baby, had obviously read all the books. Drank from an open cup from a very young age. Shocking teeth, needed a brace.

Make of that what you will.

i don't know why you are so combative nobody said anything! posters are genuinely trying to help you, I mean you could have said oh she can't have milk or yoghurt in your initial post.

Will she drink if you ask her to? Is it that she's refusing to drink from a cup or she just doesn't drink as much/remember to drink?

Getting fluid into her via food is a good alternative to drinking. Things like watermelon and cucumber are particularly good, but any fruit and veg contains a lot of water. You can give yoghurt (doesn't need to be dairy if she can't drink milk), jelly or ice-cream as a pudding.

Will she drink smoothies or milkshakes?

Most of the alternative yoghurts contain other big allergens. For children with multiple allergies there are completely unavailable.

I can't talk for this lady but my daughter can't have anything that comes in a packet that includes things like sausages and jellies and ice lollies. My daughter is ok with "may contain" foods but if the child has more severe allergies that mine they are likely to not be able to those either. It's very easy to throw around comments and just give soya products by it shows a lack of understanding about the difficulties that those living with allergies face. Half of the children who have dairy allergies are allergic to soya. 10% of children with dairy allergies are allergic to beef which rules out a lot of jelly like products as it doesn't always specify whether it is beef or pork or veggie gelatine.
Allergies are also not restricted to the 14 in bold and then that gets tricker as your allergen might be hidden inside "natural flavouring/colourings" or "spices" as some of my daughter's allergies can be.
The ingredients of a new food might also contain something never given before and then that comes with a big dose of dread because you don't know if that will be a new allergen and your child will get ill.

It's really easy to rattle off a list of foods to give instead of liquids when you have the luxury of everything in the supermarket and the reality of living with multiple allergies you have just a fraction of them, there is a good chance they won't be on stock in the smaller supermarket available to you and if they are they are 4 times the price of the regular equivalent. When you are already paying 3 times the price for suitable oat milk relative to cows milk and similar or worse mark ups on everything else in your basket all to keep your child safe.

It's giving the OP advice that little one can get her fluids from food easily enough... Whatever the allergies are. There'll be stuff the kid can have that has fluid in. For example, OPs kid has plenty of fruit, so is getting fluids from that. And any milk alternative which is just mostly water anyway.

I was trying to say don’t worry too much about the water being drunk so long as you can get her to eat food that contains it instead, and those were just examples of ideas. Really not saying that she has to eat a store bought yoghurt or anything. There will be liquid heavy stuff the DD can have even if there’s a lot of stuff she can’t, fresh fruit for example which it sounds like she has a lot of already. It might potentially involve more home made stuff than store bought e.g. you can get ice lolly moulds and fill them with fruit juice or smoothies based on the fruit she can have. OP I’m sure can figure it out and the point of don’t worry if she’s EATING water still stands.

And as for substitutes being expensive, I get it and it’s crap but this is only supposed to be a temporary thing to get rid of the baby bottles, a bit like when you push liquids to get them peeing for potty training (the only time I’ve ever given mine squash or freeze pops).

Will she eat high water foods? Does she like drinks like Hot Chocolate?

Sorry just seen that she has severe food allergies. The Hot Choc would have to be DF I suppose

Thank you for your replies @00100001 and @InTheRainOnATrain and I was apprehensive about putting my head above the parapet.

My daughters dentist is actually happier with her having oat milk in her lidded beaker (practically a bottle) once a day than her having fruit and we have had to add fruit to her excluded list!!

Do you actually want to change things or are you asking for people to say it's okay carry on?

Oat milk is like 90% water - so very good for hydration.

As for the dentist and fruit... Give your LO berries. Low sugar content.

The acidity of fruit is the biggest issue for milk teeth rather than the sugar.
Our nursery was giving my daughter extra portions of fruit on days when she didn't eat and he said it was one of the worst things they could do.