There's no use crying over spilled milk...

[Adaline'sMama]

unless its raw milk.

So, for the past few weeks DD has pretty much refused to drink from a sippy cup. She wont drink out of it unless I take the lid off and hand it to her. We have three different styles of cups:

The straw cup
The cup that you have to tip back, but has no handles and a hard mouthpiece
The cup that you have to tip back and does have handles and has a silicone mouthpiece

I have no problem with her drinking water from an open top cup (we usually use an old baby food jar or a 4 oz beer sample cup) when she is drinking water or super diluted juice, but when she is drinking a smoothie that I have made for her or raw milk , I cant stand to see it wasted. Inevitably when I give her an open cup, she spills about half of it. Usually its because she sets it on the ground and either she, the dog, or the cat knock it over.

So, what is a solution here. I want her to drink the milk, and she loves it, but I dont want it to get spilled. I cant get her to drink out of any of the cups I have. Is there a better cup I should try? Should I only let her have the open cup while she is standing right in front of me?

TIA!

[Mom31]

Do not fill the cup. Put in just a little at a time?

Then refill. That way if some gets spilled it won't be too much.

Or make her drink it at the table.

[treeoflife3]

Start enforcing keeping the drink at/on the table.  She can only drink when she is sitting to avoid spilling from getting knocked over on the floor.  You can also give her only a few sips at a time (my own kid was only getting about an ounce at a time until she was able to not spill that.  She still only gets 2 or 3 ounces at a time in an open cup.)

[Adaline'sMama]

I dont ever fill the cup, but I usually fill it half way and then she spills half of that, but that still means she is spilling half of everything I give her. I sometimes give her one sip at a time and she does okay. But three weeks ago, I could fill up a sippy cup of milk and she would drink on it for an hour or two and drink all of it. Now, she is only consuming 2-4 oz a day, and being fussy and wanting something to drink constantly.

Ill try to give it to her at the table and see if she will drink it, but she doesnt drink when she eats, so it seems like she'll get bored sitting there just drinking something. I could sit with her, but I dont want to start that habit.

[Mom31]

I know a lot of mom's who put the drink on the table for a while and kids can come and go and get it off table for a sip. But do not allow food or drink in other living area's. I don't do this- tho I think I should my carpets would thank me!

[organicviolin]

We have drinks available at the table all the time.  That way it can be gotten all of the time.  If it's an open cup, you must sit at the table.  It works for us. 

[Adaline'sMama]

Originally Posted by organicviolin 

We have drinks available at the table all the time.  That way it can be gotten all of the time.  If it's an open cup, you must sit at the table.  It works for us. 

What kind of table are we talking about here? My kid is only 19 months so she cant reach the kitchen table, she has to be put in her highchair to drink at the table. Do you have a kid table?

[kathrineg]

Maybe something like this would help for smoothies...if you caught it in time?

http://www.amazon.com/OXO-Tot-Training-Green-Ounce/dp/B0038JDUDE/ref=sr_1_62?s=baby-products&ie=UTF8&qid=1320618098&sr=1-62

[coldandsleepy]

We have a pretty strict rule about no travelling with the cup... which is to say, if he wants to drink out of an open top cup, he needs to stay where he was when I gave the cup to him until he's done his drink.  This might mean sitting at the table (he climbs up onto an adult chair and sits, but he's older than your child) or might mean standing in one spot in the kitchen.  When he was younger, he would sit down on the floor with his drink.

I also only give him tiny amounts of any non-water liquids in his open top cup.  Like 1-2 toddler sips (just a little over what I think of as a "splash") at a time.  It's annoying to have to refill his cup eight times if he's actually thirsty/interested in that liquid... but for me, not as annoying as having to clean up spilled whatever and also not as wasteful.

[Quinalla]

I only let my DD run around with a water cup, if she wants anything else or an open cup, she has to sit in her high chair or on my lap. And yeah, with an open cup, I only put a little bit in, she'd getting better, but still tends to spill some.

[organicviolin]

We do have a little kid table.  He also climbs onto the dining chairs but he's a little older :)  you could also sit on the kit floor too if that's more ideal for you.

[cloudbutterfly]

DS drinks his smoothies out of a straw-top Thermos.  We just love it.  Maybe a different type of closed-top cup would be different enough?  We have that OXO training cup with the training lid...I don't think smoothie would fit out the little holes around the edge very well, and DS always demanded that it be taken out.

What about putting a straw in the open cup?  Otherwise, you may need to put in some intensive time sitting with her and teaching her to drink carefully.  That helped here...reminding to use two hands, then to lift to his lips before tilting (that turned out to be the biggest issue), etc., reaching in to stop spills before they happened.  As she gets closer to two, she'll probably get a lot neater.  At least, that's been our experience as our son's motor control (and dislike of messes!) has grown exponentially.

[Adaline'sMama]

Thanks everyone! I have been searching for a new cup, but in the meantime she has been satisfied with just putting the lid back on after each sip. She doesnt spill it on herself when she drinks, the issue was that I want a liquid to be constantly available to her, but she always knocks it over. Everytime I see her pick up the cup now, I go and take the lid off for her and stand there until she is finished drinking and we put it back on. Its less than ideal, because she is still only consuming about half the liquids she was a few weeks ago when she would still drink out of a sippy cup. She just isnt drinking as much from the open cups, but at least we arent wasting

I may just look into getting her a waterbottle.

[P.J.]

We are going through the same thing here, and DS is also drinking less water since he mostly won't take the sippy anymore (unless we're out and he's real thirsty he will).

I do what others have suggested, and only give him a tiny sip at a time and refill it if he drinks it. He often will then want to play with it once he's done, so I just set him up in his highchair and use a few cups and suction bowls and let him pour it around (those suction bowls are great for this b/c he can't dump the bowl out!). I always have to standby with a big towel and wipe up the spills, but I still only pour a little bit in each cup so it's never much. I know your issue isn't so much with water play, but ours is related so I thought I'd share. Oh and he also gets a bath most every night and he loves to play in there the same way pouring water around.

Anyway I know how annoying it can be, and wasteful. But I just keep telling myself this will pass so don't sweat it too hard, ya know? And they have to learn to drink from a cup sooner or later so might as well get it over with, right?