Sippy Cups - Milwaukee, WI

Hi S.,

We had the hardest time getting my son to give up his bottle. A friend suggested the cheap Nuk cups that are around 2 dollars a piece at Walmart and Target. He actually loves these cups. The spouts are really soft and sort of bottle like (more than any other cup we found). If you haven't tried those, we had great luck with them.

Good luck...

1 mom found this helpful

Hi S.,

I just went through this with my 11m old. He wouldn't take anything out of a sippy cup at all. It may be the cup - at this point my son is weaned off the bottle completely, drinking whole milk, but we had to try several different types of sippy cups before we found one he would take. He still will only drink out of the "tossable" sippy cups.

Like nipples and bottles, there are differences and maybe he just doesn't like the one you're offering. I'd try a different brand/style - some have hard sips, some soft so try the opposite of what you've been trying so far.

Persistence and patience. Keep trying at every meal, and perhaps try juice or water as an alternative first. My son first drank Gerber garden juice out of a sippy cup. Only after that would he reluctantly drink formula from it.

L.

I agree with Kristia. Those nuk cups have the softer spout like a bottle. Your son would probably like these. This didn't work for us though, as my daughter thought it was neat to tip the cup upside down and push the spout onto the table and such... it is not a spill proof cup when the spout is squished on a surface ;} I prefer the spill proof cups until they are better at it.

Good luck and be patient. This too shall pass... and then onto the next phase :)
~SR

Try Nuby sippy cups. The soft silicone spout enables the child to actually get liquid out without too much effort. The 10oz gripper sipper (no handles) has a better spout that is firmer and designed better to hold up to chewing and is less likely to leak as much when smushed on the table.

These are the only cups my daughter would take and she decided on her own that she didn't want a bottle anymore at 10 months. The hard spout cups are so hard to get anythign out of, even for me!

Hi Sara!

I agree, the Nuk cups are GREAT! It was one of the easiest transitions for us! My older daughter used them at about 11-12 months and my younger daughter started at about 8 months!

I wouldn't worry too much about it since he isn't even 1 yet. Try giving him the sippy at meal times. Don't even offer the bottle. You could also try a couple different sippys to see which one he prefers.

I would have to agree with many of the other comments. I would try a couple different kinds to see what might work best. I tried the Nuk kind with my son and he kept chewing on it. I found sippy cups that have a straw in them and he loves using them and doesn't have to tip them up. They don't spill either. You could also try showing him a few times how to use it. He might catch on and want to do what the grownups are doing. It might just take time.

I agree with all of the suggestions about the different cups - we did that too - my daughter has settled on the Gerber ones.
But, what I was going to say about the bottle is this. Make the bottle less appealing. This is what I did for my child - I went back to the stage one nipples - making the bottle flow much much slower. She was done with the bottle within two days after I did this. One night I noticed she wasn't drinking from her bottle - just playing with the nipple, I poured the milk in her sippy cup and she drank it like it was going out of style!
It may have just been a coincidence but I swear it worked!
It might be worth a try!
Good luck!

I know it sounds mean, but I tried it only because my doctor suggested it. Put warm salt water in a bottle and trust me, he won't want much to do with bottles after that. It worked for my son. He won't drink enough of it to hurt himself, it only took about 1-2 sips and we were done with bottles.

Buy a good transition sippy sup (from breast or bottle to cup - they will say it on the package) and put water in it. Let him have it all day. We started this with my eight month old around 6 months and he just wanted to play with it too, but when he got that first shot of water and figured out it was because he sucked on it he was good from there. Good luck.

just keep trying.
try other things in the sippy. hes going to expect milk to only come from the bottle. try watered down juice, try water, try chocolate milk. :P my son LOVED chocolate milk, and it was the only way to get him to start on milk. he was exclusivly breastfed, and we nursed until he self weaned at 19 months.
anyway,
just try other liquids. and most sippys have plugs that you have to suck to get any liquid. remove that plug a while until he gets the idea that something actually comes out of the sippy.
:D
good luck and remember above all to have fun. my son took RIGHT to the sippy at 7 months, a child in my day care was just over a year and had NO interest except chewing it LOL.
so.
have patience. :D

It may be that he doesn't know how to suck hard enough to get the liquid out. Try a cup that is not leak proof, an open cup, a straw, or a sport bottle pull up top. Chances are one of these will work for him.

Our 10 month old daughter drinks mostly from open cups. As long as we do just a few ounces she doesn't spill. Although you may want to hold the cup until he is used to it.

I take care of my 14-month granddaughter and she hates sippy cups. She really does not like using them. Just before she was a year, I started giving her sips out of a regular glass; she now thinks she is a big girl and likes a regular glass and sometimes with a straw in it. I am having the other problem, as I want her to have a sippy cup at naptime and she doesn't want it. Every child is different.

My son did this too. He would just bite at it and play with the sippy cup, but when he turned one year and I was able to give him whole milk and juice, he magically caught on that he was supposed to suck on it like his bottle. He has no problems at all now.

Also there are sippy cups by nuk that have the softer nipple like a bottle which helped him transition too. I have since gotten rid of those because he has done so well with the hard plastic versions.

HTH,
A.

Try a straw cup instead of a sippy cup. Munchkin brand makes great ones. Very colorful and easy for the child to hold...and spillproof! My daughter started drinking from a straw at 12 months. Worth a try!

Just wanted you to know that it's not abnormal for your child to not be using the sippy yet. My daughter was 13 months old before she started using one. We started presenting her with one at about 10 months, and she also just played with it. We just kept giving it to her at mealtimes. She continued to use the bottle. I was almost ready to give up when, one morning, she just started drinking out of the cup on her own. It helped that daycare was also presenting her with sippys. My daughter uses a few different kinds. Her favorites are the Nubys and her Gerber. Good luck to you, just be persistant!

Some kids do have problems transitioning. I don't how many different cups you have tried, but I would try an old fashioned one. I know that tupperware used to have them. It is just a simple cup and lid. They are not spill proof. I would try that or take the insert out of the lid. You could also check out www.onestepahead.com. I think that they have a cup that is more close to drinking rather than sucking. Some kids find it harder to draw liquid out from a sippy cup. You could also try giving him a bottle of water with the sip top on it. Maybe he will prefer it.
I apologize for giving so many options, but there are many reasons why he is not taking to a sippy cup. Some just take a little while to get the hang of something new when the bottle works. I have a daycare and I have had two boys that had trouble with sippy cups and their problem was physiological. They both were tongue tied. I had never heard of it before, but neither one of them could stick their tongues out past their teeth. So, now that they have had surgery to correct that, they are doing great. So, hang in there and keep trying. He will take to something in his own time.

Changing from bottle to sippy cups is like removing the pacifer from their lives. I found that if you do it slow and with alot of patience you will a acheive your goal. On thing you need to remember is that you are the boss and what you say goes. Stick to you guns and even though you may have a few temper tantrums they are just trying to test you and your level of patience. Try replacing the bottle with sippy cups at snack time and then slowly introduce it to each mean separately. Oh yes neither one of my kids had a pacifer and maybe that has something to do with changing to sippy cups from the bottle. They are getting rid of their comfort item. I always tried to make an item like a blanket or stuffed animal their comfort choice and it worked out well when it was time to make changes.