Bottles and Sippy Cups

I started giving my daughter juice and water in her sippy cup sometime after 6 months. When she was one I used up all of the formula i had in the house and put the bottles away. I don't remember it being a big deal. I didn't ever put formula in the sippy cup. My daughter would never drink milk, my pedi said it wasn't a big deal. She was completly eating table food by then. Seems like it is just a personal preference to me and when ever your child is ready.

Someone mentioned their child going to bed with milk at 2. Children should not be put to bed with anything but water because formula, juice and milk can be damaging to the teeth because it pools and is harmful to the enamel.

It has been a long time since I had one that young around and mine were breastfed. Check with your doctor about whether whole milk should be introduced or not. I don't recall being told not to introduce milk until a year but that may be because I was breastfeeding.

Mine did much better when I used the flavored milk. My youngest was addicted to the banana and I had no problems with any of mine drinking from a cup which I think they started doing around the time that solids were introduced at four months.

If your doctor wants you to wait on the milk, I would not switch from the bottle with the formula to the sippy cup. I would think cleaning would be more difficult and there would really be no point if the child is drinking from a cup, making that transition to cutting out bottles is not going to be difficult when you stop using formula. Give the baby juice in addition to water and milk if your pediatrician recommends it at this age.

Go ahead and try putting her formula in there.

An interesting thing I noticed about my daughter when she was that age is that no matter what I gave her to drink, whether in a bottle or a sippy, is that she would "nurse" it, like drink and drink and drink until it was gone. Of course a year later, she just "sips" from those now and we are off the formula and completely on solids.

So I think it sort of depends on whether she sort of sips at the water and runs off and leaves it or if she drinks the whole thing. Try it and see if she will take the whole portion of formula in the amount of time she takes a feed with the bottle, if she does then you are ok. It's all trial and error, you know?

My 2 year old still drinks his milk from his dr browns at night and at nap. he drinks everything else from a sippy or straw but I feel like its ok especially since he does not use a pacifier and he likes it for bedtime or comfort time!

A. J

There's no right or wrong age. If she is comfortable drinking water from the sippy cup, then try doing formula. But don't be suprised if she rejects it . . . babies like their structure and routine so she may not like the idea. I was the same as you . . . my 20 month old drank water from the sippy cup starting around 8-9 months old. But she wouldn't except any milk product from a cup until she was about 14 months old. By then she was drinking regular milk. Once she got used to regular milk from a bottle, then we made the big switch to the cup. At that point she was ready and it was fairly easy.

I gave my son water in a sippy cup sometime after 6 months. I let him hold it and "play" with it... I switched him to a sippy cup fully at 1 year after we had fully transitioned to whole milk. I think 1 year is soon enough. I never gave my son a bottle at nap or bedtime, so it was just for meals and snack time and it was pretty easy switch. My son also took to using a straw pretty easily.

I guess the important thing is to make sure baby is getting all her recommended ounces of formula. It's their main source of nutrition until 1 year.

I had both of my boys broke from the bottle at six months and their pediatrition thought it was great. I would just mix the formula in a bottle and transfer it to the sippy cup. From watching my friends struggle with breaking their kids from the bottle and knowing how easy it was for me I would say the sooner the better for sure.

the recommendation is to get them off the bottle at 1 - don't rush it - they grow soooo fast! i say if they enjoy the bottle - let them have it (case in point - my 1st was off the bottle at 1 BUT my 2nd is 20 months and she loves her bottle - does drink from a sippy cup but prefers bottle for milk, i do put water in it for naptime/nighttime). it may just be me - i remember being so sad when my first was off the bottle!

Not sure when you should go from bottle to cup, but I do reccomend that you try to get her to use the straw cups instead of the sippy cups. They help with muscle and speech development and sippy cups don't.

Hi A.,

My husband and I have a 11 month old and she had been using sipply cups for quite a while now. We still give her a bottle about 3 times a day, and the rest of the time she drinks from a sippy cup. I plan to stop giving her a bottle in about month. Hopefully it will work.
Hope this helps.

A., no sooner than one year, then you can transition her to a sippy cup.

I did put formula in a sippy cup around 9 months for my oldest son. He was refusing the bottle, so that was the only way I could get him to drink it. I never put anything besides the formula in a bottle, so giving it up was usually pretty easy. It doesn't hurt now to start on the sippy cup. I used those two handled ones that had the ounce markers and left the stopper out so the liquid actually came out. It makes a huge mess, so I only ever put water in it and in the high chair. By 8 months, he was only getting a bottle in the morning, in the afternoon and at night. Eventually, we replaced the morning one with milk (closer to one) in a sippy and his cereal made with milk or formula, and the evening one with yogurt. HIs afternoon one was the hardest to give up. Can't remember how I weaned that one. (My son is 6 1/2 now). But, I do remember he was off the bottle at 9 months (per his choosing - I'd been struggling for him to take it, so the doctor suggesting quitting before he'd changed his mind), and off formula around 1. (I hope I made sense. Keep losing my train of thought and getting interrupted! :)

If she likes the sippy then go for it. The longer you stay on the bottle the harder...like a pacy, it is a comfort. Go slow and don't force it on her.

