11 mo infrequent nursing and refusing fluids

[superlove]

My 11 month old son is getting ready to cut his 6th tooth.   He's biting a lot during nursing so he's only nursing 2-3 times per day:-(((. Also, he rarely takes a bottle or a sippy cup with water or diluted juice..  His stool is pretty hard, he seems constipated...  I'm just worried that he's not getting enough fluids... Also i'm wondering, will he EVER take a sippy or straw cup?

[Snapdragon]

what about trying to give him liquids just in a cup? with my 14 m.o we just skipped the bottles and sippy cups and went straight to the cup. It took a couple of wks for him to get it- we started pretty young I can't remember exactly- we actually started with a spoon and then moved to a cup- I think somehwere around 8 months we started with the spoon and by 9 months he was pretty good with the cup. we still hold he cup for him at 14 months though he holds it on his own pretty well- it can get messy that way.

[superlove]

Thanks for your feed back and advice.  I do offer him a regular cup, and he seems to be a little more open to that, vs. sippy/straw cup or bottle, but he still seems to reject it most of the time... I guess I just need to keep offering and hope he starts liking it some day...

[Snapdragon]

have you tired using a spoon to get started? we actually used a wooden spoon but that is something I actually personally prefer over metal. IT is a bit confusing for them to drink form a cup until they are used to it, whereas a spoon is similar to eating solids. Does he do okay with food? You can start by trying more flavorful liquids (such as diluted juice if that is something you are comfortable with (not everyone likes to give their little ones juice products but I personally choose to) ) in a spoon, and expect to spill a faitr amount! Then ease in the cup. The sucking of the sippy or bottle by that age somehow doesn;t make sense to me- anyway, hope it works for you- I thin kit is really important that they get enough liquids. I remember when I tired giving ds a cup for a while it wasn't working and people told me- just keep at it, he'll get it- and I did and now he is a pro!

[superlove]

That's great to hear!  Hopefully he'll be a pro soon too!  He LOVES solids, cant get enough, so I will definitely try the spoon, I'm sure it will work, because I've been watering down his food a ton, to the point that it's pretty much liquid.  So I'll just try plain water in the spoon as a temporary hydration solution and then just keep offering the cup and straw and hope it takes:-) (and hopefully after this tooth cuts, he'll start nursing a bit more, but that is I guess more for selfish reasons:-)