The Sippy Cup Revolt
Recently, we had Ben’s six-month checkup at the WIC office, which included a visit to the nutritionist. And her advice? Start getting him adjusted to drinking from a sippy cup. Oh boy. So, I went on ahead to the store and got him his first sippy cup: a soft spout with handles that I hoped he would take easily.
Now, I didn’t think it would be too terribly difficult for him to make the transition. He learned to eat from a spoon extremely quickly, after all. And he’s learning to hold the bottle on his own, although I still have to help him keep it tilted up high enough. But of course, its never that simple. Ben hated drinking out of the sippy cup. He would get formula out of it, don’t get me wrong — about two ounces — so he was drinking. But after he got those one or two ounces, he would just resort to all-out screaming until I gave him his bottle.
I asked around, and several people recommended that I try out a sippy cup with a straw instead. So I went and got him one of those. Surely, this would be easier for him, right? Uh, wrong. He hated the one with the straw even more. As soon as I would put it into his mouth, the screaming would start. He wouldn’t drink anything out of the one with the straw in it. At this point, I was pretty much banging my head against the wall.
I know six months is still relatively young for a sippy cup, and I didn’t expect him to be drinking exclusively out of one. But I also didn’t expect him to revolt against it so much, either. When I feed him now, he doesn’t want me to hold the bottle anymore, he wants to hold it. And he took to eating from a spoon like he’d known how to do it all along. But man, he does not like those sippy cups. I’ve taken a break for now, but little does he know the dreaded sippy cup will be making a return in a week or so. He’s seven months old now, so he’s going to have to start getting ready for the eventual loss of the bottle whether he likes it or not. I just hope he doesn’t fight me too much along the way.
How was your sippy cup transition? Any tips to share?
