Water & Sipper Cup vs. Cup

At Jacob's 5 month visit to the clinic on Tuesday, I asked the CHN about giving Jacob a little bit of cooled boiled water. I've been doing this periodically to try to get him used to it, and I've been giving it to him in a bottle. He doesn't seem to like it all that much, but I'm wondering if it's more a bit of a shock as he's expecting formula to come out of his bottle but instead he gets water? LOL

Anyway, the CHN said to give it to him in a sipper cup, or just an open-ended cup. I've previously tried to give it to him with a sipper cup, but because the sipper part is hard, all he wants to do is chew on it - he hasn't worked out that he needs to suck on it. Any advice, or do I just perservere? I tried putting a little bit of formula in the sipper cup to start with, and dipped the sipper part in the formula so that he would get that taste and therefore suck like he would on the bottle, but it didn't seem to work (I thought this might have been easier rather than introducing water and a sippy cup all at once).

How have other people tackled this? Should I keep trying with the sipper cup or try with an open-ended cup? I just think that it would be more difficult to try and teach him with an open-ended cup at this stage and that it might be too much too soon???

I had a sipper cup that took a teat, and I gave Kameron that to begin with when I was making the move to get him to use a cup

Love

I used a Avent sipper cup with Kimberley as the end was a little softer than others. Maybe give them a try.

I have only just started letting Kimberley drink out of an opened cup as she gets most of it down her.

mmmI've seen those sipper cups with teats on them... I haven't tried it though, Matilda just takes bits out of her sipper cup at a time, but sometimes sucks...maybe its a persistence thing...dunno... but she loves getting water out of an open ended cup

Hey Tootie,
I am also battling to get Aidyn to drink more water from his bottle. The only way I can get him to drink a decent amount is to make sure I offer it to him every hour or 2.
I haven't had any luck with him either trying to use a sipper cup, but then again I havent really perservered that hard either.
And although he loves open cups, that just gets very messy!!
I might look out for one of those cups with a teat I think.

Sorry for not being much help! LOL 8-[

I might have to have a look around and see what I can find. I'll suss out the Avent ones and also see if I can find some with a teat on them, but I can't say I've seen any of those.

This afternoon I gave it to him just to basically play with it (since his first reaction is to put it in his mouth LOL, as with everything) because I figured that he may eventually suck on it as part of that exploration thing........he loved chewing on it LOL. We'll see where that heads too I think.......

How do you get them to drink out of an open-ended cup anyway? I have visions of him lapping water out of it like a cat......LOLOL

Repetition is the Key. This helps them become familiar.

With ds we offered the water in a mag mag with the spout. This was at every meal time. So when we offered solids, I also would offered the cup. Even if it was a mouthful, it was better than nothing. Also remember that the holes on the spouts are usually bigger too so the water will come out in larger amounts that through the teat/bottle.

Amelia has been getting water in a bottle but she isn't very good at bottles. Due to not having a dummy I think anything foriegn in her mouth, she dislikes. She is a mummies breast girl.

The past two days we have finally got her to accept the avent teat so this might help with accepting water through the avent bottle. We'll see. She has not started solids yet, but we will prob do the same as we did with ds.

With Olivia, the valve thingo in the sipper cup was all too hard, so I took it out, and also bought some cheapo sipper cups that just have a hole, so as long as she tips it up, water comes out, & she doesn't have to suck too hard.

She gets damp and messy, but in the Darwin heat, that is no real issue. I got her onto a sipper cup really early so that she would make a habit of always slurping water. The first month or so was very wet & messy, but worth it, as now she drinks water by herself out of a sipper cup, especially important up her in the car as the heat gets unbearable and I worry about her dehydrating.

I did a lot of offering it at the same time as feeding her solids and now it is part of hte habit.

Perseverence I guess, and lots of changes of damp tops!

:

---

Amelia has been getting water in a bottle but she isn't very good at bottles. Due to not having a dummy I think anything foriegn in her mouth, she dislikes. She is a mummies breast girl.
.

---

Can relate to this!! Felix drinks out of a open eneded cup due to the fact most sipper cups require suction. We do have a "dinkee" sipper cup they only cost $1.25 from the supermarkets and have no "spill proof" safeguard so don't require suction, although he tends to play with more than drink..he loves drinking MOST of all from MY glass, but it's very messy and the control of volume is hard!

mmmm I offer the sipper cup at meal times as well... Matilda loves it, and the open ended cup happened one day when Matilda picked up DH's water cup & put it to her lips & tipped her head back...LMAO, luckily there was only like a tsp in there.

I've just found a bottle today that I can actually put a sipper-type thing on instead of the teat which is quite handy. It's soft like a teat, so it's a bit less foreign. I'll see how I go with that.

I also think that the valve thing in the sipper cups are too hard Lucy - I tried it myself one day and was surprised at how much suction you had to get up to get anything out of it, so there was no way that I thought that Jacob could do it! I might remove that and see how we go with that as well. So many different things to try!!!

For now I'll see how he goes with sucking on the softer more teat-like sipper thing, and then perhaps progress to the sipper cup with the harder bits on it?!?

In Coles they have a cup with a straw in the lid. Alex has his water through this and hasn't had a problem.

Try offereing a sippa cup with a straw. Sounds silly for such a young age I know, but babies natural instinct is to suck. they might play with it for a bit but once they suck and figure it out they get it pretty quick. Ashlea was having her milk out of straw sippa cups by 7 months, and water in them before 6 months. She would get angry at the bottle cause it was too slow.
We also would use them at the day care for the little babies and so many of them used them really well. My director also told us that the straw sippa cups are really good for developing certain muscles in their face that help them speak. The best thing was you can get them for a couple of dollars at the supermarket.
Like anything, the more you offer it, the quicker they will pick it up. Its also better for little babies to be offered smaller ammounts of water more often, than for them to drink alot in one dose.
The younger you start offering them water, the more likely they will drink it when they are older.

Just another thing, but Jacob seems to get upset whenever he is offered water, which I have done on and off for a period of time, but only recently started doing with something other than a bottle as you all know. I guess because it's not quite what he was expecting? LOL Do I just keep perservering with trying to give it to him?? Obviously I want him to drink water!!!

I have on and off days with MAtilda where some days she won't drink any water at all... I just keep offering it to her everytime I feed her solids & sometimes use a different cup each time. Like right before her bath she gets solids & then water out of a regular cup which is where she drinks the most...HTH