Tuesday, October 7, 2008

The battle over the bottle

What the heck? Why won't Emerson drink milk from a sippy cup? I have tried to start transitioning milk from a bottle to a sippy and it is not going well. Please keep in mind that Emerson has been drinking water from a sippy for about 6 months, so it is not like the concept is new to her.

It is totally mental. I mean, it is the same milk. If I take it from the cup that she refuses and right in front of her pour it into a bottle, she proceeds to go to town and drain the bottle at lighting speed. Ugh.


I am trying to transition one meal at a time, so we are not going cold turkey or anything although maybe we should. Right now I am just working on lunch. We have been doing it for about a week and it started off pretty good, but now it has gone horribly bad. She FLIPS out when I try to give her milk in a sippy.

Normally, her lunch meal is all big girl finger food and milk in a cup. In our house, the computer desk is right next to the kitchen table and high chair. She takes so long to eat these days that I just let her go about her business while I get caught up with stuff online. The first few days, she would drink the milk when she thought I was not paying attention. Now that does not work.

What happens these days is that after 30-45 minutes when she is clearly finished eating, I go over there and try to give the cup to her and she flips out. She closes her jaw tight so that nothing is going in. Or she will do my favorite where it looks like she is drinking a sip and then you pull the cup away and she spits it all over herself. Nice.

I love that this endeavor is bringing out my childs stubborn-ness which she totally gets from me. I know this is only the beginning of the mother-daughter, butting-heads phenomenon, but I already feel sorry for my parents and what they obviously put up with me back in the day.

Any thoughts?

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6 comments:

bethany said...

I'm sorry but I totally just laughed-not AT you, I'm sure, but WITH you :)
I have no idea what to tell you-I guess the same thing that I tell myself when Jakson thinks he's Gandi for three days at a time and starves himself, then refuses to eat NOTHING but carrots for a couple of days-kids are very strange and no amount of analyzing will help us figure out what is going on in their little heads.
I have to say--very inventive that she pretends to drink it, then spits it out. She's a smart one!

Anonymous said...

Hey Sabrina-- at least she takes a bottle. It is still a battle in our home for him to drink out of anything! So, I understand. Kelly Watson had the some trouble with Brady- you might want to email her to ask her what she did. I think she made had to go cold-turkey for all times and in a few days he started accepting milk in a sippy (he would with water, but not the milk). Good luck friend!

Amy said...

OMG, she is hillarious. And I imagine you are really not looking forward to the teenage years! And no, I have no advice. And not just because I don't have a baby yet. Usually I can be creative. But I am perplexed. HA!

Erin said...

ah yes, the pretend to drink and apit out routine...Ry's a fan of those tactics as well. Sometimes she just opens her mouth and lets it all run out down her chin into her neck rolls, but other times she forcefully spits it out...at me. Sister, I think we're going to be in for it when our girls are teenagers.

Steph V said...

haha. it's so fun to read this knowing exactly what an 11-1/2 month old is like. they are so much fun but so stubborn. mackenzie is a HANDFUL but i am not i'd have it any other way!!! i can't believe our girls are about to be 1!

J A Hynek said...

Welcome to the toddler food wars!!

Instead of the sippy cup, try a straw cup (Munchkin makes them with Sponge Bob and Dora and Diego on them) or just a plain cup with a straw. She has to learn the skill of drinking from a straw anyway and the novelty may be interesting to her, especially if she sees you drinking from a straw too. We did not use sippy cups at all with our boys. In fact, John flat refused bottles. He went straight from breast to straws and regular cups.

In the end, however, Emmy will take milk from what ever container you elect to use. You are the mommy and you can out wait her on this issue. Besides so long as she is drinking water, she is fine. Be happy she likes water. I have some friends whose son, now age 5, still refuses to drink plain water.