Hooked on a sippy cup?

Question

My daughter is going to be 4 years old tomorrow! She cries for her sippy cup at bedtime....and any other time she is just relaxing. I'm just happy she doesn't suck her thumb. Anyone else have similar issues with a preschooler?

Answer 1

first of all .. HAPPY BIRTHDAY to your daughter!. and secondly, my son is 4, and he still prefers the sippy cup too. For my son, he has a younger brother who is 1, and drinks from a sippy cup, I think thats one reason. If this helps at all, one thing that my son thinks is pretty cool is straws, you can get "crazy straws" with shapes, and designs. So I give him a regular cup, and give him a funky straw for it. They are still sucking rather than drinking from a cup, but I don't think its that big of a deal. Hope this helps. Good Luck

Answer 2

I had the exact same problem with my 3 year old son. I actually had him throw his sippy cups in the trash. He thought he was being a big boy. It was a little rocky the first couple of days, but now he don't even ask for his sippy. When he did ask for it I would just remind him that he is a big boy now and that big boys don't take sippy cups. It worked really well. Good luck!

Answer 3

Why is that we are so appalled if a child is drinking a bottle at a certain age that one considers too old but its acceptable to hear a 4yr old "needs" her sippy cup at night?

I think the sippy cup really is no different then a bottle its just shaped different. You need to teach your daughter that she can have a drink before bed but not in the sippy cup. I know with my son that he will drink and drink and drink as long as you give him something in his "sippy" cup. If I give him a regular cup he sometimes won't even finish it all. I would feel bad if i child was thirsty and not getting ample liquids, but if they are that thirsty they will drink out of anything, so don't worry about that. Just simply remove the sippy cups from her view, sight, maybe even the home. She will get used to not having it and recognize that she doesn't "need" it as will you.

Like I said to me a sippy cup, is no different then a bottle other then the shape.

Answer 4

You could figure out what her currency is and use that as a bargaining chip with her. For instance, if she is really looking forward to school, tell her that they don't let you into school if you use a sippy cup. Then you could tell her that if she donates all of her sippy cups to the sippy cup fairy then the fairy might leave her a present under her pillow while she is sleeping. When she donates all the sippy cups, be sure to throw them all away while she is sleeping. Don't save any of them. If you save any of them, you may give into her in a moment of weakness. Don't do it. Cut them out cold turkey. She will learn how to drink without them. I do hope this doesn't sound too whacky and that it does help. Good Luck!

Answer 5

Yes.
My daughter was hospitalized at the age of three and when the nurses saw that she still had a bottle they flipped. Apparently drinking whilst lying down can cause all sorts of major problems in the ears and lungs and other places that I didn't hear about because I was so desperately worried I couldn't pay attention to anything. When we came home I was very motivated to get rid of it.
Did I mention that she is a twin?
It was hellish but we did it. I took it away during the day gradually . First I just kept pushing it off or distracting them when they asked for it until they didn't have it the whole day. But they couldn't fall asleep at night without it. So I promised them something really big if they didn't have it for three nights in a row. They were allowed to choose the present. One of them understood straight away what I meant and she gave her bottle to me without a word, the other had a tantrum for a WHOLE HOUR that she wanted the bottle and the present. She went to sleep with a bottle. After three nights one of them got their present and the other didn't and that's what made her give her bottle up.
BUT
Ever since then the first one has problems falling asleep at night.I wish there was a way I could teach her to relax because she suffers. Does your daughter have a security blanket or something like that that you can replace the sippy cup with?
I wish you lots of luck and patience it's almost as bad as potty training.

Answer 6

Let her have it only at bedtime and only with water in it. I do this for my 4 and 5 year olds at night. It saves me from having to get up and get them a drink of water during the night and also it keeps water from spilling on their bed. It's not a big issue if it's only used at bedtime. I know what you're going through, and I think having the sippy cup at bedtime with water in it, is really no big deal.

Answer 7

Depending on what you put in the sippy cup this can be really bad for her teeth. If it is juice or milk she can wind up with cavities. If it is just water it's not so bad. These cups can be just as bad as fingers. Why not tell her that since she will be a big girl tomorrow that she can only use big girl cups! I did that with my now 5 year old and it worked. Good luck.

Answer 8

sippy cups are exactly like a bottle expecially if you're giving it to her while shes in bed or when she needs to be comforted. Stop cold turkey with the sippy cup and start teaching her some others ways to calm herself at bedtime or when she's relaxing

Answer 9

All little kids have their "thing" - the thumb, the blankie, the cup, the teddy bear, whatever......

Just let her have the cup. The thing with children is that whatever it is they do they usually just all of a sudden stop doing it one day and do some other thing instead (or not, once they've reached a certain age).

All of this stuff is part of being a young child. None of it is a big deal.

Answer 10

just tell her no more and let her have a drink before she gos to sleep.my daughter had a sippy cup when she was 3 months old and she is 2and a half now,all we did was tell her no more drink out of a big girl cup and that was it.