Sippy Cup Part III

Anna has finally figured out what to do with a sippy cup! Hooray!

I finally pinned her down (literally) last week and made her put it in her mouth so she could see that it's not poison. She didn't suck from it but still allowed it to be in her mouth - a good first step. She had speech later that day so I took the cup out to show Pam which one I used. I then placed it on the little table in the Great Room and watched Anna walk over to it, pick it up and put it in her mouth! So Pam encouraged her and showed her how to use it a little better. When I came downstairs after their session, Pam told me she used it throughout the entire session. I was so thrilled and Anna seemed pretty proud of herself as well!

Later that night I tried to give Anna her milk in the sippy cup - clearly I took it too fast. She started to drink but since she wasn't getting it fast enough, she put it down and refused to try again. I left her alone with it for a little while figuring that if she got thirsty enough, she'd try again. When she didn't go near it for about ten minutes, I asked her nicely to show me how she drank from her cup. She picked it up and walked over toward me and asked to sit on my lap. So we moved over to the couch where she proceeded to play with the cup but didn't drink from it. I started to get a little frustrated so I made her get down and placed the cup back on the table and told her to drink like a big girl. Big mistake! She picked it up and walked over to me in the kitchen, threw it down and started crying. So I decided enough was enough, made her pick it up and hand it to me and then gave her the milk in her bottle. I know that wasn't necessarily the best idea, but perhaps I took things too fast. Gratefully, she quickly gulped her milk down and peace was restored for the evening!

The next day I offered her juice in the sippy cup. Happily she didn't reject it, but she was clearly not getting much, if anything, out of it. She just wasn't understanding how or was unable to suck from it for maximum output. So I offered her another kind of cup. It was a spout cup with the valve removed so all she had to do was pour the water into her mouth - sounds easy, but this means she has to control the amount going into her mouth so it doesn't all just spill down her front! At first most of it wound up on her shirt, but after some practice, she managed to get most of it in her mouth - I was just impressed that after all of this time of flat out refusing to try, she was willingly holding it and putting it to her mouth.

Since that day she's been more and more accepting of the cup, well for juice anyway! I haven't attempted the milk again; I figured I'd give it a few more days before I introduce a little milk at a time when she's not too hungry/thirsty. For now I'm just thrilled that she's willing to use the cup at all - it's been a long time in the making!