Change from Bottle to Beaker?

Question

My daughter is 15 months and is still drinking from a bottle. I have tried a beaker but I don't think she's drinking enough, when she's on the beaker her poo gets harder than usual (is that connected?). Does she have to drink her milk from a beaker as well or only juice?

A beaker is a cup with a hard lid and a hard mouth peice, not a teat lid. She has 6 teeth and although they are brushed twice a day I don't want them damaged

Answer 1

Yes you're probably right. If her poos are harder and she's a little constipated it's because she's not drinking enough. I think it's recommended that children over one drink about a pint of milk a day but these can also include foods like yogurts and cereal etc. But they also need to drink water too. Toddlers addicted to milk will drink less water and it will make them less hungry too. It's no problem to drink water from a bottle but drinking milk from a bottle with a teat is bad for the teeth. This is why it's recommended to make the transition from bottle to cup for all drinks including milk. I would suggest trying lots of different types of cups or beakers until you find one that your daughter likes best. I have two children who have different beakers each because I know which ones they prefer. It can be a bit expensive and trial and error experimenting but worth it.

Answer 2

I have a two year old who is still drinking her juice and her milk from a bottle with a teat. Whenever I try a beaker she stops drinking completely and ends up becoming dehydrated and poorly. After numerous attempts I have now come to the conclusion that her health and well being is more important now and have stopped putting so much pressure on myself. I will move her straight onto a cup from her bottle when she is ready. In answer to your question, I think it is all drink from a beaker but the juice is the most important due to the sugar content on their teeth.

Answer 3

Assuming a beaker is a "SIPPY CUP" your daughter can drink anything from a beaker. The fact that she is 15 months old...you need to be weaning her off the bottle about 3 months ago! Drinking whatever from a bottle or a beaker will not change her stool consistency. Is she getting enough water? Sounds like maybe she is getting too much milk and not enough water...try giving her more water, this will help soften her stools!

Answer 4

I started my son off on a beaker when he was 10 months only a few times during the day until he got used to it. Now he only has a bottle at night.
I would start off slowly as it is a different action getting the fluid out of a beaker than a bottle so give her time. Try a few times during the day and try and keep her bottle just for the night until she is used to it. Then when she has the hang of it try reducing the bottle in the night.

Some children take longer than others so dont worry too much.

Answer 5

We made bottles for milk only. Juice, water, tea, Kool Aid, etc all go in the sipper cup. Then once he turned a year we cut back on the bottles. Remove one at a time until it becomes a bedtime only thing. Then cut back how much is in that and then remove it. At this point my son is 2 and only likes milk with a scoop of formula in it, warmed for 20 seconds in the microwave and in a bottle. He will not drink it from a sipper. For us it is more important that he get the milk he needs. 2 cups is the dietary reccomendation for his age so we do one milk bottle close to bed time for 1/2 and the rest make sure he gets cheese or yogurt. We keep trying for the sipper and I know we will get there eventually.

One thing you could try is different kinds of cups some are harder to suck than others. Get new slower release nipples for the bottle. Sometimes they get lazy and don't want to work for it.

The poo might be from not getting as much liquid, but it maybe just dietary. She will drink when she is thirsty. Just keep it available and don't give in once you have determined it is not bottle time and let her decide when to drink. Be consistant. If you give in once it will make it twice as hard next time.

Good luck.

Answer 6

Give her a beaker during the day and bottle at night and leave a beaker of water around for her drink from if you are worried during the day and at night give her her usual night bottle till she older,

Answer 7

Try talking to her, tell shes a big girl and she shouldn't have a bottle in the day, that way you can give her a beaker in the day and a bottle at night. wean her off it slowly if she needs a drink she will use it

Answer 8

Are you British, per chance? In any event, the consistency of her poo is probably related to your use of a "beaker." Since it is new to her, she is not able to ingest as much liquid as she can with a bottle. May I suggest using a sippy cup as a transitional tool? The ones with straws tend to work well, and our daughter's pediatrician recommended it.

Answer 9

Many children still take a bottle at this age, in fact breastfed children usually aren't weaned until closer to two, so why take the bottle away when babies are still so young? If her stools are getting hard when she doesn't have the bottle it means she isn't getting enough to drink. It doesn't sound like she's ready to be weaned.
For those who think children should be weaned at 12 months, do some research! A childs immune system is not mature until they are 6 years old, which evolutionary wise means in the past breastmilk was available to children up until this time. Also, all other mammals don't wean their babies until they get in their permanent molars, which in humans is at age 6. IN FACT, world wide, the average age for babies to wean themselves is between 4 and 6 years of age! In america our culture puts too much emphasis on when the "right time" to wean a baby. 12 months is too early and is expecting too much of our youth.

Answer 10

Well the current advice in UK is to stop the bottle at 12 months, to protect teeth mostly I think. Obviously she wont like a cup as much as a bottle so therefore will tend to drink less unless you remind her to keep drinking out of it. She will drink less at a time out of the cup so you need to offer it more frequently.