Bottle to Sippy

Hi B.,
Just keep doing what you are doing and ease her into the transition. My daughter was over a year old when she went to a sippy; however my son was 9 months. Keep giving her the dinner cup, then ease other one in. Believe me when they get thirsty enough, they'll drink out of it.

A lot of times if you pack all the bottles away where they can't be seen it helps a lot. Out of sight, out of mind. Once children see that sippy cups are the only option the transition flows a lot smoother. But I would still expect a couple of tantrums the first day or two.

When I changed over to sippy cups with my son is was easy, I would give him a bottle and as soon as he was almost asleep but still drinking his bottle I would switch it real quick with a sippy cup, and that was it he took one ever since. Now my daughter was a different story she only liked certain nipples on her bottles (as my son did) but would only take the soft top sippy cups it took a little more convincing with her and she never would take milk from one! so good luck

When my son was nearing his 1st birthday I took the bottle away during the day. Night bedtime he got the bottle. After first birthday I told him he was abig boy now, He was already eating table foods. I threw the bottles away in the trash in front of him, threw the trash out. Bottles went bye bye. He whined a couple of times but no one gave into him. M.

All of this urgency to take the bottle away from babies is utterly ridiculous! All it does is make the doctor happy, stress out the baby & the baby's parents. As far as it causing teeth to come in crooked, that's a myth!! Don't worry about it. Offer the sippy cup to your baby all the time, but don't force her to use it if she doesn't really want it. The emotional trauma that it could cause far outweighs any minimal benefit of drinking from a sippy cup. Many babies actually NEED the comfort & security they receive from sucking a bottle. When your little girl is ready for the sippy cup, she will throw the bottle away herself. The same goes for a pacifier. The child knows when they are ready to give up their pacifier & their bottle. Please, please don't stress your child out over either of these.....it will save both you & your baby a lot of misery. :o) I've raised 2 children of my own & 2 grandchildren, & they turned out just fine!! Love ya!

Is she able to suck from a straw? I found that both my boys did better with straw cups b/c they don't have to tip it up to drink or suck so hard to get anything out. Hope that helps!

Let your baby take the lead. They know when they are ready. I started my daughter at meal times with a sippy cup and kept her at a bottle at night until she was an year and half. Then I realize she really didn't care if she had the bottle anymore. I was the one holding her back. Soft Spouts work well at first. Feels like a bottle that they get to hold.

B.,
My children are 26 and 24 and transitioning from bottle to sippy cup was a breeze. On their first birthdays, they got their "big boy" and "big girl" cups (not sippies). They felt big like Mommy and Daddy drinking from regular (plastic) cups. But I think the ease of transition could have been because they were breast fed their first few months. And then when they started drinking from bottles, we held them while they drank. They never were allowed to walk around wagging or sucking a bottle (there were less germs that way too). Good luck. Just talk to your child and tell him/her that now he/she is "big" and gets to drink from a cup like you do.

I've been in your situation with both of my children. I went cold turkey. It will be difficult but stick to your guns. I also suggest getting the bottles out of the house so you won't be tempted to go back.

Okay, this is some of the WORST advice I've ever given (because of the artificial sweetners)...but it works. Put a packet of Sweet n Low or Splenda in the cup of milk and mix it up well before giving it to her. Gradually decrease the sugar substitute and she will continue to drink from the cup. There is also a product called Milk Mates that might work for you...or Ovaltine. Most kids like the flavor.

Hey B.! kids can sure be stubborn when it comes to introducing new things into their lives...It can be frustrating and tiring. What I would suggest to you is to just give her the sippy cup with milk or if you still use formula or breast feed put that in there. There are several sippy cups out there the Nuby, they are some of the cheapest sippy's out there worked for a friend of mine. He little boy REFUSED to take a sippy cup, but would use the Nuby for his milk. Best of luck!!!

