Sometimes it is hard to believe my eyes when our little girl hit another milestone. It seemed forever that Hannah would hold onto her favourite milk bottle – she was such an adorable sight whenever she walked about clutching her milk bottle with her tiny hands and saying “milk milk, milk milk”. Just 2 nights ago, Hannah seemed to forget how to drink milk from her bottle. She just lost it. She was trying to drink her milk using the straw sucking method instead.
The transition process from bottle to cup has not been a smooth one though. To date, 4 types of cups were put to trial before she accepted the idea of drinking milk from a cup. The first cup we used was Pigeon’s Mag Mag spout cup and then followed by Pigeon’s Tall straw cup. No significant success, i.e. she wouldn’t drink all her milk in one seating. Cup no. 3 was Bfree’s spout cup – total rejection! The winner was Combi’s straw cup. She didn’t take to it immediately but gradually got trained into the habit of finishing her milk without getting distracted.
As far as baby weaning straw cups are concerned, I find that the Japanese brands are a notch better. Take Combi for example. The straw used in their straw cup is narrower than the standard straw width. If you are a baby learning to drink from a straw, it is easier to suck with a thinner straw (capillary action) and easier to manage a smaller volume of liquid flowing into the mouth. Another thoughtful feature is that the straw extends almost to the base of the cup; the baby can suck up liquid to the last drop and nothing goes to waste. Too many cups come in smaller capacity of 150 ml but this Combi cup can fill up to 200 ml. Hannah usually drink 190 ml and this capacity is just nice. Finally, all parts of the straw cup can withstand boiling water temperature – this is an important feature as the mother could sterilise the parts with boiling water / steam if the baby is still young. The only down side to the Combi’s straw cup is leakage from the straw if the baby decides to swing the cup for fun.
I’m really glad that I could now retire from washing her 3 Bfree milk bottles. It has been a tedious daily chore since day 1; each bottle has 6 parts. However, they proved to be worthwhile investment. Costly but easy suction for Hannah and durable (lasted for 1.5 years).
(Note: I started introducing drinking from a straw cup with water first. It was a few months later that another straw cup was purchased for milk.)
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