Let me begin this with a confession: from the day they were born, feeding has been the most difficult concept for me to grasp. Not sure why. But quantities, timing and type have left me in tears more than once in the last 11 months. So, by the grace of God, I've gotten them transitioned to 3 solid meals, 2 big bottles (am & pm) and 2 small snack bottles a day. I was feeling pretty good about myself. Then I read the 11th month chapter of "What To Expect..." and my haughtiness dissolved instantly. It says they should be drinking from cups. NOT sippy cups, but cups. Um, oops. They don't even drink from sippies. I've tried, but they really have no use for them. A friend suggested I take the "governor" out of them so they flow better and the boys seemed to like it, but they still throw it around and play with it more than drink from it. One doesn't like it to even be on his tray. And now this book is telling me they should be drinking out of a cup...with no lid. Are they insane?! Are we really behind the curve that badly? Granted I was a little late in having them hold their own bottles - seriously never occurred to me until I saw a friend do it with her daughter who is younger than my boys - but the very idea of them drinking from a topless cup is horrifying. The book said it would be a bit messy. You think?! Good gracious! So my question is, with them coming up on a year, are they hopelessly behind because they can't drink from sippy cups well and are no where near capable of drinking from a topless cup?
Are you reading the newest edition? I bought the same book used from a book sale and came to find out it was from 1982!!! So yeah, certain things were waaaaay off. I can't remember exactly what made me look at the publish date, but needless to say it really threw me for a loop. FWIW: My boys are 2 1/2 and still do not drink out of cups. They can lift and drink but I do not want to deal with the mess. Their pedi said to be off of bottles by a year. I had them off at 11 months and then came to find out later by their speech therapist that I should only be using straw sippies and not spouts. :headbang: Apparently the spout is the same size/shape as a nipple and it "may" affect their speech. Now that it's warmer out, I plan to get them more used to topless cups. I figure if we are outside and they make a mess it won't be that big of a deal.
We didn't wean off bottles to sippies until 15 months (12 months adjusted). When we did that we just gave up bottles cold turkey. It took them a couple days to "get" using the sippy consistently, and their intake dropped initially but within a couple days we were good to go. My girls are 32 months, and still use sippy cups most of the time. For lunch and dinner I do give them open cups, but the chance for mess is so high that I don't venture there often. Like the PP stated, I heard the same thing about straw vs. spout sippy's. However, we have always used spout sippies and my girls speech is perfect so I think it really depends on the kid. Try not to worry too much momma. You are doing a great job!! :hug:
Eh, throw the book away. Sounds to me like your babies are doing great. My doctor told me to stop transitioning off bottles and wait until a year. We give my two a sippy (with a spout--they don't talk so I guess it won't hurt their speech)at meals just to play around with. I believe WTE also says give them a spoon to feed themselves at that age. Umm no, I am not doing that either. I say throw the book away and just keep up the good work. I have yet to meet a college kid with a bottle or in diapers.
We weaned from bottles to sippies at a year. But my two are 3 1/2 and they still drink from sippies. They get open cups at mealtimes usually but, for my convenience, most often they still get sippies in between.
Our girls are 11 months old and we just started letting them drink out of our cups when we were drinking water. We let them sip out of our cups and they started loving it and thinking it was so great. We then moved on to sippy cups, but we did have to take out the "governor". My favorites are the Nuk or the pac and trash from Walmart that can be tossed if needed to be. We also started letting them experiment with straws when we are out to eat, they learned that they needed to suck and they finally got it. We don't even bring sippys out to eat anymore, we just get them a kids cup of water and they are fine. As for your question.....NO I do not think your children are behind. Those books can sometimes make you feel like your kids are not progressing. Do what you can at your own pace. My DS did not do any of the things my girls are doing at this age. Best wishes to you!
I think that it is a good idea to let them experiment with open cups at times when you're not too worried about mess but assume that most of the liquid won't get into their mouths. We started introducing sippies about 10 months but they didn't really get the hang of them until about 11 1/2 months. We put water in them and let them try at every meal. We still haven't switched their milk over to the sippies because we wanted them to get used to the transition to whole milk first. We let them have open cups of just water when we are outside. We will also let them play with cups in the baby pool and bath. That way they learn the mechanics without the mess. It sounds to me like you are doing just fine!
I didn't take my first off of sippies until he was almost 4 (my pedi was horrified!) because I don't like messes. I mean, he was capable of using an open cup, but I often let him use a sippie. Anyway, I think the montessori model has the kids drinking out of tiny open cups from the beginning. It's supposed to be better for their teeth and confidence etc. But whatever- I love sippies
Oh gosh... if it weren't for sippy's my house would be a mess! The boys are on sippy's and all the younger daycare kids are have sippys. I tried to give the almost 3yo I watch a cup w a straw and she tipped it up so it all spilt everywhere lol My 6yo still prefers to drink out of a tupperware sippy :spy: Most of the time she drinks out of a reg cup but I don't see how it's horribly different than drinking out of a water bottle.
Momma - disregard what the book says you are doing great! I like the opening sentences of your post - I can totally relate. We tried the sippies at 7 mos, didn't have the patience. Then I taught them to drink from cups, which they loved doing. I foolishly thought we would just surpass sippies...HAHAHAHAHAHA!!!! We picked up the sippies at 1 year along with straw cups (which are their favorite). We just dropped morning and night bottles at 15 mos. So now, sippies morning and night, straw cups during the day, and when I feel like it, open cup at the table, and sometimes I even let them hold them and see what happens! They do well until about 1/2 way through when they dump them. The variety is fun, and I love being out and about and just handing them a straw cup they can drink from. You are doing great I think!
I'm just going to ditto pp's. Both my older kids didn't go off sippy cups completely until around 3-3.5 yrs old. There's no way I'm going to let my kids run around with an open top cup, and up until the age of about 3, my kids wouldn't drink enough if we didn't keep a sippy cup in the living room with us while we are playing. Around the age of three is when they started realizing when they are thirsty they need to go get a drink from the kitchen, and it's also around that age that we can safely stop taking a cup with us everywhere we go without hearing "I'm thirsty!!" all the time! It's so hot down here in the summer we take drinks everywhere we go! My two haven't even attempted an open top cup, and are just now getting the hang of straws. No fears, you are nowhere near behind! :hug:
