Bottle to Sippy Cup, and Bottle at Bedtime

My daughter also had a hard time transitioning away from the bottle. We just kept offering her the sippy until she drank from it. It helped to try getting rid of the breakfast bottle first, because that's when she was the hungriest and most willing to eat/drink anything. Once she started taking a sippy at breakfast, we offered it at lunch and dinner too. Once she was taking it with all her meals, we ditched the bottle all together.

Both of my kids love the Nuby bottles with the soft spouts.

Hi A.! I see that Harold Z. has found another person to harass. He has been sending abusive responses and has been removed from Mamasource 2 times and is now back for a 3rd time. Please don't let his horrible words steal from your day!

As for the sippy cup, have you tried using a cup with a straw? My daughter loves those!

EDIT* Oh, good! they deleted him already!

I have a 15mo.old who was extrememly attached to her bottle so at 12mos. I just took it away cold turkey. The sippy cup grew on her and now she's extrememly attached to her sippy.

I have two girls that were both attached to their bottles and cold turkey is the only way to go.

It may be easiest to just go cold turkey. We went out and bought like 6 different sippy cups for our daughter. We found that she preferred the NUBBY kind. And there was one Diego cup that was shaped a little funny. Didn't have much of a "spout" and that was harder for her to drink out of. Make sure YOU try sucking on the cup and that it's fairly easy to get liquid out of. We've had some really tough ones that we just tossed because you had to work so hard to get anything. Bottles flow pretty easily so that may be part of the reason she is not taking to a sippy.

Another tip would be to remove the spill proof piece for meals and snack time. And even if you just put water in it around the house...... Tupperware sippy cups are great too!

i just went through this with my 10 month old...start by putting only water in a bottle and something of much higher value in the sippy. she'll get bored quickly. good luck!

I started by taking the bottle away gradually- I think I gave her one in the morning, and one at night, but only gave her a sippy cup during the day. Then as she got better with the sippy cup, I dropped the morning bottle and a week later dropped the night time bottle. The night time one is the hardest I think. If she is thirsty enough, she'll try the sippy cup. Try different sippy cups- some are easier for them to drink out of than others. The Playtex one with the handles they really have to suck very hard (try it if you have one- it's amazing any kid can get anything out!). The one she liked the best was the Nuby. They have several different kinds, but they are squishy like a bottle, easy to hold, and also easy to drink out of and easy to clean. Good luck! My daughter was very attached to her bottle, too, but after 2-3 weeks of weaning she liked the sippy cups just as much.

I have to agree with those who mentioned the Nuby brand of sippy cups, and also trying a straw [we have a Munchkin brand one with a straw that has a valve and it also folds into the cup], and she should be able to handle a regular cup even. It will be easier this summer, because you can let her run around outside and learn to drink from a cup and learn not to spill so much. When she is used to a sippy cup, I recommend the Playtex Insulator- those are great!
You can try going cold turkey, but if that is not working, I would only put water in the bottle and offer her milk in different cups throughout the day. Even if she doesn't drink milk for a week she will be fine.
Her teeth are probably okay- the biggest issue would be if she fell asleep with the bottle still dripping into her mouth and the milk pooling around her teeth. If you are pretty sure she is finishing it and swallowing all of the way before falling asleep I wouldn't worry about it too much. Whenever she starts taking cups I would stop giving her milk at bedtime, too, and just give water. I offer my almost 2 yr old one last drink of milk before bed and I always make sure he has a sippy cup of water in his crib at night. He usually gulps the milk down because he knows he wont get anymore until breakfast. Whatever you do, just stick to it! Decide what you think would be best, and never give in.

We took our daughter shopping for a big girl cup. We made a big deal out of it with a special trip to the store and let her pick out whatever cups she wanted. When we got home she got to help wash the cup so it would be ready to use. For several days we made a really big deal about her new big girl cups. I would always offer her a big girl cup first but didn't push it on her. It didn't take too long for her to be completely done with the bottle.

A.,

There are sippy cups with soft ends like bottles that make the transition easier. I know Target carries them. With my kids, I started at 6 months of age and just let them play with a sippy cup of water at the dinner table during mealtimes. Once they figured out how to use it, I just took the bottle away so there wouldn't be a temptation to go back. She is older and smarter, so it probably will be a bigger fight. But she is also old enough to drink straight from an open cup and should be able to do it independently by 18 months. You may want to skip the sippy cup altogether and move to an open cup or a cup with a straw. Otherwise, it will just be a matter of months and you will have to go through this again to wean her from a sippy cup.

Good luck,
S.

I would suggest switching cold turkey at this point (but do monitor her intake to make sure she gets enough)...maybe try a Nuby that has the silicone spout. She may go on strike, but not for long. you need to just take charge or she'll never be ready.

My daughter never used a sippy cup. She went right to a regular plastic cup at meal times, at 14 months. Most sippy cups need you to suck pretty hard; we had to take the valve out before she could get anything out of them. So we just went with a regular cup, or one with a lid with a spout, but no "sippy" valve. Yes, this means they can spill.

She kept the bottle twice a day - nap times and bed time - until she was three. There is no real benefit to using sippy cups, they still have to suck on it like a bottle. They are a fairly recent invention, really, which now seems like a requirement. Not necessary at all.

just leave sippy cups laying around.....on a coffee table, near her toys, etc......anywhere that she plays...she will eventually just start using it