How to Transition from Bottles to Sippy Cups?

I promise you this works! Although I used a cup with a straw, it'll probably work with the sippy cup too since she'll drink water from it. You just add a little bit of milk to the water, start with barely milk in it, then gradually increase the amount of milk you put into the water everyday or every couple days, then before you know it, she's drinking all milk! Good luck!

Someone told me to put chocolate syrup and make it chocolate milk for my dd and it worked. I did not want to give her the empty calories so instead I bought Ovaltine. It is not the greatest thing for them, but it works. It has some vitamins and nutrition so it is the lesser of two evils. My friend uses Carnation instant breakfast. Good luck to you.

Get her a different type of sippy cup, that will be used JUST for milk. Maybe a sippy with a built in straw?

A technique that "Suppernanny" uses to break pacifiers (that I'm sure would work for bottles) is; to explain to your child that there are babies in the world who NEED bottles, and don't have any. Then have her help you collect all her bottles and put them in a bag, then leave them at her bedroom door (or where ever) overnight. Tell your daughter that the "bottle fairy" will come pick it up at night, and bring them to babies who really, really need them - but the fairy will leave a little surprise for your daughter in return, to thank her for her generosity.

The 'surprise' could be the new sippy 'just for milk' plus a little toy, or something else you think she would be excited about.

The important thing is that the "fairy" (you) get RID of the bottles completely while your daughter is asleep, to make sure that she believes the whole story, and also to make sure you don't end up going back to them in a moment of weakness. If they are out of the house, then she will soon learn she doesn't even have the option of using them anymore. "Out of sight out of mind" kind of.

She might ask a few time for the bottles, but just remind her that she did a really great thing and gave them up to the babies... Make her feel good about it. Soon enough, she'll forget about them completely! Good luck.

Hi C.,
At my son's 18 month appointment, his pediatrician suggested we get together with him, gather up the bottles, and all be involved in throwing them away. We didn't actually go with what I thought of as a harsh route, but it was an idea.
He wouldn't drink milk from a sippy cup either and was having some speech delay issues, too, so we introduced the Playtex straw cups. They're supposedly spill proof, but I found that as the liquid inside warms, it backs up the straw. So my husband drilled a tiny hole in the top to give it some air. Anyway, according to his therapist, straws are way better for their mouths than bottles or sippys and we managed to make the switch without a ton of drama.
Best of luck!

My daughter had the same problem. She is 16 months old, 20 pounds and hated drinking milk from her sippy cup. I went through maybe 4 different kinds before I finally found one she liked. It kinda reminds me of a bottle though that's why she likes it. It is by "munchkin"(bought it at walmart). It is a rigid plastic odd shaped cup(kind of like an hourglass) and has a clear spout+top area. The spout is. A rectangular shape like others but it is soft silicone like bottles. That's why I'm guessing She liked it. It doesn't spill and has been the best cuppy by far. She will drink all of her milk from this cup. They come in singles or like a twin pack I believe. There are also some with an attatched straw. Since she's a little older she might think it's fun to drink from a straw. Just a thought. :) Hope this helps.

You might hate this answer, but here it is...cold turkey...take the bottles away...she'll fuss for a few days but then she'll get over it.

Good luck.
-M

Try a straw cup (they do tend to leak a little, but not bad), or go straight to a regular cup! We gave my daughter milk out of an adult glass when she was 12 months (that was the only way she would take milk). It was time consuming for sure, but she learned how to drink from an open glass, and then we were eventually able to put the milk in a sippy. And I agree with one of the other responders...gather up all the bottles and have a "funeral" for them. The supernanny does something with pacifiers...leaving them for the "Paci-fairy" and then the "fairy" leaves a present. Something like that might work out. :)

Normally at 16 months I would say start cutting holes gradually bigger in the bottle st it works more like a sippy cup...then throw them away after 2 weeks...but she is so old now you could try that or just sit her at the table with a regular cup and straw....just don't give too much

She will not be drinking from a bottle forever. They do stop even if it does not seem so now.

A child/baby does not like to drink "milk" from a sippy, because for them "milk" comes from a nipple.... whether from a Mommy or a bottle. Its a natural instinct.
So it takes time for them to adjust to a sippy.

you could also try a straw cup, the kind for kids.

Just don't force it... just leave a sippy of milk out and around... and don't make a big deal of it. Or as some parents do, they just throw away all bottles... and then ONLY put milk in a sippy cup. The child may go on a strike... but they "say" that eventually they will drink milk from a cup/sippy/straw cup.

many kids, at this age, still drink from a bottle. The question is, do you wean them from it now or later? Each Mom being different.

