im just wondering because a) im worried if elijah drinks loads of water he wont want to bf later - whic is ok so long as he is eating enough too, and b) eli really chugs at his beakers, i mean you can hear him glugging away and sometimes it goes down the wrong hole and gives me a heart attack (after he finishes coughing he finds it hilarious : I ) and usually i take the beaker away when he has had a decent drink...

should i just let him drink as much as he likes? he doesnt have any salt in his food except what is naturally in it (not much, usually veg, rice, lentils, bit of bread) so shouldnt be massively thirsty...

alfies not a big drinker tbh and he is bottle fed. he has an 8oz bottle of milk first thing then i offer him a drink of water about 10.30 which he wil take a couple of sips. he has a few sips of his juice at dinner time and then some more water at about 3pm with his snacks.and then has another 8ox bottle of milk before bed.


his milk is the only thing he really really drinks. everything else he just sips at.

i wud say he maybe drinks about 2oz of fluid a day on top of his milk

x

im wondering if he is feeding less from me cos he is filling himself with water - or he is filling himself with water cos he is getting enough from the food and the feeding less from me is just a natural progression...hmmmmmmmmm!

i think as he gets older and gets more interested in food he will drink more water than breast milk as it will be more thirst than hunger. i think its quite a natural progression - just keep an eye on how much he drinks. how often do u offer him water? is it just at meal times or constant?

when i was still bf, i was only offering ava water with meals rather than all day because she wouldn't take her milk, the more solids you're giving you'll notice he won't have as many bf's or be feeding as long.

we just offer it at mealtimes and he only has 2 meals at the moment (cant seem to figure out how to find time to add another one wtf?!).

he just has a freeflow cup and probably its only about half full so not an enormous volume...but with the equivalent of over a stage 1 jar of food it seems like a lot, and he doesnt 'sip' like it says in the book he grabs the cup and glugs and wont put the cup down

maybe it still has novelty factor???

how was Elijah when you first gave him his cup?
I've tried Arwyn with hers tonight for the first time and she's more interested in playing with it when i got her to drink a couple of times she just screwed her face up after it

she was probably just angry that it wasn't milk i noticed that if we sterilised the cups and didnt rinse them with water they had a bit of a funny smell/taste.

eli has been using the tt freeflow cups and he still likes to play with them/bash them around, at first it took him a while to work out that water comes out of a certain bit (not the bottom/side/handle) but if you put it in front of him the right way round he picks it up...

he got a grip of it within a week - maybe once the novelty has worn off arwyn will start drinking more? elijah has started stuffing whole ricecakes/baby cookies into his mouth and using the water to wash them down : / scary!

maybe try rinsing it out first, she will probably get more into it as she eats more or needs to rinse her mouth out a bit? or you could try putting a bit of formula in it if she likes that better but then she would be disappointed when it was just water haha

it took me a while to work out why the water wasn't coming out when she tipped it upside down i didn't realise she had to sook on it to get the water to come out! i got her to drink a couple more times after posting, i'm sure she'll get the hang of it eventually!

haha oh dear! maybe it is a sippy cup? like a non-drip one, if she still has trouble in a week or two maybe try a freeflow one that sort of dribbles if you hold it upside down (it doesnt pour out but it does make a bit of mess ) http://www.babydaysdirect.co.uk/products/tommee-tippee-essentials-first-cup-4m/1704/?source=froogle&utm_source=froogle&utm_medium=comparison_shopping_feeds&utm_nooverride=1 they are £1.26 at tescos just now

not meaning to hijack but i tried so many beakers with ava and they didn't work, this one as soon as i gave her it she happily chugged away, i think its because its a flexible spout so similar to a teat and also a nice size for little hands, you can get them from mothercare

http://shop.nukbaby.co.uk/products.aspx?pid=108

cheers pinky, i'll look into that one

i got her this one
http://www.tommeetippee.co.uk/product/explora_easy_drink_cup_6m/
i assumed since it was for 6 months + it would have been a free flow, that'll teach me to read

Sophs didnt get on with the valve so i just took that bit out, means its not non-spill but at least she can drink it! Its easy to take out, just pull out the rubber stopper from inside the lid.

hth,

MAndy xx

hahaha yeah a lot of them have 'no-spill' in really tiny writing, i looked at loads cos i didn't want a valve - anyway the tt seems to suit elijah - the other ones (like the one pinky posted) are a bit longer so a bit more sort of bottle-like, she might prefer that for a bit

i like that the tt has a flip down spout so you can take it out - but can't find a proper freeflow one that has a lid like the one you have!

Wait a minute, this isnt the cow cup thread is it? LOL Sorry!

MAndy x

The NUK cup on the other hand Sophia has used and absolutely loved! PErfect size and shape for her. Def recommend. Sadly, we have lost the top bit for our one so can no longer use it :-(

MAndy xx

i saw that valve but i didn't know what to do with it, i'll have a better look tomorrow

that's ok you can ambush us with a reply to a different thread mandy hahaha eli gets on with the tt one just now - but i saw the cow print one (funny you mentioned it ) and thought you could just chuck the valve away - maybe when elijah is bigger, just now he struggles getting the mouthpiece in his mouth and tipping the cup up cos of the overall length so the cow one would have to wait til his arms grow! haha