Our Miss Scarlett is now 20 weeks old! And to celebrate being a "big girl," I've been working on getting her to take water via a sippy cup. And it WORKED! She's AWESOME! :)
I wasn't too sure how she'd do, since she likes her milk so warm. So I had the water at room temperature and after a few tries, she started drinking a little on her own. When Jonathan came home, he held her cup, and she reached for it.
Why a sippy cup so early? My feeling is that a bottle should be reserved for milk only. I think if a baby is served milk, water and juice in a bottle, she never knows what she's going to be drinking. While Scarlett is breastfed, she does get a bottle on two occasions:
- Most overnights, Jonathan gives her a bottle of pumped milk and
- If I'm out and about, and Jonathan has Scarlett at home.
If I give her the sippy cup, she knows she's getting water - and staying is hydrated is crucial during a Phoenix summer.
Also, I'm just not a big fan of prolonged use of a bottle. We've all seen three year olds who are still hooked on a bottle, rather than drinking from a regular cup.
But hey ... we all have our own parenting styles. Mine is to encourage progression the moment I think a baby is ready.
Scarlett is so interested in whatever we eat or drink - she watches very intently and even mimics our eating motions. These things are telltale signs that a baby is ready to try solids. My preference, however, is to wait until she is six months old (which is how we did it with Christian). That is that is what the American Academy of Pediatrics suggests as does "Dr. Sears" - the current "baby guru."
But we'll see. She's an awfully hungry baby and I wouldn't want to deny her Royal Chunky Legs some fine baby rice delicacies. :)
