How to Transition from Bottle to Sippy Cup

I started my kids a sippy cup with every meal at around 6 months. It was the kind that didn't have the anti-leak thing. To learn from those is difficult because they have to suck and don't realize it and get frustrated when nothing comes out. So I use the ones that do have a lid but just pour out. This gets messy at times, but they realize that they can get liquid out of it. Once they learn the concept of learning from that sort of sippy cup I give them the one with the leak stopper. At that time I would take one bottle time away every 4 days. I saved the one they liked the best for last. For my kids it was the morning bottle. The first one is the hardest then they get used to the cup and it becomes a little easier each time you take a bottle time away.

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First of all, she doesn't have to be off the bottle by 15 months just because your pediatrician would like it. What if it takes her until 17 months or 19 months. Will there be any damage done during those extra months. What reason did your pediatrician give you for "liking" her to be off the bottle by 15 months? She won't start Kindergarten still sucking on a bottle.
In addition, sippy cups were invented for convenience. One hundred years ago babies transitioned from breast to an actual cup.

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R.,

My daughter just turned 12 months old on July 13th. I am lucky because she transitioned very well. This was the advice that I was given and it seemed to work great for both of my children.

I think one of the other mothers suggested this too but we started out giving a sippy cup with juice only at snack time. This helped her get used to the idea of a sippy cup and then she realized it had yummy juice in it.

Second, when I felt she had the sippy cup thing down, and after she turned a year, I put milk in the sippy cup at snack time. Before bed or in the morning she would want a bottle. I only ever put formula in the bottle. So if she wanted milk or juice, it had to be in the sippy cup.

Now we have only been off the bottle now for about 4-5 days and transitioned from formula to whole milk at the same time. We only had one day where i noticed she was crabby and realized it was because she saw a bottle. At that point I had some formula left and I gave her the bottle of formula. She realized it was formula and did not want it. though at that point she didn't want the sippy cup either. She ended up taking her pacifier and at dinner time she took right to the sippy cup.

I was also wondering what kind of nipple is on her bottle. If she was using a faster flow nipple maybe the plugs in the sippy cup aren't allowing her to get enough liquid or maybe it is the opposite maybe she is getting too much in her mouth at one time and that is making her crabby.

Good luck!

I've never met a mom who didn't have trouble transitioning their child from bottle to sippy - so you are not alone! What worked for us was to give my daughter a sippy with water first. Once she accepted water in the sippy, I then started giving her milk with the meal she ate the most or was hungriest at. She got bottles with her other meals. She refused milk daily for 3 weeks. Then one day, she just drank it down. Like most things - its a process! Good luck to you - I hope it helps.

I am way past the baby stage, my boys are adults. I can tell everyone that "do not let your baby ever hold the bottle". It is much easier to get them off the bottle then. About 8 months when they are sitting in the highchair and eating some foods just give them a cup with two handles and they will learn. But I believe the key is never let them hold the bottle.

S.

Every time she throws that empty bottle to the floor, pick it up and throw it in the garbage. Let her know it's too dirty now and when all the bottles are gone, all that's left is sippy

Have you tried a straw cup? My daughter likes the Nuby cups (you flip the straw up & it's a soft straw). It took her a couple days to figure out how to suck it, but once she got the hang of it she loved it & the sucking was similar to the bottle.
Hope this helps a little!

We used the Nuby brand of sippy cups. The tops are soft like the nipples on bottles AND they make a sports bottle that looks just like a bottle. It made the transition very smooth for us. Good luck!

Have you tried the Nuby sippy cup? It has a rubber top, instead of plastic. Just offer it too her at mealtimes and then transition gradually.

Good luck!

A pre-school teacher once told me that a sippy teaches kids to spill. We skipped the sippy and moved the kids to a shotglass. I picked up a couple on a trip for work and they still refer to the Utah cup and the Colorado cup and like to drink from them three years later.

If you have hardwood floors then good glass ones won't break and even if they spill, it's an ounce for crying out loud! Good long-term lessons.

Oh, I forgot to mention that they both were interested in the shotglass too. I introduced it at mealtimes and let them hang on to the bottle for a bit longer. No rush on that morning bottle for me. I loved sitting with them for that quiet time in the morning before the chaos set in.

Good luck!

