Hi guys...ok so heres the situation
I have a dck that is 2. She is still on the bottle and I told the parents last week that I want to have her start on sippy cups. They agreed to start working on it right away.

I asked them to find a cup that she was comfortable with and then bring it to DC and plan on leaving it for child to use each day when here.

So far its been 3 days and still parents have not brought anything. I gave her the only thing I have and she will not drink at all. I dont have the bottle anymore since I gave it back to DCM to replace. DCK will not drink at all and has not drank anything all day for the last 3 days.

I told the parents that I was concerned that she is going this long with out any fluids and that I need for them to bring a cup that she can drink out of..So far no comply....

What should I do? Should I go buy cups and then bill them, or should I just not let her come back until they bring her something to drink out of??

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Just my opinion but to me this child is way past the age where she should have been given a sippy cup. Here there are no bottles past the age of 12 months, I have never had an issue. We start using sippy cups at 6-8 months with just water in them at meal times in between bottles so that by the time the child is 1 they are fully capable of using it. All of the kids use the same type of cup that I buy, cheapy 3.00 for 6 style, they stack nicely together and everybody can have a different color. If a parents sends a "special" cup I keep it for about a week and then send it home, I don't have room for 6 differently shaped cups. If she is thirsty she will drink, I'm sure the minute she leaves your house they are popping a bottle into her mouth so she's holding out. If she is having wet diapers i wouldn't worry about it yet. I have one little guy who started here at 7 months who drinks very little and always has according to mom.

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I don't know if I would fight it but I would do this. I would have her bottle of water and a cup of full strength juice or even chocolate milk ... strawberry milk.. and give her the choice. You can have water out of your bottle or sweet drink out of your cup.

Give her the sweet drink for a couple of weeks and then weaken it down into regular milk by decreasing the mix over the two weeks.

If she drinks out of a bottle then start diluting her milk or juice by an ounce at a time by adding water to it. If she drinks four ounces of milk out of it (which is all she needs per meal) then add one ounce of water to it. Then add 1.5 oz. of water to it. and on and on.

The idea is what is IN the cup not the cup. Once she realizes that the goodies are in the cup she will switch.

Hand feed her a good spoon full of the goodies in the cup so she KNOWS what's in there.

I don't normally give kids sweet drinks but I would do this with a kid this age who was still on a bottle. A little trickery goes a long way.

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Maybe try a regular, not sippy cup? I move all my kids to regular cups by about 22 months. I hate dealing with sippy cups.

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thanks so much for your help.. I like the sweet drink in the cup idea too. I also do not serve sweet drinks, but deseprate times call for desperate measures...............None of my own kids ever used a bottle they all went straight to sippy cups and then regular cups with a straw by 1.

The best part of this whole situation is that DCM is a dentist....Oh yeah and get this their 3.5 yr old is still on the pacifie. WTH

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Classic "No Parenting Parent". Stick with the water bottles and everything else in the cup. It works.

Sidenote: You may not want to start with letting them bring their own cup. It presents a whole other can of worms in a few months.

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really...all of my dck have their own cup from home here at dc....
is there someting i dont know??

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I just start the kids on sippy cups here when I think they are ready, which is usually around 9 months or so. I tell the parents what I am doing and they usually go along with me on it for here, but they do what they want at home, which I have no control over. I do buy my own sippy cups for use here, they are not expensive to buy and then I have no problems. Try just going to target, walmart or somewhere like that and buying a few sippy cups for your daycare and that should help you out and hopefully lessen your stress.
I also have started to buy my own wet wipes because I keep telling the parents I need more,
(I have the parents bring their own diapers and wet wipes)when I am running low and they don't seem to bring any when I ask. So, to not get upset over all of this, I just started to buy my own and it solves the problem. I probably will up my weekly pay soon here to make up for some of that, but have not yet because I know my parents all are having tough times these days and I don't want to lose the kids because I the can't afford me. I don't charge all that much now anyway.

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I must be the odd man out because I don't do sippy cups at all. The little ones who are under 1 get their bottles and as soon as they are big enough to sit in high chair, I start them on cups. 5 oz Dixie cups is what we use here. I don't fill them full, I just add enough for them to swallow a bit and gradually add more when they become better at mastering the skill. I don't allow any food or drinks anywhere but the table so I don't care if they spill...it is like potty training, once they feel the spill they know what not to do... I've never had anyone complain about it and right now ALL my kids use dixie cups; even the two 11 month olds I have, one is a bit better than the other but I think it is because mom is supportive of it and uses the dixie cup at home too.

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This is what I do here. Plain water in a bottle or something else in a cup.

Also, I had the issue of parents not bringing sippy's for their kids and so I decided that I would provide them. That way I decide what cups I want to use and always know who's cup is who's (each child has the same cup in a different color). Or you can write up a note and tell DCM that you have waited for a cup and still nothing and so she has until {date} to bring the cup or you will go and buy a cup of your choice and bill her.

I know some people don't like sippy cups but I have to tell you I did the whole sippy when you're small, open cup when you're bigger thing and I still have the issue of kids spilling their drinks. Either the toddlers knock them over or the older kids themselves do so I recently bought EVERYONE new Nuby No-spill Easy Grip cups regardless of age (the older DC child I watch is 3). I had HAD IT! The only one that doesn't use one is my 6yo DD which has a Nuby cup with a flip straw. I mean really, it's almost impossible for my DC kids to keep liquids in opened containers lol.

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