All the best,
Susan

Hello C.. This is going to be difficult, but throw the bottles out, now!!! Let her assist you and get some closure and see that they are, indeed, gone. The damage you are doing to her teeth (the baby ones she has now plus the new ones that are forming) is irreversible. Being that she is underweight is of course a big concern, so for that I suggest putting some Ensure (or something similar, and if doctor agrees) in the sippy cup and take it form there, eventually transitioning her to milk. My friend had a child that was underweight and the doctor told her to give him Ensure (in moderation because of the sugar) and he is at a GREAT weight now. Best of luck to you :)

I do not know how you feel, but I have had friends that have had this problem. They gave up on the sippy cup, and went to a straw cup. Most of the time this seems to work. If that doesn't work, you could put chocolate milk in the sippy cup and gradually decrease the chocolate once she starts using the cup.

I also have friends whose kids won't drink milk. They just increased the cheese, yogurt and dairy intake.

I hope this helps. I hope everything works out.

Try a sippy with a straw...

Hi C.,
It sounds like you just have to go cold turkey. She can get her calories and calcium in other ways. Milk isn't as important as people think. We drink it for the calcium and vitamins, but people forget that other foods have just as much, if not more nutrition then milk.I would just stop giving her the bottle. Good luck!

HI C., I have 3 kids who all went through that stage. It is a hard thing to do but I got rid of all the bottles in the house while the child was asleep. (I mean really got rid of them, threw them in the outside trash bin) If there were no bottles in the house Baby had no choice but to drink from the sippy. And, I had no bottle to give her anyway even if I wanted to. If she is thirsty she will drink. You may have a few moments of crying, at wich time you can cuddle her and say something to the effect of, "I know it's hard, but you're a big girl now, and the bottles had to go to a place where new babies can use them." It sounds so bleh, but it really worked for all 3 of my kids, 1 who had the bottle for sicurity after spending time in the hospital.
Best of luck to you and your precious little one.
A.

C.,
This is a big problem...! I was told (by my pediatrician) that the bottle needs to be gone at ONE year old, this is a health issue and may create "bottle-ROT" and damage her teeth and her bite.
You might try making the milk "colored"...I used to do this for my daughter on special occasions (great "listening" days, St. Patrick's dinner, Valentines, etc). A couple drops of food coloring into the glass of milk, is just something FUN. You need to try to make the change seem EXCITING and FUN!!! Also, I used the cups with all kind of special straws.
Make it like a graduation of sorts...have HER help you throw ALL the bottles away. Make it a big party..."YOUR A BIG GIRL" now and don't need these. Do not BACK TRACK...if she sees you giving in she is likely to ask for it back. ALSO, remember she is NOW at the "terrible two" stage, so her asserting herself is going to be more and more of a challenge.
GOOD LUCK!!
W. M.

Babies shouldn't have bottles past two years, and some think even one year. You have to warn her for about a week that she's too old for bottles, and you have to get rid of them, then just throw them all away. Don't keep a single one. She'll get over it. If she doesn't drink milk for a few days, she'll eventually start up again. Give her other foods to make up for it, cheese, etc. You have to stand firm and don't give in.

I promise, promise, promise if you go cold turkey it will only take her a few days to get over it and switch to a sippy. Our son was the same and the ped suggested going cold turkey, just telling him no more bottles and offering him milk in a sippy. He also spit it out at first but very quickly realized he'd rather have milk in a sippy than not at all. Those days that you are first transitioning he told us just to make sure he got lots of cheese and other calcium fortified foods (yogurt, waffles w/ calcium added, etc.) for us, it took about two full days and we never looked back. Good luck!

We treated it like she had no choice. Once we decided to give her the sippy, I sat with her for 20 minutes while she cried and eventually realized I wasn't going to give her a bottle. We started with the Nuby sippy cups with the soft tip so that it doesn't feel as different in the transition. Once your LO knows that you won't back down, she stops resisting and then realizes it's not so bad. Remember you're the adult! :) And even though she's the sweet little girl, she can't always get what she wants. :)

The only "sippy cup" that worked well for our nighttime transition was the ThinkBaby sippy cup ( http://www.thinkbabybottles.com/productsT.htm ). I tried many different cups, but the ThinkBaby spout was the only one that mimicked his bottles (our bottles had silicone nipples). However, one flaw on the ThinkBaby sippy cups was that the spout did not allow milk to flow easily. So, consequently, I cut out a few tiny (almost microscopic) snippets of the silicone tip (where already cut by the manufacturer) so the milk would flow more like a cup.

Soon after that, I was able to easily stop using the ThinkBaby cups and just use the Playtex Coolster cups or regular child-size open-top cups.

Avent are the best transition sippy if you have not tried them.

Hi C., my daughter will only drink milk from a bottle too. I recently stopped the bottle, and she won't drink milk from any kind of sippy cup either, so now she drinks no milk at all! Since my daughter is on the small side, and I'm worried about her calorie intake, I asked the pediatrician what to do, and she suggested giving her some cheese and yogurt instead of milk. And not to worry about the milk.
-R.