Time for a Sippy Cup!

You started with a sippy way too late is why he won't drink out of it. I started giving all 4 of mine sippys at 6 months, two handled ones easy to hold for little fingers. You just have to be strong and keep trying don't give in to him and give him a bottle or you will never break him. If he doesn't want the cup don't give him anything he will get thirsty and he will scream but you are having another baby and you can't have two on a bottle at the same time. You have to be the one in control he will learn that throwing fits get him everything and you don't want that. What are you putting in the sippy? If it's milk he probably won't take it or formula why restle with a cup when he gets the same thing in a bottle. Trust me I have two friends both boys are 4 and still on a bottle and not potty trained because they give in too much. And unlike my son isn't in preschool, my son gave up his bottle at 13 months but my girls were almost 3 every kids different but you have to lay down the law. Sorry so harsh but the next baby introduce the sippy at about 6 months when they are sitting in the highchair it will be a much smoother transition. Just a side nota after reading all the comments, the one rule in my house is there is no walk around bottles at all. My youngest is 19 months and I never let her walk around the house with a bottle I always gave her her cup. And only bottles for nap and bedtime, and another tid-bit you will never bottle break a child if you put anything in a bottle other than water, milk, or formula. Good Luck

C.

Sippy cup takes time and patience - you know a whole new experience for the little man. I started all 3 of my children on a sippy cup around 6 months. Start with juice becuase juice is like a treat and only give him juice in his sippy cup - playtex makes these great soft top sippy cups. He'll soon realize that if he wants his juice then he'll have to drink the sippy cup. I continued to give my kids the bottle for milk, until they were a year and then I stopped and they got whole milk in their cups. Some days were better then others, but it all worked out great. Good luck! :)

LOL-Poooooor you living with the extended family. I feel for ya there. As for the sippy cup issue... try switching to a soft topped sippee cup first. I think the brand is Nubee ???? They are found at any store for under 3 bucks. They have a soft silicone top like a bottle but in the nipple is in the shape of a sippee top. I found that with my daughter this really helped to transition her over. They have to work it with the same muscles as they do a bottle but all the while you can praise them for drinking out of a big boy cup!!!

I think the biggest reason some children don't like to make the switch is because of the hardness of the new cup and the new way that they have to suck. Hope this helps, good luck with your girl on the way (and the family).

Hi P.,

I read in a magazine that if a child is having a hard time accepting the sippy cup offer something that the child likes in the sippy cup and something that he or she is not so fond of in the bottle. My daughter did not like water out of a bottle, so I would offer her milk in the sippy cup and water in the bottle. She would choose the sippy cup almost every time. She also enjoyed drinking out of straws, which I thought was better than the bottle.

Good luck and congratulations on your daughter.

have you tried the bottle that has a sippy cup top you can get them at wal-mart they have precious moments on them they come with a sippy cup top and nipple also have a handle to hold them easier. i had no trouble breaking my daughter my great nephew broke her. she seen his sippy cup went up and took it from him i gave her the bottle back and she bite a hole in the nipple this was when she was 9 months old. i was gonna break her of the bottle when she turned 12 months just like my mom did with me. i will also break this baby i am having in a few weeks of the bottle at 12 months.

Try a nubby cup. The top is soft like a nipple but it is a sippy cup-- its a good transition cup. Give it to him often and he will get used to it. I took away the bottle at 12 mos. I knew my son could drink out of the sippy cup if he wanted to. After a week we were fine.

Hi, I know exactly what you are going through, my daughter is 2 1/2 and my son is 15 months old, I started both of them with a sippy cups at 11 months and they wanted nothing to do with it, I never took the bottle away from them during the day, but I didn't introduce a bottle at meal times. This eventually worked great, I also was diligent about making it fun and putting it to their mouths several times during the day, if they didn't want it I didn't push it. Probably at about 12 to 13 months they were on the cup full time at least my daughter was. My son on the other hand still had to have his bottle at night only untill about a month ago.
For me personally I don't think it had anything to do with the cup. I believe kids get very used to a routine and schedule and I believe a bottle is a comfort so children don;t naturally want to give it up. So I think you just need to keep up the hard work that you are doing and I think you are on the right track, it just takes patience and perserverance. God Bless!

