Transition to Sippy Cups

Updated on February 14, 2007
M.W. asks from Fort Benning, GA
25 answers

Does anyone have any good and/or creative ideas to make the transition from bottle to sippy cup? We've tried to cutting bottles out cold turkey but my son then refused to drink anything and became dehydrated. We are really struggling with this.

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So What Happened?

Well we tried the Nuby cups and so far so good. He's taken to them really well. Thanks so much to everyone who gave me the great advice.

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J.S.

answers from Albany on

Hey,
What worked with my daughter was that we played this game of throwing away all the bottles in the house and making a "special" trip to the store to buy real cute and colorful sippy cups. She felt like a "Big" girl then. Good Luck!

1 mom found this helpful
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K.S.

answers from Athens on

My son has had no interest in using an actual sippy cup, but when I made a smoothie of his favorite fruits and put it in one of the cups with a rubber straw, he (after some staring at the straw) was able to master using it. He still doesn't like sippy cups, but he'll uses his straw cup, and with supervision can drink out of a regular straw in a lidded drink. Maybe trying different types of cups will help ... Good luck!

1 mom found this helpful
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T.D.

answers from Atlanta on

The one thing i did with my boys was to alternate between the sippy cup and the bottle. Eventually taking the bottle away more and more.

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A.Z.

answers from Savannah on

Hi M.,

Both of my children went off the bottle at six months. I find if you start putting just juice/flavored water in the cup and do this all day except at meal times and then once he starts drinking the juice/water out of the cup slowly introduce his milk at meal times in the cup, but always have a bottle ready on stand by. I find if while they were playing I gave them the cup to separate it from meal time then they took to it better. I did this and it worked like a charm, take it ALL children are different and some don't let go for a while I have seen children at age two carrying a bottle around so just keep trying. Good Luck! A. www.busymomsworkathome.com

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B.S.

answers from Savannah on

Well it wasnt hard to get my son to change!! All we did was let his dad drink from it first and right after that there was no problem!! But of course he is a daddy's boy too!! Good luck!! :)

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B.W.

answers from Atlanta on

My son is almost one and I don't remember exactly when we introduced the sippy cup, but we found most success with the Nuby brand. It has a soft spout that most resembles a nipple and has similar sucking action. You can find them at Wal-Mart and sometimes Babies R Us has the soft spout kind as well. I personally don't recommend cold turkey, because at this age they are learning to assert their own will and a sudden change like that prompts them to push for what they want. If he has become too upset to even try a sippy cup now, you may have to back off and try again in a few weeks with a more gradual approach. We still let my son have a bottle first thing in the morning and at night. During the day, he takes all other liquids from the sippy. Depending on how many bottles he usually drinks per day, I'd start phasing out the bottles during the day and worry about morning and night bottles later. The book "What to Expect the First Year" has a great plan outlined for transitioning from the bottle in a gradual manner. Good luck!

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B.W.

answers from Atlanta on

Hi! I'm about to try the sippy cups with my 6 month old. From what I have heard, the best way is to buy them cups with the rubberized sippy part so that it is more like the bottle. second is to give them things in the bottle that are like a reward for drinking out of it, like juice (my daughter loves decaf sweet tea). It may be a little different since your boy is quite a bit older than my daughter, but i don't think you want to quit the bottle cold turkey. It like saying " Here, we are taking you out of your confort zone and we expect you to learn this immediately. Do it." Adults have a hard enough time adapting to new ideas (like computers), babies are pretty good, but not that good. They need to get used to the idea. Above all, make it a positive experience. Everything is always easier when you introduce it in a positive way. Good Luck!

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A.W.

answers from Atlanta on

Start slow. My son would take one if it was offered like a bottle, meaning me holding him and it, in the beginning. Try different kinds. My son would not and still does not like the hard tips, Wal-mart Nuby soft tip were and are his favorite. Offer something that you wouldnt in the bottle, like sweet tea or Kool-aid.

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A.M.

answers from Panama City on

For my girls I tried different types of cups. The oldest wasn't very picky but the youngest liked her bottles. I got her the Nuby brand where the drinking part is soft like a bottle nipple. They are at walmart pretty cheap. Now she drinks out of whatever I hand her.

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C.H.

answers from Augusta on

Theres numberws of ways to persuade a child into doing something. You could take him and let him pick a sippy cup out. There is also something I just recently bought off of ebay...(were only a few left when I bought mine) But its a bottle that has a pacifier at the end of a straw to feed a baby hands free.Best thing to do is to just keep trying new things to make the sippy cut looking inviting.

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M.B.

answers from Savannah on

Hello. Try just giving him a bottle for milk and a sippy cup for juice. Bed times use bottle for a while and meals use sippy cups. My daughter never used sippy cups, she went straight to a plastic cup at meals. Good luck.
M.

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M.N.

answers from Atlanta on

Try putting favorite or 'special' drinks only in the sippy cup and only 'boring' liquids (like water) in the bottle. Good luck!

