I Need Tips on How to Transition from Bottle to Cup

My kids didn't like water much, so I put water in the bottles and the good stuff (milk and juice) in the sippies. It worked, and they also wound up liking water!

When I was going through this not to long ago with my daughter I had a hard time. I felt that she was ready for the sippy cup and I would only give her the sippy cup and not the bottle. Nuby has some lids with nipples that are like the bottle, but a little differant and she did alright with those, but still wanted only the bottle. I pushed her and pushed her till she almost got dehydrated. My doc just told me to keep giving her the bottle and occassionally, maybe once a day, just try the sippy cup till she was ready on her own. Now she's 18 months old and only on the sippy cup, finally. She didn't like the hard spout sippy cups till just recently, I think she had a hard time with it in her mouth. Don't push him into it, just let him take it when he's ready. Good luck!

My son gave up his bottle completely at one year and I think it's because he was using the nuby sports sippy cups. It is almost like a bottle so he loved it. He wasn't drinking much milk also so everymornign for breakfast he was only offered milk and after a while he loves milk. Not as much as juice, but at least he drinks it!

Hey C.,

You know, I don't even bother with the milk anymore. Both of my kiddos refused to drink milk from sippies when they weaned from the breast around 13 months. So, I just made sure that they get plenty of other dairy - cheese, yogurt, and the occasional ice cream. Also, I buy the orange juice with the added vitamin D and calcium, (as suggested by my pediatrician)so they get that too. I also make sure they get a multi-vitamin every day. So I'm not too worried that they don't drink milk. Finally, at age 3, my oldest daughter has started showing some interest in milk. But she's been growing fine up until now too (she's in the 95th percentile), so I don't think the lack of milk has hurt her any.

I hope this helps!

L.

I agree with adding something tothe milk but not chocolate. I used the nesquik vanilla milk powder for my youngest and he absolutely loved it and then I used the strawberry and that worked too. However on my oldest he was so in too Popeye I used to tell him if he wanted to be strong like him then milk was going to help and since then both my boys would rather drink milk than any kind of juice.
You can also see if maybe your son would like to pick his own sippy cup from the store and make that one his milk cup. Some children at various ages like to do it themselves and be part of the process. You never know

As others have mentioned, this issue is common. I too have purchased many different kinds of sippy cups trying to get my 15 month old son to take them. What I ended up doing was buying the NUBY cup (from Walmart - and thank God, they are less than $2 each!!! YEAH for that!). I started out putting some diluted koolaid in them and he would just chew on the soft nipple. I also used cold water, because he loved it. It took a few weeks and now he is drinking from them more. He still wont drink the milk through them all of the time, but I figure now that he is drinking the koolaid and some milk, he is getting more comfortable with the cups and eventually I will try the milk more frequently and hopefully there will be no problems. I feel this is similar to the transition a lot of moms have with their kids not wanting to give up their binkies. Making the transition smooth for him, makes it smooth for me! Good luck!

I had the same problem with my son. I started using the Gerber sippy cups that have a pointed spout more like a bottle. They usually come in green cups with yellow lids and purple cups with green lids. You might give it a try.

hi C.
Our daughter is 10 months old and we are also experiementing with sippy cups.But what i have found was, that she much rather likes to drink out of a regular glass.She loves to eat from our plates and drink out of a glass just like we do.Kids learn by watching and love to mimic what Dad and Mom do.
It is a messy undertaking to let her drink out of a glass,but she enjoys it and i feel better knowing that she gets her liquid.I bought her a plastic cup with "Nemo" on it,she loves fishis,and she knows when i pull out the cup its time for her juice.
I also heard before ,that cow milk does actually not supply us with much calcium,and that this is just a myth.
Good luck
M.

I don't really have any tips but can sympathize - I, cold turkey, stopped the bottle with my son at 17 months. He had only been drinking milk from the bottle and we could not get him to drink milk for over a year after that. Finally I started giving him milk with a squirt of hershy chocolate and calling it a milkshake. He is now 4 and just recently started drinking milk again (first with cereal and now from a cup with dinner) but it is still a fight. He still says he doesn't like it. I now have a 4 month old and swear I will get rid of the bottle much earlier. I think that may be the key.

hey C. my name is A. and i have a 2 year old son i just recently got my son off his bottle i had the same problem with him I tried the sippy cups with the silicone nipples on it it looks like a bottle it is put out by NUBY they really helped me out he nevered cryed so it worth i had a friend who told me about it it worked on her daughter to so good luck if u try it

The NUBY cups were the first thing I thought of when I read this. My daughter was able to drink from those as early as 6 months and she really didn't notice a difference.

