Anyone else out there with sippy cup issues?

So after months and months of feeding issues, we are finally making a little bit of progress lately, and I can't wait until I can do away with these piles and piles of bottles. I have tried and tried for a few months now to transition them into sippy cups with no luck. I figured that if they wouldn't eat solids well yet that I could at least get them away from their bottles. Nope. No go. The only reason I can think of besides the feeding issues they have been having, is that since they were born so early (3 months premature) and they had a difficult time learning to suck from a bottle in the NICU, that they are just finding it really hard to adjust to the sippy cup mechanism now. I have tried at least 8 different kinds of sippy cups: cups with soft spouts, cups with hard spouts, cups that kind of look like a bottle but with a sippy cup-type nipple. I am at a loss of what to do. I have tried to let them go for an extra hour or two between bottles and get a little more hungry so that the sippy cup looks more appealing, but still no luck.

Anyone else out there have sippy cup problems? And if so, what did you do that worked if anything?

 

I would wait until they were good with solids before really pushing a switch. For us we had to do cold turkey with the bottles and switch to sippies. They did go for a couple days with low liquid intake but because they were good eaters it wasn't as much of a concern. Once they realized that they weren't going to get the bottle and the sippy cup were their only option they took to them easily. But like I said, I would wait until they were doing good on solids. Good luck!

 

I am currently in the process of switching my LO's. They are 13mths (not adjusted). They were born 9 weeks early, so I can relate to some of the delayed milestones.

Here is what I have been doing. For the last couple of months I have given them a sippie cup of diluted juice after they are done eating. I have had the best luck with the Tommie Tippie sippie cups - the ones with the handles. For the first week or so, I took the plug out of the sippie and helped them to get a sip. That way they knew something was yummy was suppose to come out. Once they related the cup to something good, they were more willing to try it. After about a week or so they started sucking when taking a drink. When they started that, I put the plug back in and immediately put it to their mouth again. It did take a few times of going back and forth with the plug in/out before they really started to understand.

Just this week I have replace 2 bottles (lunch and supper) with sippies of milk. And now that they know how to drink out of them, I am only giving them milk - no juice, while trying to transition them. I see progress each day on how much they drink from them. The first day they drank maybe an ounce each. Today they both drank about 4oz each. Hope this helps! Good luck!!

 

You've gotten some good advice and I just wanted to add, the sippy cups that worked best for my kids transition was the Munchkin straw sippy cups. If you have not tried them, they might be worth a try when your two are handling solids a little better. Good luck!

 

My twins were behind but my youngest was not. I found that the "hunger" that my youngest has has helped her learn to get anything out. I found with my one twin who was especially difficult eater was still needing me to feed her the bottle. later we found it was low iron that caused her to get tired and even tired of eating.

I would buy say two different types of sippy cups and only have one out with water in it. They often would check it out like a new toy and because there was only one they fought over it.

There is no time limit for getting rid of bottles. In my opinion sippy cups are STILL bottle that have a different texture of nipple on them.

Heather

 

Thanks to everyone for the advice. I will definitely try some of the cups you guys suggested. Out of the bazillion types I've tried so far, I haven't tried the Tommie Tippie or the Munchkin straw cups. I was wondering if I should try one the cups without the valves (like the Tommie Tippie), but I was trying to avoid all the mess if I could. But if it works, I'll try it. And I was also wondering what they would do with one of the sippy cups with a straw for a spout instead of the regular sippy cup opening. I'll have to try both suggestions, and I'll let you know if anything works.

Thanks again for the great suggestions! I have been away from the forums for too long, but I'm so glad to be back after my long break. Posts like these are what helps me remember what a great source of information and help this place is. Thanks guys!!!!