You might want to check to make sure the flow of fluid from the cup is not too fast or slow for him. If too much is coming out, he might not like it, because it is too fast. If the spill proof valve is too strong for him, he might be frustrated at having to work so hard to get a drink. If it's not that, then I would just stick with sippy cups at meal times and playtime, bottles only at bedtimes. He won't get dehydrated over a few meals without anything to drink. He'll make the choice pretty soon to go ahead and drink it. Just keep offering.

Another thing I want to add. We found that the Take and Toss disposable sippy cups were GREAT. They're cheap, and he liked them best because they didn't have valves to bug him. They wash up nicely, so you can use them for quite awhile, but you don't have to freak out if you leave it behind at a restaurant or something.

hello there. my daughter just turned a year old this month, and drinks very well from sippy cups. i started her at 10.5 months, maybe 11 months.. i traded her lunch and dinner bottles for sippy cups, and kept the bottles for breakfast and bed. she finally figured out, that if she doesn't drink from the sippy cup, she doesnt get anything to drink. she went about a day or two not wanting the sippy cup.. she caught on quickly. now, she only has a bottle for bed.. and i will continue with the bedtime bottle up until 2 years old, i think, just because it's easier for her to fall asleep, and it gives her that comfort of knowing it's there. by the time i wean her off of that, it will be time to start my second child on sippy's, i believe (due in april).

i think it also has something to do with the brand of cup you use, though. with my daughter, Jazmine, i kept the same brand of sippy's as her bottles, and she's done well with them, but she can also use a playtex sippy on occasion. there are some larger ones, more like actual cups, with lids, that she can't use yet. but she can, most likely, build in to them. i think you need to find a brand that you can both agree on.. i think that's important.

FYI, just in case you were curious.. i use Avent brand.
C.

Hi P.,

My son is now 13 months and we are still having some problems...he will drink out of the sippy no problem now at meals but when he's tired or cranky he wants his bottle and throws the sippy cup. Our doctor told us to start putting water in his bottle and milk in his sippy cup and eventually he will start getting that he doesn't want the water he wants the milk and will go for the sippy cup. I know it's hard, and it's so much easier to say okay, here's the bottle :) Just a suggestion, but it will take time :) I know! Good luck with it. And congrats on your little girl :) I'm 4 months pregnant with a 13 month old boy ...and can't wait to find out what it is :)

Try giving him water or juice in a sippy cup so he'll get use to it. Let him play with it in the bathtub. Or you can even try one of those straw cups. My 11 month old son absolutely loves straws. But he still will only drink formula in a bottle. He gives the formula back if its in anything else. As I switch him off of formula at a year, he'll never get milk in a bottle. Just in his straw cup. Good luck. It'll take a bit of transition time.

When it was time to switch at our house, bottles became milk only. Water, juice, and milk went in sippy cups, but only milk in bottles. Introducing the cup at non-bottle times is important too. If he thinks the the cup is replacing the bottle it will be a no-go! Try giving him the cup inbetween meals, or any time he wouldn't normaly have a bottle.
It also helped to put milk in the cup at first so he knows that you're not taking away his milk too. Good luck!

P.,
I have a 14 month old and she took a while for a sippy too. I found a cup made my Nubby that is almost like a bottle. I got them at Walmart. But I've seen them at Meijer from time to time. There is one with a "straw" top or a sippy top. The only complaint is that the lip seems too large for the child to get all the fluid out and they spill a few drips. The nice thing though is that there is no stopper and so no looking for extra parts when making a cup. Hope this helps! B.

I went through this with my son too. I also found it to be the brand of cup he was refusing. I ended up starting him with a Gerber brand that has a soft spout (the caps are blue and you have the option of handles or none). I think the texture was more like his nipple and flexed as he sucked. As he got older we had to switch again due to the softness of the spout, when he started "chewing" on the spout it had a tendancy to crack. It was not unsafe, I just decided to switch to Avent and then to Playtex. It will pass, it will just take time (and maybe a little $$ invested into every stinkin' brand out there like we did unfortunately...).

