sippie cup question

so, sadly my twins never learned to hold their own bottles. My dd hasnt had a bottle since she was about 6-7 months old so she never qutie had a chance, but ds never learned. So, now they do sippes...they get it, but will just play with them if I give it to them, not drink. I have to hold it for them for them to drink out of...anyone else experience this? I dont know if they dont get the fact that they have to tip their heads back, or they dont like that part or what. We use nuby, avent, and take n toss sippies.
ideas?

 

My youngest only took a bottle for 6 weeks when she was an infant. At 11 months I started her on a sippy. I held her like I would for giving a bottle. Eventually she figured out that she could hold it herself. It took awhile for her to get used to s sippy; anything she didn't drink I'd use for cereal so I was sure she was getting the milk somehow!

 

I still have to hold the sippies for my guys occasionally (especially Nate) to make sure they drink enough. Otherwise they take a few sips and throw them. I figure they'll get sick of me eventually and drink by themselves.

 

off topic-but how did you feed her after she stopped taking a bottle at 6 weeks?

 

How about trying the Nuby straw sippy instead? That way they dont have to tip their heads back.

 

I would just keep giving it to them even if they just play with it. Maybe occasionally demonstrate how it works, they will get it before you know it!

 

I have tried that and I will keep trying, but havent had success yet. I think with those they have to bite down on the straw and suck? dd doesnt do that with the nuby cup so I think she will have a hard time w/the straw sippie. BUT we have started using the safe sippy 2 which converts to a straw cup, but I cant let her carry it around or anything with milk in it as it leaks. We've tried other straw cups but she doesnt get it yet. And ds just has no clue what to do with the straw cups,lol.

 

Just keep offering them. They will get it albeit painfully slow :laughing:

 

I got sick of them not being able to hold their own sippies (they can't tilt their head back), so I taught them to use a straw. Way easier.

 

how did you do that? Just offer them that sippy and no other? And what kind do you use....do they not leak?

 

I googled this, so it's not my own invention

First I started with just a regular straw and something they would really, really like (my Starbucks Passion Tea Lemonade). I put my finger over one end, so there was just a little liquid in the other, put it in a baby's mouth and took my finger off. After a couple times of this, they figured out that straws can mean good things. I would hold my finger on the end until I could sort of feel them sucking, and then I would let go.

The next day, I used a mixture of water and juice (just a little of this: http://www.firstjuice.com/flavors.html) and I put it in one of the Playtex Straw cups, with no lid, so they got used to the sight of the cup. Still using the same straw as before, I did the same method, but I gradually moved my end of the straw downward. What I mean is, at first gravity would just let the juice fall, but as my end moved parallel, and then towards the floor, they actually learned they needed to suck it. Once they could suck, I put the Playtex lids back on, and they got it pretty quickly.

I think it took about a week for them to figure it out. I used the juice/water mix for the whole week so they were motivated, and then just moved to water. I'm hoping milk will be an easy transition too.

Also, I like the Playtex Twist and Click cups and we haven't had leaking problems beyond a few drips. They're pretty easy to clean and put together.

 

We use these cups for diluted juice, pedialyte, sips of water, etc.. just to get them used to a sippy cup (at their pediatrician's recommendation) :

http://www.playtexproductsinc.com/infant/images/cups_first_sipster.jpg

They have handles on both sides so they are easy to hold, and what we did was put a little juice in it (like an ounce) and took the valve out of it, tipped it back and showed them that "Yay! Yummy comes out when you munch on the spout!" and after a few tries of that they grabbed it on their own and now they're experts at it. They only get 2 oz of gerber apple juice diluted with an ounce of water per day though.