couple of questions about transitioning to sippies only

ok, i decided to try again NOW rather than later. i have made up my mind and i can't take the back and forth anymore. my girlfriend told me that one of her kids didn't drink milk for 7 months but she got dairy in other ways and she was just fine (although now, she will only drink chocolate milk but whatever. milk is milk, right?). today, i put their milk in a sippy and my one dd knocked it over. so i picked it back up, tried to encourage her to drink it but she knocked it back down and THAT'S when i knew that i just can't go back to the bottle. i have in the past and you ladies are right. now they are testing me to see if i'll cave and give them the bottle. but i realize that i can't. so, here are my questions:

1. when you made the transition, for those of you who used to warm their bottles, did you warm the milk in the sippy cup or just make a double transition to sippy and cold milk?

2. what was the reaction of your kids when you presented their milk in a sippy?

3. how long did it take for them to adjust? (if they ever did)

4. did you find yourself having to present the milk in a different sippy cup then they normally drink all their other fluids from?

5. for those of you with kids who were just not having it in the beginning, did you find yourself having to serve breakfast earlier than usual or did you continue to serve it at the regular time? did you have to give them more food throughout the day to make up for the missing calories?

6. for those of you whose kids didn't take right away, did you keep presenting milk at EVERY meal or continue to do things as normal (giving juice, water etc.)

TIA ladies and sorry to be so annoying lately with this but I have had it and i have made up my mind to do this. do you think i should keep the remain 6 bottles i have or just toss them so that's there's no turning back??

 

Ok, my boys are 25 months. We just ended before nap and bedtime bottles last month (even though the pedi said to stop at 18 months . I would do what you need to do now (at the age yours are) to get them off bottles. I think it will go easier. I wish I had! Ethan would grab his bib and burp cloth (his lovey so to speak) when he was ready for a bottle. It about broke my heart those first few days when he was standing there with his "stuff" waiting for his coveted bottle. I would offer milk in a sippy or straw cup and he wanted no part of it. He doesn't "ask" for a bottle anymore.

Basically, my boys have access to water all day. They are offered sippy cups with milk at each meal (they have always had cold milk). They don't get juice. Jackson does great with his milk in a cup (would have had him off bottles a long time ago if it was just him . Ethan LOVED his bottle and he isn't drinking a lot of milk right now. I just make sure he gets yogurt, cheese, etc during the day to get more calcium. He is doing a little better each day though.

The boys have 3 cups (one sippy and 2 straw cups) that they get milk in. They get water in a different sippy. They only get milk at the table so I'm feeding them more meals and snacks to get them the calories they need and to get them to the table for milk. Mine get a bowl of dry cheerios and water in the living room when they first get up.

I'm not sure this is any help, but hopefully will give you a little encouragement to stand strong and stick with it. It's so hard...

Mendy

 

1. when you made the transition, for those of you who used to warm their bottles, did you warm the milk in the sippy cup or just make a double transition to sippy and cold milk?

I never warmed milk, although their formula was always warmed when in a bottle. But I had started around 10 months giving them cold formula in a sippy with each meal. So warm formula in bottle, cold formula in sippy. Then at 12 months, cold milk in sippy...no problem.

2. what was the reaction of your kids when you presented their milk in a sippy? I think they actually prefer milk over formula.

3. how long did it take for them to adjust? (if they ever did) They did really well, really no adjustment time at all.

4. did you find yourself having to present the milk in a different sippy cup then they normally drink all their other fluids from? I give them milk and juice in the same sippy. I give them water in a bigger/taller sippy, just because I normally just have them share the water. Not that they wouldn't drink water from the same sippies they drink milk and juice from.

5. for those of you with kids who were just not having it in the beginning, did you find yourself having to serve breakfast earlier than usual or did you continue to serve it at the regular time? did you have to give them more food throughout the day to make up for the missing calories? We give a sippy of milk with breakfast, about 30 minutes after they wake up.

6. for those of you whose kids didn't take right away, did you keep presenting milk at EVERY meal or continue to do things as normal (giving juice, water etc.) Mine get milk with every meal, and Grace with her afternoon snack as well. Lily gets juice with her afternoon snack because she'd be over in her milk consumption if she had it at snack too.

 

1. when you made the transition, for those of you who used to warm their bottles, did you warm the milk in the sippy cup or just make a double transition to sippy and cold milk?

I do not warm the milk that is in sippies. I did when it was in the bottle. They only get a bottle right before bed now, that is getting transitioned out next month. Also if Kev wakes up at night, I give him water in a bottle but will be doing a sippy starting this week.

2. what was the reaction of your kids when you presented their milk in a sippy?

They used to throw it, sometimes they cry, sometimes they don't want it, sometimes they do. I just figure, if they are really thristy they will drink it.

3. how long did it take for them to adjust? (if they ever did)

about 2 months. It took us much longer than I thought it would, but it is starting to finally work now.

4. did you find yourself having to present the milk in a different sippy cup then they normally drink all their other fluids from?

Nope. but i did switch to just Platex because everything else leaks and drives me bonkers.

5. for those of you with kids who were just not having it in the beginning, did you find yourself having to serve breakfast earlier than usual or did you continue to serve it at the regular time? did you have to give them more food throughout the day to make up for the missing calories?

yes! my guys eat the minute they get up. and yes, they eat a lot of snacks all day long.

6. for those of you whose kids didn't take right away, did you keep presenting milk at EVERY meal or continue to do things as normal (giving juice, water etc.)

both. I find using milk and juice make the sippy cup idea more "fun" for them... like they don't know what's coming next. LOL They usually get milk at breakfast, juice at lunch and as "snack" and milk at dinner and the bottle before bed, which we need to get rid of!

Good luck Nicole!

 

Okay, here's what I did...

(1) Yes, I continued to warm. Warming for me has always been filling a big cup with hot tap water and dunking their cup in it for a minute or so.

(2) Mine HATED it. They had been drinking juice for a while from sippies when I started putting their formula in a cup and it's like they knew I was trying to get rid of their bottles, and were not having any part of it!

(3) It took mine almost 2 months. I started when they were 10mo and a week after their birthday we were completely on sippies.

(4) I literally have EVERY sippy cup available. I tried every style of cup, nipple, spout, etc to get them to drink it.

(5) I only changed over their lunch bottle at first and yes, I had to offer more food in the late afternoon then b/c they were miserable and hungry. I think this may have hurt me in the beginning b/c they had no need to drink it, they knew somewhere they were going to get their tummies filled later on. I started with lunch though b/c I felt like if they didn't drink it, it wouldn't mess up the entire day or sleeping at night. They were also on 24oz of formula at the time, so I knew missing a few ounces was not going to mess them up or starve them.

(6) Aside from adding snack time at 3:30, I just pushed though, and kept on giving them only a sippy at lunch time. I did occasionally put a bottle nipple on the cup b/c I couldn't take the screaming from the both of them. I felt bad about it at the time, but looking back on it, I think that may be a good way to start changing them over. Nuby actually makes a system (I saw it at Walmart this weekend) that includes the cup and three stages of spouts, the first one resembling a nipple).

GOOD LUCK and lots of :hug99: :hug99: :hug99: It is SUPER TOUGH to hang in there with it, but truly it only gets harder the older they get. I have a girlfirend whose daughter was 2 1/2 when they took away her bottles and she went almost a week without drinking ANYTHING and to this day (she's 4), she won't drink milk...

Stacy