With my fist I waited until she was 14 months. At dinner one night she had a bottle and the next day she had sippy cups.
I foundit was easier wih her to just chage than try to do it slowly. She took right to the sippy. Also she had use sippy's previously so it was a complete shock. She never asked for a bottle again .

I stopped using the bottle when my child turned one; however, started offering her a sippy cup with water at 6 months. I really didn't push the bottle until she turned one. It really is up to you on when you think your child might be ready.

I don't think putting the formula in a sippy cup is a good idea. With my baby we kept the bottles until she was about 11 months old. It is okay for them to be on the bottle until 12 months. Keeping the sippy cups for drinks other than formula will make the transition off of bottles easier.

I started my 7 month old on the munchkin sippy cups with the arms on both sides. She holds it really well and they're BPA free. The best part is they don't have valves to get lost and don't leak. I LOVE them! wish I'd had these with my first two!

I agree with Debra..Do not put formula in the sippy, everything else but not the fornula. Your docotr will probably recommend taking her off the bottle at a year. So the transistion will be eaiser to the sippy full time. Once you start her on milk in the sippy, try to flavor it with Quik to make it tastier to her. Check with your doctor when to start her on whole milk, most do not recommend it until a year, since the babies need all the vitimans and nutriant they are getting from the formula. I did the transsition with my son, after asking my doctor about swithching him, he was completely off the bottle and formula 2 weeks prior to turning a year. Good Luck!

Both my boys (who were also breast fed) were off the bottle completely by 9 months. My first boy required more supplemental bottles than my first but he actually had a lot easier transition. When it came time to switch to milk I just gradually mixed the milk and formula until they were totally on milk. I think it's a good idea to get them off a bottle as early as they are ready to (your daughter sounds like she's ready). That way you are not weaning them from a bottle at a later age which is actually harder.

Good luck!!

OOH!!! No milk at bedtime. It is horrible for the teeth. I know we started whole milk at age 1. We introduced the sippy cup quite early for all our children. The sooner the better. As soon as they started whole milk, we only gave them bottles in the evening, (not before bed our at bedtime). It worked great. But, ask your pedi.

My doctor has always told me one year and that is also what I have read.

If she can hold the sippy cup, I would do it now. Both of my children were off the bottle at around 8 months and they never missed it. The longer you wait, the more attached she may become to the bottle. Good luck!

Hi A., I suggest not giving up the bottle until you're ready to give up night time and nap time drinks. I see so many moms that switch to a sippy cup only to have their kids just as attached to it as a bottle. Sippy cups do just as much damage to baby teeth as bottles do so don't rush her until she's ready to have a drink only when she's thirsty and at meal time.

PS Just another thought... the USA is the ONLY country that takes bottles away from kids at such a young age. I don't think its really for any medical reasons, I think it's because of peer pressure! Don't take her bottle away until she is ready, she will let you know!

I definitely agree with other posters, no milk at bedtime or nap...Not good for teeth and some kids will fall asleep with bottle in their mouth which is also a no-no...ends up messing their teeth up as well as their 'bite'.
I was always told milk at 1, so thats when we started putting milk in the sippy for all 3 of mine. I never put formula in the sippy. Mostly because I was trying to keep track of how much was eaten/drank so it was easier with a bottle. You can definitely give them the sippy with water a little earlier to get them used to it though.

This probably isn't the answer you're looking for, but I wouldn't put formula in a sippy cup. We introduced a sippy cup around 9 months (I think) with water and then at 12 months started giving him milk in a sippy. We then slowly transitioned him off formula, which he only had in a bottle. One of my friends recommended it that way so he wouldn't have any transition-type issues. In other words, he associated his bottle with formula and his sippy with milk. I have another friend who introduced milk in a bottle and she's having a hard time getting her daughter to switch to milk in a sippy.

So, my worry would be that your daughter would associate formula with a sippy and perhaps not want anything else in it which may make it hard to transition to milk in a sippy.

Also, keep in mind sippy cups don't have ounce markers, so it's hard to tell exactly how much the baby is drinking. I was always cognizant of how much formula my son drank a day - something easily done with bottles.

The above is just some food for thought. Good luck with whatever you decide!