Why does your ped. want your baby off the bottle? You can do both. Many children still have a very strong need to suck at that age up and up to and past the age of two. My daughter is 17mos and uses a cup, sippy cup, a straw, and bottle depending on the situation. If she can practice drinking, and I don't mind spills (like water) then she doesn't use a lid and loves to drink like a big girl. If it is juice or milk and we are at the table for dinner or snack I like the gerber cups because they free flow (but if they drop it is not as messy as the entire cup). And for nap, at bedtime, or when she is not feeling well she still really wants/needs a bottle so she can have the comfort of sucking. It helps her relax and unwind. I would look into that a little more and why the doctor has given your child an age instead of looking at the child and their individual needs.(It is possible your child could be ready, but only you know that for sure.) Developmentally you can do both and not harm progress.

I gave my daughter a sports cup with a straw at around 12 months. She loved it and so I started changing her over gradually each bottle at a time. I picked the bottles that would be easiest to give up, like the lunch bottle. Slowly we weaned her off, then by 19 months she only got a bottle at bed time. We then just cut her off that one cold turkey and she was fine. I noticed that in the beginning she loved straw cups more than the sippy cups. she now drinks from any type of cup that we give her. I was a nanny for the last seven years and weaned four kids from the bottle. The best way has always been to slowly pick one feeding each week and only offer the cup for milk during that time. You will gradually keep offering a cup for more feedings each week until you have weaned them completely. Try a straw cup, she may like it more.

Ok... I will be the first to admit here that I am FAR from being anywhere near good on this one!!!! My daughter is 23 months old and still uses a bottle! She uses the bottle ONLY at nap time and at bedtime though. YEAH YEAH, I know!!!! Like I said, far from being good :)

Starting at 12 months we changed over to the sippy cup during the day though! (I have it half right atleast!) I was adamant that she would not use the bottle during the day so I tried to make it fun for her by taking it and taking sips off of it also and making it seem like I was drinking liquid gold! She thought it was funny and would try to do the same thing making all the oooohhhs and ahhhhhhs and getting excited! It took a few days though!

ANother thing- she actually preferred drinking from a straw to the sippy cup! So at meal time- since I did not have to worry about a mess from her running around with her cup I would allow her to drink from a straw. She still prefers the straw over the sippy cup. I was shocked that she would even know how to use one so young! Oh yeah- I do have to cut the straws shorter so they do not go up her nose!!!! For some reason she always seems to find her nose with the longer straws!

Anyhow, while I am not perfect that is what I did for during the day! As for night, I wish I had an answer for you! I figure this is my daughters only comfort thing she uses so I am in no rush since I know she can drink from a cup! Of course, I wont be telling the Dr this! lol I have also warned my daughter she only has 1 bottle left and once it is broken or missing it is gone- so probably soon we will drop this too!

Good luck to you and many blessings!

There is a Born Free cup that has a big lid that is more like a nipple and the flow is very easy. She might like that one. Otherwise, I would just give her the sippy cup and not give her the bottle. She will eventually get used to the cup. It may just take her more practice.

Hi R.,

I had the same problem when my daughter was about 14 months or so. After going through different sippy cups, I ended up using the bottles, but went BACKWARD with the nipple sizes (I used Avent at the time) so she had to learn how to suck harder and that seemed to help with learning to suck out of the sippy cup.

Hope you are finding something to work.

K.

My son was very attached to his pacifier, he also loved monkey's and only having the pacifier a few hours a day wasn't going well so a friend suggested we give the pacifier to a baby monkey at the zoo. We took a trip there, gave the pacifier to an employee while explaining the situation and it worked out wonderfully. Kids don't like change, but sometimes helping someone out helps them with the transition.

Hi R.,
I have a 17 month old who was formerly very attached to her bottle as well. We spent a month trimming down to one bottle in the morning when she woke up and one at night before bed. I picked one sippy cup (the Playtex ones with the soft plastic top worked best for us) and made that the only available thing during the day. I didn't even let her see the bottle. After the month, we went cold turkey and I only offered her the sippy cup for anything. At first, I didn't even hand it to her, I just made it available in the room and made sure she knew where it was. It was a horrible week and she was veerrrryyyy mad at me, but we got through it. She eventually got thirsty enough every day that she drank out of it. After several days, she got used to it and now we're a few months later and she's fine with any sippy cup I give her. It's not a fun transition, but if you're consistent with her and don't give in, it's a relatively short one.
Good luck,
Mary-Claire

After trying a few sippy cups, I found the Nuby ones were the best to initially get them used to sippy cups. THey have a soft rubber versus the hard plastic top. I started right at 12 months, and my daughter was completely off the bottle within the month. My dr did recommend to start during the day - when the baby is more awake, and happy and willing to try change. The morning bottle was the second to last to go, and the night bottle was the last one to go! That was the hardest one for me to give up!!! :)

We used the Born Free cups, after experimenting with a few different ones that he either refused to drink from or couldn't figure out. The spout on the Born Free is soft like the nipple of a bottle.