My son did not want anything to do with a sippy cup either. It was very frustrating. So, I bought the Nuby sippy cup and filled it 1/2 full of water and kept it in the crib with him during naps and night time. He began to become used to seeing it and then tried experimenting with it himself during the night or after naps. A week later, he was willing to drink his milk from it during the day. It worked great! Good luck!

They now have "glasses" plastic w/a soft nipple like top on it. Was a great transfer from bottle to a regular cup. Check out the options at Walmart...that's where I got my daughters.

Let her have her bottle as long as she needs it to soothe her or get her the milk. It won't hurt her at all. With my 1st child, I tried to stay by the book and at very close to 12 mos. he was off (not an easy job) and with our 2nd it was closer to 18-20 months. Both were fine and I was much more relaxed (so ... happier mommy).

We transitioned my granddaughter from bottle to sippy by introducing her to the soft top sippies first. The feel like the nipples on bottles and it's softer on the gums and teeth. She didn't have any problems.

I only put juice in my sippy cups and never in a bottle. My children loved to have bits of juice in small portions in the mornings and evening. This helped them want the cups since juice was just one thing that I put in them to get it started. I let mine pick out a fun cup that they like too for ownership of it.

When my daughter went to Kids Special Time 2 days a week at 18 months is when I introduced the tippy cup. She still had a bottle at home at evening before bed until she was 2 ish. I think it depends on the kid. Every kid has their own combination to figure out. Throw the books away. Its your baby and you do what you want. The "Dr" is not the boss. That's why they call it a "practice".

I can totally understand your frustration!! My son is 14 mos old, and has only just recently (within the last week or so) started to use a sippee cup exclusively. I began introducing him to the cup at 9 months. Only juice, once a day. He would never take formula from the cup. I bought many kinds of cups, but found that he actually likes one made by Nuby (it has a soft top). I guess coinciding with the transition to whole milk and the right cup made the difference for him. Just today, I offered him a morning bottle. He saw his new sippee, and would not have his milk in anything but that cup!

I started both my boys on juice in the sippy first...of course, they liked it! I also used the Avent bottles and the sippy spouts that can go into those. The white one is pretty soft and marked 6 mo. My two didn't seem to notice as much of a change b/c they were still getting their "bottle", it just had a different top...Even my day care provider of my 22 mo. old occasionally asks "why he has a bottle this morning." Good luck!

Be patient. She will eventually get the hang of the sippy cup. I wouldn't be too hyper about getting her completely off the bottle by her first birthday, as long as she is in the process of making the transition. Just make sure you're using one with a no-spill valve in it because it gives them more control. Something else you might try to kind of 'sabotage' her love of the bottle is to switch back to a slow-flow nipple. I did that with my daughter. The bottle then became frustrating to her and she realized that she could get her drink better from the sippy cup. She is 18 months old now and does really well, both with a regular sippy and the straw cups too.

What kind of spout does the sippy cup have that you are using? I started my son with the soft flexible spot (Nube? I don't remember the name, got them at walmart), he was teething at the same time and it was soothing to him. It was also easy for him to hold since the sides concave in a bit. Then eventually progressed to whatever was clean in the kitchen (including his dad's travel coffee mug, once).
Good luck!

Hey don't give in when she whines. I have a friend that has given in everytime and now her 4 year old is still on a bottle and when she tries to take it away he throws a huge fit. When I started breaking my son off the bottle he would whine and cry and I just told him if he wants a drink he will use the sippy cup. It was hard at first but I didn't give in and it only took a couple weeks for the whining to stop. If you let her whine and get her way now think what she will do later in life. Just be firm that she has to use the sippy cup.

mine went through that too. She would drink anything else from a sippy but not milk. She got over it. It passes although it's frustrating and seems like it will take forever while you are going through it.

I have an 18 month old and we used the Nuby Sippy cup...the nipples on them are about the same texture...and spill proof... they come in different stages as they get bigger..you can get em at wal-mart and they worked really good for her...didn't even notice she wasn't getting a bottle...We do have big girl sippy cups for her, but they tend to be really messy as we love to shake them...so she does know how to use them both. Good Luck!!

