I don’t know where we went wrong, but our toddler simply won’t hold her own bottle.

Okay, let me rephrase; she won’t hold her own milk bottle.

Dammit! Let me re-rephrase; she won’t hold and drink from her milk bottle. There.

Some of our neighbors with kids around the same age said their little ones have been holding their own bottle and drinking without a problem. I don’t know where they all are with breastfeeding and if that matters, but Going Mom is still breastfeeding so maybe that has something to do with it. If that’s the case, so be it, breastfeeding is the best source of nutrition for our kids, even as toddlers, and I’ll support my wife as much as possible!

But still, Avery has no problem with holding, grabbing, and throwing things. She’s even becoming a pro at kettlebell swings!

So why won’t she just tilt the bottle up to get what’s inside? We have a sippy cup with a straw that she drinks water out of just fine, but a lot of it ends on the floor too, so we’re reluctant to give her Mommy’s milk that she works so hard to produce.

I’ve tried bottle “training” by just putting water inside and letting her do whatever, but nothing good came of it. Just confusion and spilled water.

If that was milk, we’d have a sticky mess, and I don’t feel like cleaning the floors more than I already have to.

Kelley and I have attempted to let her hold the bottle with milk inside while we stood guard, and she just tried to drink from the nipple as if it were the straw on her sippy cup.

We try and correct her by making a motion of tilting something up and drinking, but that only seems to confuse her.

And then, after several repeated attempts at explaining what to do with the bottle, she gives us this…

I mean, what the crap?! How do you not just smile, hug, and kiss this cute girl? After holding the bottle so she can drink, that is.

Anyway, we’re talking about weaning her from the bottle all together soon, and then she’ll have to use the sippy cup. Our cup has a spill proof nipple or a straw attachment, and she’s kinda getting that nipple down, but still just spits out the water as she drinks. I picture milk being in there and it sends shivers down my spine. Not out of fear, just because I don’t like cleaning, and I know how hard my wife works to make that milk.

The time to nix the bottle is fast approaching, and hopefully she’ll get the “big girl” cup down good enough to have milk in there.

Do you have a special “go to” sippy cup that you use for your kids?

What age did your little one start holding and drinking from their own cup/bottle?