If It Ain’t Broke, Don’t Fix It

As I always say, motherhood is tough but a rewarding job role. A few weeks back just when G turned 2 years old, I suddenly felt the need to step up on my mommy game. I am the kind of mom who is relaxed and tend to go with the flow. You know when you’re pregnant and you get all these unsolicited or even solicited advice from other moms, even your own mom, aunties, grandmother and all the other women and men you know that you get too overwhelmed and immediately most of it gets stuck in your head up until you give birth? Well that’s common and that mostly happens to first time moms- yes, I was one of them.

But after I gave birth to Gabbie, I felt like my motherly instincts immediately kicked in. Maybe because I had a background of taking care of kids (I had a bit of a training since I partly took care of my two nieces). So consulting and reading on books about taking care of a newborn baby wasn’t something I needed. Although I would weekly get updates on Babycenter about my baby’s progress, I wasn’t at least bit worried on the development and on how I should do things the right way.

Fast forward two years and I found myself in a situation I wouldn’t want other moms to be in. Gabbie received a sippy cup on her birthday and I was eager to let her try it for her milk. She’s had her 1st try of sippy cup when she was 3 months old during the first time she ate solids. Although it’s for her water, she didn’t had a hard time adjusting to it but she preferred drinking through her straw cup after a few months. Now before I let her try her new sippy cup I researched for it’s pros and cons regarding it’s usage for milk feeding. Some say even before a year old a baby should drink her milk on a sippy while others think it’s not necessary to transition toddlers.

So I asked a few mommies via Twitter about their thoughts on using a sippy on their kids. I also got a mixed opinion on it so eventually I let her try the new sippy.

Here’s a summary of how the weaning from bottle to sippy cup transpired.

Day 1:

Since Gabbie drinks milk at least 20 ounces maximum 36 ounces a day, that’s around 3-5 feedings. I let her try her sippy on her first milk of the day which is usually when she wakes up.

She tries it and takes a few rounds of sipping until she realizes the nipple isn’t like of her milk bottle. The spout is too hard and quite small for her mouth to perfectly latch in. She didn’t finished her milk and gave it to me and asked for food instead for breakfast.

Gabbie happily poses for mommy on her first attempt to milk via sippy cup.

Day 1 ended wherein she only consumed 1 feeding of milk. Luckily, she eats along with me during lunch, snack, dinner and late evening snack so she wasn’t hungry at all.

Day 2 and 3 were more of a challenge. She refuses to drink milk on her sippy cup so my husband and I decided we give her bottle back come Day 4.

The weekend that followed we decided to buy her a more appropriate sippy and since Gabbie’s been a Tommee Tippee user, we searched that brand for their sippy and got her this.

photo source: Tommee Tippee

Tommee Tippee’s sippy cup has a soft nipple like spout that is perfect for transitioning toddlers from bottle to cup. We thought we hit the jackpot because it was Gabbie who picked the sippy cup herself and chose the color combination of pink & green. We tried it that Sunday night first offering her water on her new sippy and she happily drank it, she even wanted to remove the lid so she can drink directly on the cup and she managed to finish her water with just a little spill.

Day 1 for the following week when I put her milk on the sippy, a few sips here and there but again she didn’t finished it. I actually consulted her pedia about it telling him that we’re trying to wean her from the bottle by using a sippy. Her pedia said it’s okay and it’s normal if she doesn’t drink milk as often in her bottle because she still needs some getting used to and that I should give her a few days to adjust. As long as she eats well then it’s okay.

Day 2 and 3 again passed by and she refused to drink milk on her sippy, we even tried to let her drink her milk through her straw cup which she did but again after a few sips threw it away. We even let her try drinking her milk on a regular glass, at first she liked the idea but then it didn’t take long for her to “hate” her milk.

As a mom (who is by the way hormonal) I was getting frustrated more than worried because everything else was easy for Gabbie. To transition from one thing to another, everything felt natural except for this weaning. Come Day 4 when she no longer asked for her milk that we again decided to use her bottle. To our surprise, she totally refused even her bottle. She had this weird look on her face, the look she had when at 6 months old she suddenly didn’t like the taste of her then milk. So we wondered, maybe it’s not the sippy cup that’s bothering her but her milk and that she doesn’t like the taste anymore? We then tried to introduce to her different kinds of drinks just so to test our theory about changing her milk. I tried giving her Milo, Yakult and even a yogurt drink and she all didn’t like it. Maybe she was traumatized? All she wanted was to drink her water and to eat.

Luckily Gabbie loves vegetables, broccoli and carrots are amongst her favorites. She likes vegetables more than meat which I think is good.

Her pedia told us Gabbie experienced a milk fatigue syndrome and that we should give her time until she gets her appetite for milk back. Two years old is quite an early stage to give up on milk completely, I was worried she wouldn’t get her milk appetite back so we fed her twice as much, that means six small meals a day to compensate for her not drinking milk.

We never forced her to drink milk during the additional three days of being milk-free (Days 5,6 & 7) but to our surprise the evening of Day 7 while she was in bed, she suddenly asked for milk. Her exact words “Mommy, milk!” I thought I was hearing it wrong and had to let her repeat it again to be sure. Yes she did ask for milk but because of the past days of fixing her a bottle and not even tasting it and had all gone to waste, I decided to give just 2 ounces of milk as a trial. In a few seconds I heard her say “Mommy, moooore!” So I gave her more milk and as of today, she’s slowly getting back to her routine of drinking milk. She drinks milk again thrice a day: in the morning, in the afternoon (before her nap time) and at night before she goes to sleep. Hopefully in the next coming weeks, she gets to drink her milk more than three times a day.

Lesson learned: If it ain’t broke, don’t fix it.

Gabbie had a healthy appetite both for her milk and food, so there’s really no reason for me to rush her into drinking her milk in a sippy if she doesn’t want to. I’ve also learned that it doesn’t matter if your kid is behind or advance to any milestone or transition in her childhood. There’s always the right time when she’ll be ready. You may never really know exactly when but when it comes you’ll be surprised at what she can accomplish. I’ve also learned to take an advice but think twice on how I’ll will act upon it. Advice can only be as good as it sounds but overall, a mother really knows what’s best for her child.