Problems moving from bottle to beaker - help

[littleduck]

DD was breastfed until 8 mths, bottle introiduced at 5 mths with EBM to get her used to it when she started nursery at 6 mths. Milk supply dried at 8 mths and she is now formula fed.

I have been advised that she should start drinking from a beaker rather than a bottle now she is approaching 1 yr. She has always disliked beakers even for water and when I offered her milk in beaker early this pm she had a complete hissy fit - too about 1oz then arched her back and screamed, not to be pacified until she had the rest of her feed in her bottle.

We had a battle to get her to take a bottle in the first place and I'd rather not have another one to get her to take a beaker unless it really is vital that she starts to take a beaker now. Any thoughts?

Also having great problems getting her to take finger food, she will only take organix snacks, no veg, toast or anything. Still only takes spoon fed food, with as few lumps as possible. If I offer lumpier textures she takes some and then cries.

Many thx

Littleduck

We used these with ds1 who was similar to your dd with drinking from anything other than a breast or a traditional bottle.

We're having the same problem with DD (12 mo) at the moment. I was advised that we have to go cold turkey so have completely cut out daytime bottles (she still has one at bedtime as I was told that we should wait until 16-18 months before cutting this one) even though the first couple of days she went bananas. Although she knows how to drink from a sippy cup, she's really not getting getting enough liquid in the day (as testified by the pain she is when trying to fill her nappy) and I'm at a loss as to how to get her to drink more during the day.

So I'd also be interested to see whatever advice anyone may have to offer!

What were the reasons given for having to give up bottles?

I wouldn't worry about moving her over to beakers yet. Or at least,try doing it first for juice then for milk. My ds1 never did drink his milk from a beaker, but went straight from bottle to a glass (when we were on holiday and forgot to pack bottles).

Also rather than beakers, you might want to try introducing a doidy cup with meals. These are the strange open cups with slanty tops which make it easier for them to drink from. The advantage of these is that they learn to drink directly from an open cup, so you don't end up with the same battle in another year or so.

Wrt moving from purees to finger foods, again don't worry. Just keep offering finger foods (I leave them lying strategically around the house). Some children just take longer to "get" finger foods than others. If she's at nursery that will help as she'll see other children eating finger foods which should help her curiosity.

HTH.

Who advised she should start on a beaker? Crikey, and she's not even a year? If it isn't vital, leave it, let her take her own time, as long as it takes. What's the hurry? It's never worth making a fight out of it, they just get distressed and you get frazzled. Never good. My kids used to like a bottle of tea on the sofa when they came home from school, bit if comfort after a hard day at the office. lol.

Just keep a beaker around where she can play with it, one day she'll get the idea. Same with the finger food, let her take her time. Offer it but don't make a big deal if she won't go for it.

I have a nearly 3yr old that still has his milk in a bottle...........he drinks other stuff out of an open beaker..........but milk - nope bottle

DD will drink water etc from a sippy cup (and have a few sips of milk) it's just the quantities she's having aren't really sufficient. We keep getting told by the HV/Sure Start workers/HCPs etc that she needs to move off bottles as they are bad for her teeth and also impair speech development.

She also has a doidy cup and likes drinking from my glass if I help her, but again she doesn't seem to be taking that much. Though as I leave the sippy cup available for her during the day, maybe she's just not that thirsty?

Hmmm...."We keep getting told by the HV/Sure Start workers/HCPs etc that she needs to move off bottles as they are bad for her teeth and also impair speech development."

Well, while health professionals are great and I'm sure they help first time/young parents enormously, a child's distress (re bottle/cup in this case) is also bad for them (not to mention mum's nerves). You can make things hard for yourself, you know.

However, if it helps put any stressed mum's minds at rest, all my kids had bottles (after xxx months of BF) along with introduction of solids etc and (though they were perfectly capable of using cups) til well into Primary school as I said in previous post. I never pushed the cup thing, or anything else, I let them do it in their own time with a little gentle encouragement. No distress, no hassle.

Softly, softly, catch e monkey.

The oldest five are now all adults with university degrees, a perfectly good command of the English (and other) language and perfect teeth. If it did hinder their speech and dental development at the time (which it didn't) they certainly haven't noticed.

Anyway, a bottle hindering speech? If only...

bah - DD is 14 months, will happily glug water from a beaker (but only when in the bath ), otherwise drinks water from doidy cup with meals, and almost all milk from a bottle. I think I saw something on here about how the threat to teeth was over-stated and not as bad as the effect on teeth and bones of not getting enough calcium. Don't know about speech, but DD has 30+ words in various stages of clarity. Give her time, offer alternatives, get her drinking water at least from a cup.

Is temperature an issue?

DS is 6 months and loves drinking from an open cup and strangely enough with a straw (I cut one a bit shorter). It's messy and he gulps quite a bit, but he thinks it's a game. He is still breast-fed though so not bottle associations. Maybe try some of these other methods to ease her towards the sippy cup?

Know lots of older kids still using bottles though, so don't sweat too much