14 mo. daughter won't take sippy cup!

[lisafalknerlmt]

i've been trying to get my daughter to drink from a sippy cup for over 6 months now and she just won't do it!  she grabs it to chew on it, but won't drink from it.  i think i've bought every kind out there (which at this point might just be confusing).  she still gets a bottle in the morning and at night, an hour before bed, but during the day i always have a sippy cup available to her.  when hours and hours has gone by and she just hasn't drank anything, i give in and put it in the bottle and she drinks every last bit.  any suggestions?

[McGucks]

The only suggestions I have are to 1) try taking the valve out...the drinks flow so slowly that some kids won't work on them, and 2) use an open cup.  We have used only water in the open cups, partly because that's all our LO gets other than BM and partly because I don't want more messes to clean than I already do.  We only put a half-inch or so of water in the open cups so he doesn't get choked on it.  Also, we do use sippy cups if we are out on super hot days and I just want him to have access to water (he is 16 months).  He will only drink from sippy cups if he is super thirsty.

[pbjmama]

Have you tried a straw?

[somegirl99]

Subbing as my 12-month-old won't take a sippy cup (with or without valve), straw cup, or open cup.  We've come closest with the straw cup, he will sometimes bite at the straw and once took a sip and then looked absolutely disgusted that water came out of it and hasn't tried sipping again.

[octobermom]

My 16 month old wont eaither she just doesn't get it. I  dont mind though I find them pointless anyways. We use eaither straw cups or I help her use an open cup.

[lisafalknerlmt]

yeah she doesn't get the straw ones either.  she loves drinking out of an open cup but doesn't have the coordination to hold it herself, so i have to hold it.  i guess i'm just trying to avoid having to hold a cup for her for the next 12 months!  what are people's thoughts on just letting her continue with the bottle?  i know some people are very strict about weaning kids off of them at a certain age, but i don't know.  i definitely don't want her to be a 2 year old still drinking from a bottle all the time.

[octobermom]

I think its fine to countiue for a while if its best for you. Keep trying with whatever you want to transation too and in time she will get it. IF though the bottles relieves some stress then its not some horrid thing to keep it up.. Kinda like we dont need to stop nursing at 12 months KIWM?

For WIW my 16 month old was bottle free or mostly she suddenly rufused ANY at 10 weeks and we never bothered pushing it. After she begin adding solids though like you we wanted something she could handle. Open cup is fine ocassionally but not all the time.. Most toddler sippies were way to hard as were the straw cups. What worked GREAT and a tip I learned from my oldest DD speech therpist.. Was to use the litterless juice boxes like from rubbermaid often sold for like $1 at various places.. the bottle part can be gently sqeezed by mom to start that sucking process and its a countious flow no valuve to encourage biting or waeird forced sucking.. It took very little time for my current to master this but much longer before she got the "others"

Deanna

[mommy212]

My LO never drank out of a sippy cup until just now (he is almost 2). We just taught him to use a normal small cup, and he did great.

[isabchi]

Neither of my kids never take/like sippy cups. They love to drunk from an open cup since their 6 mo.I used small glass cup (heavy bottoms).

[belltree]

At 16 months she should be able to learn to drink from a real cup easily. Sippy cups are bad for the teeth especially if they contain anything but water, and the kids don't learn how to carefully handle a cup without spilling. Just try it, have some towels on hand in the beginning days, but I am sure your child will catch on quickly.