BIG NEWS! We are officially done with bottles at our house now! As of February 11th, Shelby has been drinking all of her milk out of a straw sippy cup! YAY! This has been a long time coming, and we are so very proud of our Shelby-girl for achieving this milestone! And I'm not too ashamed to say that I am proud of myself, too!! ;) WE DID IT!
Shelby has always been able to drink out of a sippy cup, but she just associated milk with her beloved "baba" and that was the only way she would drink it since she was weaned from breastfeeding at 9ish months old. We had tried to make the transition on several occasions, but always to no avail. We had purchased literally every different style of sippy cup known to man thinking if we just found "the right cup" that would do the trick..boy were we wrong! {And it sure would have been nice to know that wasn't the issue beforehand so we would have saved a lot of money at Target! Ha!} We even succumbed to bribery. About 2 or 3 months ago, Shelby discovered her love for M&M's..she is literally obsessed with them! So I told Shelby if she drank her milk out of a big girl cup, she could have M&M's. She looked at me intently as if she was seriously considering my offer, then sweetly said "No thank you, Mommy" and went back to playing. So I quickly offered her M&M's
and some stickers thinking that would certainly do the trick, and she promptly replied "No thanks, Mommy. I'm fine." ;) Getting Shelby off the bottle was--as silly as it may sound--one of the most stressful things to me. I was worried about taking the bottle away from her b/c what if she stopped drinking milk altogether?? Wasn't milk in a bottle better than no milk at all? But then, what did other people think of us b/c she was almost 2.5 and still drinking out of a bottle? {I'm embarrassed to admit that I had those thoughts, but I did.} A while back, Shelby's OT had encouraged us to take the bottles away completely--cold turkey--for one week and to just see what happened. I don't know why, but that seemed so harsh to me. Then I got to thinking that a lot of people think letting babies cry it out is harsh, but I'm a firm believer that it works. So why not try cold turkey? So we did. I told Shelby babas were for babies, and I let her sit in my lap to drink her milk while I read Dr. Seuss books to her, and voila! She used to guzzle her bottles down so fast that it seemed like she never came up for air. When we first switched to the cup, it would take her a good bit to finish her milk b/c she was still getting used to it in the cup & sometimes I would have to encourage her to keep drinking, but she was doing it! Now, here we are about 2 weeks later & she's still doing great with the straw sippy cups! And we we're so proud of her! Our little routine is that I always bring the milk up to Shelby's room and she sits in my lap to drink her milk while I read to her. It's one of our favorite times of the day together.
Just for my memory's sake, up until February 11th she was drinking 2 bottles a day--8oz first thing in the morning and 5oz right before bed. We were attempting to give her 3 or 4oz of chocolate milk in the afternoon with her snack, but she would only sip on it. {We were trying the chocolate milk to see if that might entice her to drink milk out of a cup...our child was not fooled though!} Now, all of her milk is in a straw cup. We give her 8oz in the morning & then she drinks 3-5oz at snacktime and then again before bed.
Parenthood is such a funny thing..it always keeps you on your toes & it's
such a humbling experience. Before having Shelby (and even now sometimes!), there were things that I said I'd
never do as a parent. Then you become a parent and eat your words. Transitions can be rough, but some of the ones I thought would be hard on us {like moving from the crib to a queen size bed} ended up being the easiest thing ever. And then there are the transitions that I never really gave any thought to {like drinking milk out of a sippy cup!!} that seemed as difficult as moving mountains. We are only 2.5 years into this lifelong journey of parenthood, and I can honestly say it's been the hardest but most rewarding thing we have ever done in our lives. As the months & years go by, I'm sure it will get more challenging...but all the more sweet, too! Can't wait to see what's ahead! But for now, we are relishing in this milestone!