We decided to just switch our son cold turkey. It was tough, and he fought it for a couple of weeks and got fairly constipated b/c he wasn't drinking enough, but we got through it. I just made sure to give him lots of watery pureed fruit during that time to get some additional liquids into him.

I tossed the bottles before each of mine turned one and had very little trouble with either of them. I do not have a girl though - maybe they are more stubborn. =) I did not transition to a sippy cup either. They went to a cup and the sippy lid was only for travel. Yes, it's a bit messy but that is what Clorox is for. =)

Good luck!!!

My ped has recommended the same. I think the thought is the attachment that they form before 15 months and also the impact on their oral formation sucking has.Pacifiers are supposed to be gone by then too.

We are battling the transition too with my soon to be 13 month old. She will take water from a sippy but refuses milk out of a sippy. I think it's a mental attachment. I too have tried numerous types of cups for the milk and no success. I'm thinking i'm going to go cold turkey and get rid of the bottles. We just keep offering it to her and hope she will eventually break down. Good luck. I don't have much advice other than what has already been posted.

My Dr. has recommended to start my 6 mth old on sippy cup and off the bottle by 1 yr. old. I offer the sippy cup at meal time...He does great with the playtex first sipster. They are spill proof. I have tried the straw and he hasn't grasped that yet. Good luck

My daughter (2 1/2)uses the Nuks that you can get at walmart. Some are shaped like Sippy Cups and some are shaped like bottles but they are sippy cups. My daughter transitioned to these very easily and I give her those only for her milk in the morning and at nap and bedtime and use the other ones for juice.

I hope this helps. The name might have been Nuby not Nuk but it's shaped like a bottle.

Mother of a 2/12 girl and 7 1/2 month boy.

Here are some things I did and it always worked for me. I would first try to give them the sippy w/out the valve in it. Sometimes they are discouraged because of the valve in the cup makes them work harder than the bottle. The other thing I did was get small bathroom size Dixie cups or small plastic juice cups from GFS (restaurant style)I would sit with them and ask if they would want a sip out of mommy's cup. My kids usually did not use the sippy unless we were in the car of at a friends because they liked using and drinking out of "mommy's" cup.
I hope this is helpful
M.

My daughter did not like sippies because they were too much work, and she had to tilt her head waaay back to get her 4 oz of milk. The size was just too big for her--better for a bigger toddler. But her daycare won't give her bottles after 12 mos, so we had a deadline. We spent a small fortune on a zillion different sippy cups, none of which worked out. Finally, a week before she turned 12 mos, we tried the small (5 oz) Toss & Go cups, available at any supermarket, Target, etc, for about $3-4. The size is absolutely perfect for her, and she took to it right away, no fussing. It doesn't have a valve, so it will drip a bit, so I always give her one with water and one with milk. When she inevitably starts playing with the cup, I put away the milk and give her the water one and let her play and explore.

This is what worked for us:

I started mixing milk with water in the bottle and pure milk in the cup. I started with replacing 1 oz and then increasing that every day. By day 4 my daughter realized that the milk in the cup is "better" than in the bottle : ) She then started drinking out of the cup.

Good Luck!

I am with a couple of the other responses. Try the straw cups. Neither of my kids ever used a sippie. Part of it was they did not see why they had to tilt a cup when we did not. REmember that kids are very observent. They want to do what you do. I love the platex sport cups with the flip up straw. They are easy to clen in the dishwasher and they come in some characters. good luck!

Hi R.,
I'm A., and I'm a mom of 3: ages 9, 6, and 15 months. To transition, I would first just offer the sippy between meals with snacks. Try filling it with diluted juice and serve it with her Cheerios or whatever you give her. Try that consistently for awhile and See if that works.