I cant get my daughter to drink from anything but a bottle?

Question

My daughter is 2 and i have tried everything to get her to start using a cup but nothing works she has to have the same bottle with the same lid and she will only have orange juice to drink if i try to give her anything else she chokes and makes herself sick. I have tried being crule to be kind and just taking the bottle away from her and just leaving a cup instead but she wont go anywhere near it she will go the day without having a drink the health visitor told me to give her cups to play with but that did not work. She goes to nursery a couple of mornings a week and i thought that when i sees the other children drinking from cups she mite start wanting one herself but that was six months ago and she still drinking from a bottle. has anyone any ideas.

Answer 1

Don't fret. Don't force it. She'll do it in time. My lad was the same and he eventually gave up. She's just asserting her authority over you and if you make a fuss it will just get worse. Diificult I know but that's what my wife told me when I used to fret and it worked out OK

Answer 2

You need to put her to bed after a 1 bottle and give her a teddy and a blanket and leave her, when she wakes up, go in change her diaper, re position her lay her down and don't say a word, leave them room and let her cry herself back to sleep. The next time she wakes up, leave her and let her cry. If she has had enough to eat all day and a bottle before bed, she is fine and doesn't need anything during the night. It is a habit she has gotten into and it needs to be broken. Your 4 month old baby will only get interrupted for a few nights and this works really well. My son did the same thing to me and that worked like a charm, it was hard for me, but now I am in peace and quiet and I love it. PS. If she is sick or teething this may be harder for her. Good Luck to you. Mother of 1, 21 months

Answer 3

HAve you tried a nice, groovy drink bottle? The type where you pull the spout up to drink & push it back down to close. Tell her that it was given to you by a big girl & when she is ready to be a big girl you will let her drink out of it. When you see big kids with them always point it out. Try not to pressure her anymore than that but leave it hanging around within sight to get her mind ticking away. Only keep water in the bottle or start with oj & slowly dilute it down. This is a hard one so hope this can help. Best of luck.

Answer 4

Make a big production out of going to pick out a new cup and let her choose her own cup in the store. Tell her it's the new special cup for her orange juice, and that orange juice will only be served in the special cup. Thirst is a powerful motivator, and if not given an option, she will drink from the cup. You have to stick to it once you start it though. Toddlers are very manipulative, and they smell weakness!

Answer 5

My eldest didn't want to swop from a bottle to a cup either-and he wouldn't drink anything but milk. I got some see through plastic cups and drank milk from them myself, while he didn't have a bottle. He recognised the milk and wanted to drink from my cup-wanting what someone else has got is a natural instinct at that age I think-and so we started with 'sharing' first. It wasn't too long before he was picking up my cup and drinking from it, and from there he moved on to other liquids too-employing the same technique.

I wouldn't panic about it too much though-all kids let go of things at their own pace and the bottle may be as much comfort as anything else.

Hope this helps, good luck.

Answer 6

tell her she's too old to have a bottle. she's a big girl. give her a week's notice and talk about it every day. on the day you told her she was going to get rid of the bottles, have her load them up and throw them in a public trash. now neither you or she can have the temptation to give in. have her pick out a sippy cup, keep it full of orange juice, since that's her favorite, and leave it around. when she says she wants her bottle, tell her she doesn't have bottles anymore and hand her her cup. don't bargain with her. just state that and put the cup in front of her and walk away. she may throw a fit, but she'll drink when she's thirsty.

Answer 7

Encourage her alot. If you get her to take a drink make a big deal about what a big girl she is, and celebrate. Maybe try letting her drink from your cup too. And just totally take the bottle away. She might go all day without drinking, but she will eventually get thirsty enough and drink. It sounds awful, but its true. It all comes down to this being a battle of wills.

Answer 8

Give her some cups to play with in the bathtub (this is how mine learned to use regular cups).

Try juice boxes.

Then have her throw out the bottle. It will be gone and the temptation to give in to her demands will also be gone.

You could also sabotage the nipple of the bottle by poking a bunch of holes in it. If it doesn’t work the way she wants it to then she may become frustrated enough to make the switch.

Answer 9

I have to ask why do you care what she drinks from? If she, for what ever reason is not ready to give up the comfort of drinking from a baby bottle why does it bother you? For some reason she feels that she needs it. Is someone pressuring you about it?
Little ones are small for such a short time. Before you know it she will be running off to Kindergarten.
My advice would be to leave her alone and she will stop the bottle when she is ready.
You will never be sorry for letting her be a baby a bit longer.
Blessings
Lady Trinity~

Answer 10

Put out the bottle only with water in it...and the sippy cup with her OJ. Let her make the choice for now but don't give in and put the OJ in the bottle.