I feel like we are falling behind the 8 ball here. The girls continue to refuse to drink out of sippy cups. I've been trying for at least 2 months to get them to drink juice out of a sippy cup instead of a bottle, but they just don't get the concept. Sure, they will hold the cup and wave it around and shake it, but they won't actually drink from it. We have tried several different sippy cups (with different tops) but to no avail. They will bite the sippy cup to try and get the juice out, but they won't suck it. How do I get them to suck it?
The girls are already 9+ months old, and I was hoping to be able to transition them from the bottle to cups for all of their fluids around the time they turn 1. At this point I'm getting a whole lot of nowhere. How did you get your kiddos to drink out of sippy cups? I see 4-6 month olds drinking out of sippy cups, so I know it can be done. What the heck am I doing wrong?
And that leads nicely into our self feeding dilemma. It being a dilemma of course because I haven't even started to let the girls feed themselves. AT ALL. They don't pick up and eat puffs, tiny peices of banana or sweet potato or any other food. I have been working on making their foods thicker and chunckier so they have to chew, and they have done pretty well with that for the last week or two. But I don't know. Is it time to try and give them puffs? They aren't using their pinchers to pick anything up yet, and maybe that's because I haven't given them the opportunity. But at the same time, the container of puffs says they need to be crawling before you give them puffs, and they aren't crawling, so maybe they aren't ready yet? I just don't know.
When did you start letting your baby(ies) feed themselves? Any tips or tricks on how best to start? Should I give them each a spoon to work with when I am feeding them so they can get used to that, or should I just stick some food on their high chair trays and stick their fingers in it and see if they suck it off? What's best? What worked for you?
And one step further, am I a slacker for not trying to work with the girls on this before now?! I'm kind of feeling slacker-ish. . .=).
As always, I appreciate all insight and suggestions! Thanks ladies (and gents!)
Until next time -
Megan
Hey! Don't feel bad about them not getting the cups yet, mine didn't until almost 14 months. We use the Munchkin Mighty Grip brand straw ones for juice/water and the Munchkin Mighty Grip Soft spout ones for milk( since its similar to a bottle). One day I woke up and was done with the bottles, my son had to be held by daddy to drink his morning cup but that evening when it was time for their evening cup he just laid in his boppy like usual. Mine were about 8 1/2- 9 months when they started self feeding themselves. They loved the Puffs, Crunchies & Baby Mum Mum's.....those are what we started out with.
ReplyDeleteAnyway, hope this all helps you!
OMG you are not a slacker! Don't even say that! Because if you are a slacker then I am an ultra slacker.
ReplyDeleteNo sippy cups working here. But he does like to drink from a cup or a water bottle like your girls do. My ped did say some kids skip that altogether... Oy. Mess City!
As for feeding puffs - I just went for it around their age. He caught on right way. He let it get all mushy in his mouth. He knew not to just swallow it whole. You could break it in half if you're paranoid though. I think I did that a few times.
For fruit, I roll it in their oatemal or quinoa flakes because its easier for him to pick it up. He doesn't quick pinch perfectly but is able to get it in his mouth. The more he does it, the better he's getting! I'm just now doing table food. Puffs were the first step. I think babies have an intuitive knowledge not to choke on their food for the most part. So as long as you are giving pea sized pieces of food and making sure they don't stuff a whole bunch in at once - you're going to be fine!
I use a spoon to feed Adam the runny stuff and I give him his own. Sometimes its the only way I can get food in his mouth. Its like if HE has the spoon he won't fight me on it. He's not the greatest eater! Lately, he's been taking his spoon and trying to fling food around. I think he's actually trying to get the food on his spoon but it ends up being flung...
The transition to when they feed themselves is MESS CITY! Do it over a sheet or hard floor or something YIKES!!!!
All that said - they will go to kindergarten knowing how to drink out of water fountain and eat their own food! So no matter when the 8 ball strikes - you're going to be fine!
You are doing fine! We started out with sippy cups pretty early- around 6 months? But they are just now getting it. One thing I do is make sure they have access to a cup (of water) at all times. My girls are crawling now so they will just crawl on over and drink out of their cups when the mood strikes. Also, don't feel bad about the crawling- Claire just started this week and my girlies are about a month? older than yours.
ReplyDeleteSelf feeding- we do cheerios, pieces of toast, pieces of PB&J sandwich (yes, lol), pieces of toast, those Gerber yogurt bites. Baby Mum Mums are a great thing to start with. Also, I go ahead and feed them with a spoon while they are kept busy with the self-feeding foods. Good luck. And I agree with Sheila- they're not going to go to kindergarten eating only baby food and drinking from a bottle. There is so much PRESSURE in Mommyville to get your kids doing XYZ by so-many months.
Many of my friends and family gave me a hard time because I waited a while before really giving the babies anything other than pureed baby food. I was one of those people who followed the recommendations on the jar to the letter :-)
ReplyDeleteI guess around 9 months I started giving them puffs and yogurt melts. They loved mum-mums and I didn't have to worry about them choking since they melted so easily. Gradually, we moved to Cheerios.
Drew had a hard time with chunky foods at first. Again, we just went slowly--putting soft pieces on his high chair tray and seeing what he would eat.
As far as sippy cups go, we just gave them to them for fun between bottles (usually with water) and let them go at their own pace.
I really expected them to be way far behind since I had been so cautious, but they picked up so much between 9 and 12 months.
We dropped bottles right at 12 months and now they eat all kinds of food with no problems.
Sheila and Stephanie are right--you LOs are going to be fine :-)
I sooo can't wait to see them feeding themselves! That will be such a riot! Its crazy how quickly they're growing up! I can't wait for this next phase, bring on the mess! =)
ReplyDeleteI always started by giving my girls little half pieces of cheerios because they turn to mush so quickly - those baby puffs would probably work the same way too. Once it seemed they could handle those, I'd put a few whole cheerios on their trays at feeding time and let them play while I was feeding them. At some point or another, they'd start trying to grab the cheerios and put them in their mouths. It's fun to watch - who knew it was such a complex task to pick up a cheerio and subsequently actually get it into your mouth! Hee hee... It takes them a while to get it down but it's adorable while they are trying.
ReplyDeleteC (the 3 y/o) started sippies by drinking through a straw. First we'd put some water in the end of a straw by holding our finger over the top to drop it in her mouth, then we'd let her try having a go at the straw herself. It took a while but eventually she'd suck enough that the water came up and then we used the straw sippies for a while. With the twins, they found C's regular hard-spout sippies on the floor a few months ago and basically figured it out from there. I know there's a whole mentality about getting babies off a bottle at 1 but I'd say it's again about doing what's right for you. I am not too worried about it here, my girlies get 1-2 bottles a day and still nurse. We'll wean somewhere between 1 and 2, but I don't have a real timeline for it. My oldest weaned around 15 months and Claire held out till 20 months. I'll keep you posted on how L & O progress down that road. :)
Anyway, that's my bit about the whole feeding/sippy/bottle stuff!! Most of all, HAVE FUN WITH IT! :)