Thursday, July 29, 2010

Sippy Cups and Growing Up

Today is AG's last day in her preschool class, or as I like to call it, the class of crying non-crawlers. Seriously, every time I go in there, they all start crying.  Either A) I am horrifyingly scary to look at in the morning (v. possible), or B) my presence reminds them that their own mommy isn't there to pick them up yet.  I'm starting to get a complex about it.

Anyway, next week, Ally Grace is moving up to the crawler class, despite the fact that she's not ACTUALLY crawling yet. 

And then the following week, I'm pretty sure she'll be going off to college.

So, in the crawler class, not only do the babies sleep on mats and eat real food, they drink from sippy cups!  Now, we've done some playing around with the sippy cup (and by playing, I mean throwing it, biting it, and hitting mommy in the face with it). However, AG has made it very clear that she strictly prefers her milk in a bottle, thankyouverymuch.

Which means I need some advice.  How do you teach your baby to drink from a cup instead of a bottle?  And what if your favorite time of day is giving her that first bottle, while you drink your morning coffee (mommy's sippy cup) and watch tv?  And what if you want to freeze time right where it is, refusing to allow her any more growing up? 

Just hypothetically, of course.

Listen, you don't even have to have a baby to give me some advice.   If you EVER babysat, had younger siblings or cousins, or have even just seen a baby and have some really good ideas on the matter, you're more of an expert than I am. 

Help!

7 comments:

Connor Family Blog said...

Sherri, I know this isn't what you want to hear, but...easiest way...cold turkey. You will get freaked out at first, thinking, "omg, she's not drinking enough (or any) milk!!!". But the truth is that once she gets the hang of it, she'll drink much more milk. Further, they don't need as much milk the closer they get to 1. Their main nutrition is supposed to come from food. I would say, if she really needs to have a sippy instead of a bottle, just decide one day, throw the bottles in the attic and go for it! She may eat lots more food for a few days until she gets the hang of where her milk is coming from. I promise it'll get better!!!!! Good luck!

Our Family's Story... said...

Hey girl! I know there are sippy cups that have a top/lid like a bottle...the Nuk is a good one. Karcyn never took a bottle so we went straight to Dr. Browns sippy cup and really like them! Try holding her like you would when giving her a bottle...but, instead try the sippy cup:)

P.S....I recommend WATER to start!!! :)

Our Family's Story... said...

Hey girl! I know there are sippy cups that have a top/lid like a bottle...the Nuk is a good one. Karcyn never took a bottle so we went straight to Dr. Browns sippy cup and really like them! Try holding her like you would when giving her a bottle...but, instead try the sippy cup:)

P.S....I recommend WATER to start!!! :)

Melanie said...

Bless your heart! I remember this transition well. With my first son, he had no problem at all... My youngest son was VERY attached to his bottle and I thought he would graduate college clutching it with white-knuckled grip! We tried about 5 different types of sippy cups and just finally found the one he liked (then bought tons of them).... It's really trial and error... GOOD LUCK! :)

Melanie
~ melscoffeebreak.blogspot.com ~

Smith Family said...

Thanks, Sherri! It will be a while before I am up and running like the pros (you and Candace) but lucky me....I have all this wonderful motherly advice to read about in preparation over the next 5 months! I love, love, love your fun blog (even though I am technically a "stalker"). Just talked to Jeff and he loved seeing John. Hope to see y'all in the ATL soon!

Smith Family said...

Thanks, Sherri! It will be a while before I am up and running regularly like the pros (you and Candace) but lucky me, having all this wonderful motherly advice to read in preparation over the next 5 months! I love, love, love your fun blog (even though technically I am a "stalker"). Jeff just called and said he loved seeing John...hope to see y'all in the ATL soon!

Chunky Monkey said...

Try Nubi sippy cups. The sippy part is soft like the nipple of a bottle and a good transition cup. I had the same problem until I tried these sippy cups. Target and Babies R Us sell them.