Bottle Weaning: Day 1

So today, we decided to start our feat in trying to wean our daughter from bottle (again). We attempted few times before after she turned one, but failed. She didn't like the milk in the sippy cup. She spat it out. We stopped.

Saturday night, my husband got food from Olive Garden and ordered a child portion of spaghetti for her. It came with a cup of strawberry drink. Since she has allergic reaction to strawberries, her Dada ended up drinking her share. After the cup was emptied, she grabbed and sipped the liquid (from the ice). Then came the idea! Why not try putting her milk in the cup? Evie loves to drink with a straw. I don't know why. Maybe because she sometimes sees us drinking with straw and thinks it's cool.

We poured a little bit of soy milk in the cup. Alas, she emptied it! Great! Then questions popped in my mind? Is she ready to give up her bottle? Is it time to wean?

Sippy Cups and Straws

New sippy cups were purchased last night at Walmart. It's the one with straw. Very colorful, with cute graphics that might interest her. She will love it, I thought, specially knowing the fact that its got a straw. This should work.

Trial #1 (Sunday Night)

There was a problem with the suction. She had a hard time sipping the milk. I thought it's how the cup is designed. Besides, she kept tilting the cup, using it like a bottle. The result? She only consumed a quarter of what she's supposed to eat before bedtime. Solution: bottle. Test failed.

I later discovered that the suction problem was, I didn't put on the straw the right way. It was too low, making it touched the base, keeping the milk from flowing.

Trial #2: Day 1

The plan was to give her milk in a sippy cup twice a day until she gets used to it; doing it one step at a time. Even if I have already figured out the problem with the sippy cup, she still wasn't able to finish her milk. The main problem was, she always tilted the cup like how she drinks from a bottle. So I thought, a sippy cup with straw is probably not the answer. Why not use her regular sippy cup? The reason why I didn't use the regular sippy cups is that, she might spit out the milk again like what she did before. I have this notion that she thinks milk are not supposed to be in those cups. But, I was willing to try again.

Experiment was successful! She drunk the rest of her milk from a regular sippy cup!

Trial #3 (After Nap Time)

She gets her milk every 4 in the afternoon. That's when she usually wakes up from her nap. This time, I put her drink in the (regular) sippy cup. Since she just woke up, her mood was not the typical jolly Evie.

She refused to drink her milk. She shook her head, telling me she doesn't like it (in the sippy cup). But I didn't give in to what she wanted. I put the sippy cup on the floor and left it there. Kept reminding her to drink her milk. She wanted me to hold her, but I was acting like I was ignoring her. I think my reaction made her think that I was mad or not happy of her refusal to drink her milk. She picked up the sippy cup, came over to me, and pressed her head against my leg with a whimper. I picked her up and held her in my arms. I told her to drink her milk. She was the most obedient girl for Mama. She drained her sippy cup! Trial #3 was successful. :)

Tomorrow is another day. We'll see how day 2 will be. Hope it's a smooth one.