Try putting only water or watered down milk in the bottle to try to discourage the bottle and then only put the milk in the sippy cup. Not sure if this will work, but it's worth a try.

what i did for my daughter was warm up the milk in the sippy cup,until she got used to it and then we moved to jucie and she really did good get a sippy cup with a soft tip so that she still thinks its the bottleand eventully she will get used to it just give her time ,hope this helps:)

I have been taking care of my 14 month old granddaughter for the past 5 weeks and she too wouldn't take anything but a bottle. I talked to the day care director and her motto was "if she's thirsty enough she will take whatever you give her". I purchased a sippy cup that has a soft tip nipple that was shapped simular to her bottles. The brand name is Nuby. She fussed a little and then took right to it. I used that tip for a week or so and then over a weekend graduated her to the regular soft tip sippy that Nuby also sells. For the past 3 weeks she will take anything I give her to drink out of.

I would give my son the sippy cup of milk in the mornings along with his favorite breakfasts. He was ALWAYS extremely hungry and thirsty in the morning and therefore there was not such a big fight to get him to drink his milk out of it. Once I got that one out of the way, I did it for lunch, then eventually dinner.

Dear B.,
I was a 32 year old mom when my daughter was taken off the bottle (she was 1 yr 3 mo old) Doctors orders orders, it was aweful we just bit the bullet and did it. Fot two days she cried and I cried and then it was better. One day this will be a fond memory but it is a long way off

B., I feel for you I have three daughters and have gone through the same thing three times. what I did was I sat down the child in question weather it was 1,2or 3 and I told them that the bottle was going away to another baby and that the sippy was comming to her.It worked for us. I also am a stay at home mom so there was noone to sabatage our progress. you mingt want to talk to your alternant care taker and set a date when the bottle will make an exit from your house. Good luck and God be with you

Right or not, I just told my kids the bottles were broken..... I did the same with the pacifiers. I just handed them a sippy cup like it was completely normal and if/when they asked said the dishwasher (or whatever) broke it. You could even cut up a nipple on one, or poke a hole in one to show them.

Didn't make a big deal about it, when they asked I would just say- Remember they broke. I think sometimes we make bigger deals out of what can be really simple.

My daughter did not understand how to tip a bottle or a cup until she was like 13 months old. I would put her hands on the cup and tilt it for her until she understood. It took a month or so until she liked cups. I bought those Nuby soft squishy topped ones at first. Once she understood how to drink from them I just took the bottle away. She did not get off of a bottle until probably around 14 or 15 months. Which to me was fine. We started at around 12 months, so it only took a couple of months to transition her. If she whined for a bottle I just did not give it to her. But she was really good about it. I think when she realized she was not getting one she was fine...didn't take long at all. It is hard to her them cry but if she wants something to drink bad enough she will take the cup...that is as long as she knows how to drink from one. I wouldn't do it unless she knows how to drink from them.

My son is 18 months old and he never used a bottle (we nursed). Well, he did a little bit, but by 3 months he decided that he did not like a bottle! We started transitioning to a sippy cup when he started on solids. First, we let him actually drink out of a straw or from a regular cup (we assisted him with this, of course!) His first sippy cup was one of the Nuby ones with a straw and handles. It took a couple days for him to get the hang of it, but he finally caught on. Also, he would never take breast milk or formula out of a sippy. So we gave him highly diluted juice. As he got better, tried out different cups. When he turned 1, we started putting whole milk in his cup. He didn't like it at first, so I put just a little bit of chocolate syrup in it, decreasing the amount every day. After a week, he drank plain milk.

So I guess my advice is to get a straw sippy cup, start with diluted juice and gradually work up to milk. Maybe even let her drink out of a regular cup a little bit. I hope this helps!

