Sippies

We took The Monster to the pediatrician for her 12-month check up a few weeks back. The doctor has recommended for a while that we get her off of a bottle and onto a sippy cup by 12 months. That didn't happen. The doc was firm that we should do that as well as get her off of her pacifier by Christmas. The pacifier is no problem: throw the suckers away, deal with some crying, and there you go. I've been mentally prepared for that since offering her one when she was a baby. But the sippy? We've been trying to get her on one for a while. The darn things leak which drives me nuts, and she's never seemed all that interested. To me, it's totally different than a pacifier. The pacifier isn't the mechanism through which we provide her nutrition. How on earth were we going to get her off of a bottle?

Well, I'm a big fan of doing what the doctor says. So we started The Monster on a combo of half breastmilk and half whole milk in a bottle. And then in a sippy. We did that for a week. I sent a sippy to day care as well so they could work with her a little bit. The following Saturday, about a week after her appointment, she had one hell of a tantrum when we offered a sippy. She was hungry and wanted a bottle. We were determined to not give her one. Neither one of us won that fight - we didn't offer a bottle, and she didn't eat. I flipped out and called my mom. "I'm starving my child!" As always, Mom was very reassuring and told me to come on out to her house with the sippy cup. I did, and to make a long story short, we worked with The Monster all day on solid foods (a whole other post!) and sippy cup use. That night, I got home and gave The Monster her sippy. She didn't want much milk, but she did drink some. The next day, Tantrum #2. This time Big D and I won. She yelled and screamed and fussed for a good hour before she drank her milk from a sippy cup! WOW! It was exhausting, but so worth it! She hasn't had a bottle in over a week now!!! I'm so proud of her and of us! I honestly didn't know how we were going to get her to make the switch. And I really didn't think it would be so fast. But we did it, and she did it, and we're bottle free now! YAY! And better yet, she uses two kinds of sippies like a champion: the Nuby and the Born Free. Such a good girl!

As for the pacifier, the doctor said to get her off of the bottle first and then tackle the paci. I'm thinking the long Thanksgiving weekend would be a good time. She doesn't use one during the day at all now... just at night. If she throws a fit, it won't be too hard on us sleeping-wise, because we won't have to work until Monday. Or we could just turn off the baby monitor! Maybe I'm anticipating more of a fight than she'll put up. She never ceases to amaze me with how quickly she picks things up and how well she behaves. M&S are always telling us how good of a baby she is. Maybe I should start listening.

I'll report back in a week on the paci-weaning. Wish us luck!