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S.L.

answers from Atlanta on

My son is 6 now but at the time i transitioned, i made sure i bought the sippy cups that only dispensed liquid when the child sucked on it. Some come where the child tips it up and it spills out, causing them to choke because of too much coming out.
Also i tried not to "tramatize" him with new liquids.
He was used to formula, so i put formula in a sippy cup until he was used to using one then started apple juice etc.
Another thing you could try is using an infants bottle where they cant get much out at time, and place a sippy cup near by with the same thing in it and i bet they will figure out which one to pick up!!!We are creatures of habit and always want what benifits us the best. Children like to copy too, so tip a sippy up yourself and make funny faces at him, he will catch on!

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J.H.

answers from Atlanta on

HIYA! I only put juice in a cup- ever and always. If they're old enough for juice, then they're old enough for a sippy cup. That's usually about 6 mos. They want juice because it's sweet and if they know that they only get it in a cup, they have to take it that way or nothing. They'll choose the cup!!! I've weaned 2 so far and have had no problem losing the bottle at a year for both. Good luck!

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K.B.

answers from Atlanta on

I am a mom to a 19 month old little girl. We started transitioning her onto the sippy cup when she was 5 months old. Pretty much the key to it is consistancy. Keep trying, they will catch on eventually. They just have to get used to it. I found that the Nubie (sp?) works best for this. As i tried ALL the different kinds of sippy cups. They have a nipple thats the same shape and consistancy of a bottle nipple. Then you can transition to a soft sippy cup shaped nipple. Once they get used to that feeling you can go to a more rubber one. I think it took my daughter until around 7-8 months before she got the hang of it. I took her off the bottle at 10 months cold turkey. GOOD LUCK!!

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J.J.

answers from Athens on

What always worked for my kids were two things. First get a sippy cup he likes. Whether it be soft or hard spout(mine usually liked the soft spout b/c it was more like their bottle nipple),or one with handles or one w/out(you get the idea). Second put the thing he likes to drink most(juice if he likes juice, milk if he likes milk) and only put that in the sippy cup,that way if he wants his favorite drink he'll have to get it from the cup. If he's still being stubborn my only other trick is to put milk and juice in the cup and only water in the bottle. Most kids won't choose water over milk or juice. Hope this helps.GL:)

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H.H.

answers from Atlanta on

I have 11 month old twin boys and they love their sippy cup you can get it at Wal-Mart it is called NUBY it is a plastic cup easy to grip for little hands and it has a silicone type mouth piece similar to a bottle but sippy cup style it has made their transition very easy and they now are comfortale with the traditional sippy cups their big sisters have now out grown!I hope this helps Good luck!!
Sincerely, H. H
P.S. I would put something yummy in it at first for instance I use to be a bartender (no not that good, no alcohol:)I mix juices like pineapple juice, pink lemonade and may another fun juice like a splash of grape juice or even OJ my boys LOVE IT!

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L.F.

answers from Atlanta on

I don't have any personal stories with the trasnisiton to sippy but a mom in my playgroup said she found some success w/ sippys that have the built in straws. Her child seemed to like to drink through a straw rather than suck through a traditional sippy. Might be worth try.

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L.C.

answers from Atlanta on

My son really didn't want anything to do with the sippy cup either. He doesn't really care for water so the only thing that I let him drink out the bottle was water and if he wanted juice or milk then he had to have them out of a sippy cup. This didn't work perfectly but, when he was in the mood to humor me he would use the cup. I just kept the sippy cups available and eventually he just started to gravitate to them on his own.

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B.R.

answers from Atlanta on

Get the NUBY made sippy cups, I promise the strike will end! You will see!

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T.L.

answers from Atlanta on

hey, my son would not drink from a sippy cup at first either and i tried every sippy cup out there until i found the Nuby cups with the soft tops kind of like a bottle, but its a cup they worked and he has been off the bottle for months now. The best part they are really cheap. They're like $2 at Wal-mart:) Good Luck:)

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V.A.

answers from Atlanta on

A trick we tried with our son was to slowly start making the bottle nipple holes bigger and bigger. Eventually we had cut the whole tip off and he had to start drinking and managing the flow rather than sucking it out. Once he got used to that, changing to a sippy cup wasn't difficult for him. They also make sippy cups with the rubbery / nipple like lids rather than the hard plastic so the transition wasn't such a drastic change.

Good Luck,
V.

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T.T.

answers from Atlanta on

Positive reinforcement always work "Look at mommy's big boy" or try rewarding the child for drinking out of the sippy cup

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K.O.

answers from Augusta on

I just got over this exact problem and we are our a military family. One night at my wits end I went to walgreens. I bought an advent do not get the one for younger babies it will gag them. But I bought that one, which has worked for numerous other friends and I bought this no name brand. It has a big clear jelly like top. He loves it!!! We have been 3 weeks without a bottle and my almost 2 year old loves it. something else that might help is we only give it to him for bed, it gets stawberry milk (his favorite) and we call it BOB which is what he was calling his bottle. Hope these ideas work!

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K.W.

answers from Augusta on

I don't know how old your child is but what I did with my children (boy and girl) is I would never offer anything in the bottle but milk. If they wanted juice, chocolate milk, yogurt or water they got it in a sippy cup. After they got used to the sippy cup I cut back on the bottle starting with dinner in which they got it in a sippy cup. I started that around 15 months and they were bottle free by 20 months.

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