It's good that you have intoduced the sippy cup to her before she has turned one, so it's not a big shock once she turns 1. It is a very hard transition. I have gone through it three times. What I did with my three is once I introduced it to them, I gave it to them about once or twice a day, then you want to start giving it to them all day, gradually. I know you don't want to hear the baby whine, but just be consistent in not putting her milk in the bottle, and see what happens. Initially, it is much harder to suck out of the cup than the bottle, so she isn't going to want it because she has to work harder at getting the beverage out of the cup. You're still ahead of the game because she's only 11 1/2 months, so if it doesn't work right now, don't get frustarated, it will!!

We helped our son with a regular cup first. Once he drank from it (assisted) then we let him have a sippy cup. So today at age three he doesn't pitch a fit if he doesn't have a sippy cup. Which can be another problem to face once they start using one.

We were a little late with this one as well. My daughter is 16 1/2 months now and doesn't even notice that we got rid of the bottles, though she still asks for a "baba" when she is thirsty. We found that the ones with handles helped with the initial transition since the cups have to be turned up. ALso, we tried a lot of different cups. We tried to stick with one thing w/bottles to not be confusing but with sippy cups we have tried them all. There are several by Nuby that have a soft silicone spout and these were the best ones to start the transition since they're a little bit like the bottle. Then we added a bunch of the cheap, disposable ones with the hard top. (took her a while to warm to these but now does not notice - BTW it helps that they have Elmo all over them)The peditrician said that we just had to stop cold turkey - which seems to have worked for some people - but we ended up going slow w/ a few back slides when she was sick. Good luck.

Just so you know, the recent research says to try to go to straw cups instead of sippy. Sometimes sippy cups can cause speech impediments, like lisping. We really like the nuby straw cups that flip up and are sold about everywhere. A great way to transition is to fix a drink of water with a straw and to put your finger over the top of the straw and let it drip into her mouth so she gets the idea of sucking on the straw. Most kids really like this "game".

My daughter uses the sippy cup that you don't have to tilt up, so she has to suck on the spout similar to a bottle. I believe that it's made by Nuby. Also, why don't you try and put watered down juice in the cup and see if it makes a difference as to whether or not she will take it. As for my daughter, we never gave her anything but milk or formula in a bottle just so that she wouldn't learn that she could have it in a bottle. We started her really early with a cup as well. Anyway, like I said, try a different cup and/or try juice. By her age, she can have some juice if you allow her to have it.
Good Luck!

with both my daughters i took them to the store and let them pick out a couple sippy cups (now they have really cool ones out to choose from). I would tell them that now it is time to be big girls and that we would be using sippy cups and so we threw away the bottles and so that way they knew that they couldnt whine and i would give it to them since they were out of the house. It worked for me.

Another idea would be to throw away a bottle every night or so and let her do it. see if that might work.

well hope i helped a little!

we started our son drinking from a sippee cup when he was 4 months old because we didnt want the transition to be hard when switching him over. he took to it very easily. we only put water in it at first so he could get the feel for it and as he got older, we would put dilluted juice in it and every once in a while, his milk. our ped says that when switching them over, you just have to make a choice and stand by it to get rid of the bottle and throw it away. she says that if the child really wants something to drink, they'll take the cup. it may sound harsh but it really works. my son is a special case because he has a milk protein defeciency and is still on soy formula because he will not drink soy milk *SILK* so it was easier to mix the milk in his bottle with warm water like he was used to but now we mix up his milk in his sippee cups and no more bottle. hes been bottle free since he was 14 months old and he'll be 19 months old in a week. i hope that my advice and experiences has helped some and has given some insight. let me know if theres anything i can do.

Try the the soft top sippy's, they are the material of a nipple but shaped the a sippy and spill proof.

You may have to try a few different cups before you find one she likes. We liked the Gerber Transition cup. It worked great for us. Don't force her to use it, but put it with her plate when she eats & let her play with it. She will start using it soon. You might even put a little chocolate in her milk in the cup to make it new. Good luck!

I just noticed one of the comments below said to use sweet & low. You're better off with a little chocolate syrup or strawberry for pink milk. Sweet & low isn't good for kids. It can confuse their metabolism.