Sippy Cup

Up until 6 months, Joshua has only been using a bottle and the only liquid that Joshua was drinking was milk. (Breast milk for those of you who were wondering whether it was formula or breast milk). When I saw the pediatrician at 6 months, she told me that I could introduce the sippy cup. She told me to take out the valve of the sippy cup and give Joshua some water that way. By taking out the valve, it would be easier for him to drink from the cup. For months, I tried to give him the sippy cup, and he would take little sips if I held the cup for him. However, he would not grap the cup on his own, and he would only take a few sips.

This went on for a few months. Then, all of a sudden, he started spitting out the water when we gave him water from the sippy cup. (Did it come too fast? Was it too cold?) The little frustration we had was that he would not hold the cup on his own. He made us hold the cup for him. If we put the cup in front of him, he would just watch it as if it was an interesting inanimate object. A little while ago, we reintroduced the valve. A sippy cup without the valve can get messy, especially when you leave it in your bag and the cup turns upside down. Oops. With the valve in place - no problem. Joshua's sucking is good, so there is no reason now why he can't use the sippy cup as it was intended.

While we were at the beach, we went to a restaurant and there was a family sitting at the table next to us who had a little boy around the same age as Joshua. That boy wanted some milk, so he picked up his bottle and drank his milk. Admiring the skill from the little boy, the mom told me that she just left the bottle in front of him and if he wanted to drink, he would learn to pick up the bottle, and he did. Hmmm. Nice thought. Is that like tough love for babies? Maybe I should try that with toilet training in about a year. "Joshua, you want a clean diaper, empty it yourself in the toilet".

Anyway, I decided to try this baby tough love method. Day 1, "Joshua, your sippy cup is in front of you, if you want some water, you can pick it up". Nope, no takers. Day 2, same thing. Day 3, same thing. No dice. Day 4, I decided to try something new. I put apple juice in the sippy cup. Joshua has never had apple juice before. I put the cup to his mouth and let him try the juice in the sippy cup, and he loved the juice. I put the cup down in front of him. The next thing I know, Joshua is picking up the cup and sipping the juice on his own. :)