“It’s been a long, fun-filled, exhausting day. I’ve been dragged around from playdate to playdate. I’ve practiced walking between furniture at least a dozen times, I’ve ate, I’ve slept, I’ve laughed and wailed when I didn’t get my way. I’ve had my bath, brushed my teeth, mom read me a story, and now all I want is my bottle. I reach out for my well-deserved comfort drink of milk that will send me happily into slumberland. As I extend both arms to embrace what my mom is handing to me, mouth open in anticipation…Wait! What is this? A sippy!? I don’t want a sippy! I push it away. She tries again. I push it away. I want my bottle woman! I don’t want this straw cup. Doesn’t she know that’s for water only? Milk is to be consumed from a bottle. WHY WON’T SHE GIVE ME MY BOTTLE!? WWWAAAAAA…..”
– C (please note that some creative license has been taken to scribe my son’s not so advanced vocabulary at a year and a half old)
Is anyone else going through this!? Honestly I have read all the literature on speech problems, tooth decay, dependence on the bottle, etc, etc, etc. I know that as mom’s we are supposed to begin weaning our children from the bottle between 12-18 months. My son loves his sippy cups – his doidy open-mouthed cup, his multiple straw sippys – no problem at all. He will beg to drink water out of them from the time he gets up from the time he goes to bed. But when it comes to drinking milk out of them – forget it. He will instantly spit it out and cry until I either replace it with water or give in hand him a bottle of milk. UGH. Honestly – what gives!?
Well in my never-ending quest to find “just the right cup” that my son might finally accept rather than reject drinking milk out of, I have found two cups that I would like to recommend. We’re not quite bottle free yet, but we are making baby-step progress…
In my previous post on The Great Sippy Cup Debate back in March, I had stated that I wasn’t comfortable recommending a specific straw sippy cup because I hadn’t found one I particularly liked. Well in the time since, I have done some research and come up with two sippys that have revolutionized drinking in our household for little C. One is a bargain and the other is a splurge. I have both, but you can decide what’s right for you!
The Bargain: AVENT sippy
Let me preface this by saying that my son constantly wakes up for water in the middle of the night – much like his mom. I was growing very tired of getting up at all hours of the night to hand him a bottle of water that if left in bed with him would leak all over. I needed something with a valve that wouldn’t leak when tipped over. Up until that point I had only found traditional sippy cups with this valve and because of my personal aversion to these, I kept searching for a similar one with a straw. I found this cup on a whim, browsing the baby aisle at eChildren. It fit all my needs – BPA free, dishwasher safe, had a straw with a valve, and BONUS – it was a good price! Unfortunately because it’s a straw when I put it in bed with him, he’d be laying down to sip it which meant the straw was no longer in the water. My solution was to remove the bottom part of the straw and just leave the top part of the straw with the valve. This way it’s perfect when it’s upside down to get most of the water out of the cup! I’m a genius I know.
Avent Sippy Cups – Pack of 2 for $6.99
Available: eChildren
The Splurge: Innobaby EZ flow sippy
I cannot even tell you how much I love this cup! No matter what way your child tips this cup, the little weighted ball at the end of the flexible straw follows the liquid. So simple, and yet so amazing! So my little guy can use the same cup to drink while standing up and tipping his chin down to drink as he does while tipping it all the way up like a bottle while he lies down in his crib at night! Wow. Mind…Blown…Why didn’t I think of this first?
Innobaby EZ flow sippy – $12.99 + shipping
Available at: http://www.innobaby.com/Sippin-SMART_c_44.html
Now if anyone has any tips and tricks for kickin’ the bottle habit for good and convincing C that milk can indeed be taken from a cup…I’d LOVE to hear it!
The Good Enuf Mommy
Leave a Reply