This is a problem faced by many mothers👩, that the transition from mother feed👶 to bottle feed 🍼and from bottle feed to training cups🍵, takes a lot of patience.
It varies from child 👦to child👧 how they react to drinking milk from a cup, as at first milk feeders🍼 are associated with sleep, the sucking of feeder soothes them, so that activity is very precious to them.
When we offer the cup☕ as replacement, it becomes a duty for them to finish it off in one go, and so the drinking of milk looses it’s charm😕.
So, what should a mommy🙅 do?
Ideally, a sippy cup should be introduced to a 6 months old child🚼, to drink some milk. A one year old child🚹 should be able to drink independently from a sippy cup. It means that you should wean off your baby, from mother and bottle feed🍼 around the same time. Taper off the bottle feeding slow n steadily.
But if you have missed this opportunity💫💢💫…. What other techniques should you apply❓❓❓
☕a child needs about two glasses🍵 of milk in a day, so distribute them in 5_6 portions, to be offered around the day, as this will not burden the child👦
☕let your child buy his/her favorite color’s⬛⬜ or cartoon character’s cup, to make drinking milk fun
☕use different types and shapes of straws to attract💗 the child
☕flavor the milk, like milkshakes 🍌🍎or adding powdered flavors
☕use stories of being “powerful”🏋️💪 to convince your child
☕play games, like who gets a bigger milk mustache 😊
☕be the role model, drink a cup of milk🍵 with your child
☕let the child” dunk and eat” a couple cookies 🍩🍩before finishing off the milk
These are a few tricks to trap your toddler to fall in love 💞with milk again. I hope you find the right one from the list, for your child. But the key🔑 point, is to keep offering milk. Don’t give up.
Mariam Khan, RDN
Diet & Nutrition Coach