My daughter too wanted to drink from her bottles, and didn't want to take a sippy cup, and kids are pretty strong willed if they want something they will hold out til they get it. He is old enough though to start using a sippy. The nubbies are good to use, we ended up using advent sippys, because she could still use her bottle, end we just switched up the top, and that satisfied her.
I would also not rely on him getting much calcium from milk. I have read some very interesting studies that prove that the human body cannot absorb most of the calcium found in cow's milk, and that it will be better to drink goat's milk, which I don't really like the flavor. I would make sure either to have him on a vitamin/mineral supplement, or make sure he is eating spinach and broccoli which are high in calcium.
I agree with you, don't add sugary stuff to his drinks, it is bad for the teeth, he will get addicted to it, and it could be bad in the long run for his health. I do wish you luck.

I have had great luck with straw cups. They are just like sippy cups, however it is much more like a bottle in the since that they actually put the straw in their mouth. I would use a regular straw in a cup first because it is easier to drink from and see if he is able to get the milk, but once you see that he has it figured out I would just use the straw cup.

The other advantage to using the straw cup is that when you go out to dinner everyone uses straws so if you ever forget or loose your cup he will still be able to drink.

My daughter has used one since she was about 11 months old and it was really nice to have her able to drink from a straw, so I started my son on one at about 8 months old. A few of my friends have also done it and said that it was much easier than a sippy cup.

I hope that this helps. Let me know if you have any other questions.

T.

I would change the type of cup you are giving to him. One of my sons likes to drink from a straw. They sell disposable cups with straws and he uses those. He did not like the kind of sippy cup that did not allow leaks. Since they did not allow him to drink as fast as the bottle, they frustrated him. When we changed to a different type of cup, he gladly drank from it.

My 16 month old drinks from the NUBY cups just like the other moms suggested. However, I still have mine on a bottle in the morning and one at night not to mention if I have a very packed day, I take one with me for him to drink. I'm still trying to learn how to transition from bottle to full meals since he doesn't eat enough adult food when he sits with us and seems starved for a bottle which he can then put down 6 to 8 oz. I feel like I would have to stay home all day and constantly struggle with him to get him to eat adult foods. Good luck.

Do you have any of those Nuby soft spout cups? They are a whole lot like a bottle but not quite. They might be a good transition. That is the only thing I can think of. Good luck!

Have you tried giving it to him in a glass? Or even a small sports bottle? My 18 month old daughter is practically off the sippy cups and just uses glasses with or without straws and sports bottles. But I don't think you should use the baby bottles at all. It might be a battle of wills and so far he is winning...

I found at walmart ones called nubby and my daughter never even thought twice about the bottle being gone. I also put a few drops of sugar free strawberry or chocolate syurp in it to flavor it.

C.-

As bad as this sounds my children's Dr. told me instead of giving them juice in the sippy give them milk sooner or later they will be thirsty and drink the milk. I did it and just like you said they only drank a little at a time. I then started putting a VERY little Nestle Nesquick in it and I mean VERY little b/c I didn't want then addicted to the chocolate. It worked! as time went on I put less and less in the milk and now they drink it all the time! You could also try seeing if he will drink it out of a straw(if he can do that). Just to let him see there is another way other than a sippy. Good Luck! _ashley

I had the same problem with my son and I tried every cup under the sun. I tried with no valve and without a lid and nothing worked. My Dr. finally said I should try to lightly flavor the milk with Ovaltine or the low sugar vanilla Quick (using way less than the recommend amount on the container. Just enough to give it a slightly different flavor). Once I flavored it just a little he drank the sippy cup no problem and I eventually put the valve in and have had no problems since. Good Luck.

I pulled the bottle from our daugher when she was 1 as well. She protested a lot. She threw temper tantrums and refused to drink her milk out of a sippy. I also heated it up in the beginning and that didn't seem to make her want it anymore. I didn't allow her to drink anything else besides the milk. I held her in my arms and gave her the milk out of a sippy like it was a bottle and that seemed to help a little, but she still protested. Eventually, after about a week or so she gave in and started to drink her milk. It wasn't as much as I wanted her to drink, but it was a start. As time went on she drank more and more until it didn't even matter it wasn't in a bottle. Good luck. I know it is difficult.

Adding the chocolate to the milk isn't going to hurt him. If you brush his teeth regularly then everything should be fine. That was how i had to get my kids to drink milk and just like you didn't want them to get hooked on the chocolate b/c of the sugar. But as long as he drinks it and gets the calcium that he needs and your pediatrician agreed with it,then i would try it. As far as the sippie cups go i would stick to the plastic ones that aren't soft like the nipple, it would be the same as a bottle, well sippies pretty much are like a bottle but spill proof, but anyway you can control the chocolate in the drink, just put in enough so he likes it. Good luck
T.

I recently took my daughters bottle away from her. I bought her a sippy cup that has a nipple like spout on it. It is made out of the same material that a nipple is only shaped different. She didnt want to take it either but after a few days i guess she realized she had no other choice. It has been maybe 4 days and she is doing fine. It might take a little longer since your son is alittle older. Good luck.

I don't really have advice....but if it makes you feel any better I am going through the same thing with my 15 month old daughter. Milk is delicious in a bottle, but disgusting in her sippy cup. Good luck!!