Upon turning one, all the parent books recommend that you switch formula for milk and stop giving a bottle. This is supposed to be done cold turkey, and apparently babies have no problem with the switch. Well, this seemed rather harsh to me- you turn one and you suddenly have to give up the one thing that has been comforting to you since the day you were born. On the upside, you get a piece of cake. Let me just say- the guide books were wrong. I decided to go slow- I added an ounce of milk to her bottle each week and thought that I would switch her to a sippy cup once she was drinking all milk. The switch to milk, even an ounce at a time, was horrendous. Sophie had a horrid diaper rash for the first 3 weeks- it even cracked and bled, poor baby. And I don't know who these babies are that don't seem to notice or care that they have cow's milk in their bottles, because Sophie let me know- very strongly- that she noticed and cared about the extra ounce. After 5 long weeks though, she is finally drinking all milk. Hooray!
Now the battle to give up the bottle began. I had an inkling that this was going to be a fight as well. The prior weekend we were at the cabin and I forgot her bottle. No problem, i will just put it in her water bottle- exactly like her milk bottles, except it holds 4 ounces instead of 8. She flat out refused to drink her milk from this bottle. I still charged ahead and decided to make the switch to the sippy cup. It did not go well. She refuses to drink from one, no matter what is inside it. Everyone kept telling me to try different kinds, she will find one that she likes. I am now the proud owner of 12 sippy cups that she refuses to drink out of.
I thought that I had a genius idea and decided to try some role playing. I brought out pooh bear, he drank from the sippy, then I drank- all the while she is laughing and smiling- and then I gave it to her- nope. Now I have apparently traumatized my child because even the sight of a sippy cup makes her scream or cry. Perhaps we will skip the sippy cup phase and go from bottle to cup. Hopefully this will happen before kindergarten. If not, good thing she's cute- they can get away with anything.
Yeah, I've heard some kids go straight from bottle to cup. Those books are all dumb. I like to give my babies the sippy cup with a little water first, so they get something special in it instead of milk (or maybe try juice). Then, I start putting milk in it. Sorry about all that. Raising kids is tough.
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