On a side note, there is a cup by Nuby that has a silicone spout very similar to a bottle. I didn't try it, but it may make the transition a little easier. Good luck!

Hi,
I'd put it aside for a while and try again when he's closer to a year and can be put on milk instead of formula or breast milk. We weaned our oldest daughter at just about a year, but she was always easy at everything. I slowly cut out the middle of the day bottles, then morning, then the nighttime bottle last. I took it away the night she was overtired and fell asleep without it. My husband and I stayed up late to wash all bottles, nipples, etc and put them far far away. The next night when she wanted it, I told her that she'd fallen asleep without it and now it was gone. Took about three nights only. My second daughter wasnt weaned until she was about 14 or 15 months. All children are different so be patient. Let him drink from your glass when he's thirsty, maybe that will get him wanting his own cup more than he does now. Good Luck :o)

I agree with the comment about the Take and Toss Sippy cups. They are my one-year-old's favorite! We are transitioning him off the bottle right now. He really isn't interested in the Nuby or anything else. The take and toss are small and light. He has been using them since he was quite small. However we just started putting his milk in them during the day. We still give him a bottle when he gets up in the morning and before bed at night. However, soon those will be gone too! Good luck!

My Daughter is 22 months old and still uses a sippy cup once a day and the rest of the time bottles! Children have a hard time getting off the bottle expecially when they're teething! So give it some time and I'm sure he will eventually except it! Plus a lot of children are soothed by having a bottle expecially when they're going to sleep! But I started Chrystina on the sippy cup when she was 9 months old! She spilled it a couple times and now she can acctually drink out of a cup but she still wants her bottle! So give your son some time and I'm sure he'll get used to it hun!

Hi P.,
I have four kids ages 15,9,6,and 15 months and trust me when their ready they will let you know.Just try to keep offering it to them everyday. I am trying to do that for my 15 month old but I work full time midnight shift. So you just have to try everyday and be patient it will happen.

Hi P.,
My son will be one on Saturday and used sippy cups throughout the day. He only gets a bottle for bed and when he wakes up in the morning. I would stick to using a sippy cup for meals. I agree with Sasha and try different brands and different flows. If you keep giving him the bottle for meals it will be really hard to take it away when he is one (most peds. recommend this to be the ideal time to take away the bottle). I am very lucky and most times my son doesn't even want his bottle and this adjustment time will be easy for him. I have a friend that has a little boy that still has the bottle at 18 months and doesn't use a sippy cup either. If you stick to your guns he will get it. One thing I just remembered that I did to have my son start using the sippy cup was I let him give my a pretend drink. He thought that was so funny. Then I would give him a drind and he caught right. Sorry this was kind of long. I think I may have been rambling a bit. Good luck
Chris

I started giving my son teh sippy at 6 months, nit asuming he would drink from (which he didn't) he just played with it. Now he's a year and takes it like a champ. I would suggest instead of just giving it to him at meals time, give it to him fristthing in teh morning, and let him play with it, my son has 1 in teh living room, 1 in teh kitchen and one in the fridge for meal time. I put water in it. the only time I give him his bottle is at nap time and bedtime. Your little man is just so used to his bottle that it may take awhile for him to get used to the sippy cup. ANother suggestion is try using teh NUBY sippy cup, the spout has the same texture at the silicone bottles, he may like that better. I tried several sippy cups that didn't work and loves those. Good Luck

Hello!

A friend of mine's pediatrician said that the easiest way to transition is to put WATER ONLY in the bottle, and when they don't want the bottle, give them a sippy cup (whatever brand you choose) with milk or formula in it. Switch as you need to, but ALWAYS keep water in the bottle and milk/formula in the sippy. When they realize that they don't get milk in the bottle anymore, they should switch over.

I also would recommend the nuby cups - they're not totally spill-proof (if they get mushed up against something in the diaper bag, they do leak), but they made a much easier transition for my daughter. I also found that the playtex sippies are a softer spout, too.

Good luck!!
R.:)