Weaning from Bottle to Cup

My daughter is 19 months old, and she was one that would not take a bottle at first, she wanted only me! It took a while to get her to drink from a bottle. So, needless to say, getting her to drink from a sippy cup wasn't easy either. The ONLY cup she would take was the NUK sippy cup with the detachable handles. The NUK cup is a very good transition, the milk does not come out too fast. You will soon be able to give her just that cup, and fizzle out the bottles. Use this cup for her milk and another cup for water. My daughter loves to drink water, too. My problem now, though, my little one loves her NUK cups so much, she calls them her "ba-ba", and wants it all the time! Good luck, and just keep trying!

From what you say, both of you are doing a good job with the switch over! She's not to young to be introduced to the cup, I don't think. Just be patient and remember, she's just learning. The only piece of advice I could give is to change her from formula to milk at the same time. This is the norm I believe. I did with both of mine at about a year old. I didn't want them to associate the cup with the bottle!
Congratulations on your wonderful daughter! Keep up the good work. Best of luck.

I did it cold turkey just after his first birthday. It was a painful, power struggle of a day, but it worked. By night he was on the sippy cup and there was no turning back.

I just said here's the cup. If you're thirsty, come drink.

We had a similar situation, and the best "cup" I found was a Nuby. They have a latex nipple part like a bottle, but are like a cup in every other way. It was the only cup my daughter could really get the hang of at first. Now we use it just for milk in the morning when she cuddles up on the couch, because she can't seem to make a mess with it like she does with the others. I have only been able to find them at Walmart. Good Luck!

You may want to just start transition from formula to cow's milk along with the bottle to sippy cup transition. I know she is only 11 months so you can either just wait a few more weeks or just give her a little bit to see how she does (a few weeks probably won't make a difference). You can always check with her pediatrician about switching from formula to milk if you're unsure.

Anyway, but the idea with this is that the taste is different from formula and so if you start that association with the sippy cupy with cows milk it might make it a little easier...

Good luck!

For my two girls, ages 4 years and 8 months, I always gave an open cup of water or milk (not sippy) at the table. I save sippies for going out or when my daughter hit about a year to 18 months and wanted to drink indepenedently. Basically, as we phased out breast/bottle feedings for table meals, we also were phasing out the bottle. It worked great for one, and my littlest drinks great from an open cup, with assistance of course.

At 11mths old, it's not too early to change over from formula to milk now. This would be something 'different' that she can have in her 'big girl' cup. Does she use a straw? Maybe you could get those sippy cups with the straw so it is still more of a sucking action for her. Be sure to give her whole milk or no less than 2% for the first yr. This will build up the fatty, protective tissue around the base of the skull. And even if you didn't want to switch her completely off formula yet, you could give her milk in the mornings or with meals and bottle for nap and bedtime? Just a thought.

Good Luck!

Take Care,
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I exclusively breastfed, but when I started introducing cow's milk, it was only ever in a cup. So the association became milk=cup.

I don't see the harm in waiting a month and phasing out formula bottle for the cup of milk.

Hey, 11 mos is not too early at all! All 3 of my kids loved drinking from a cup with a straw, I started this at around 9 mos. Start putting her formula in this and see what she thinks. It might take several tries before she gets the hang of a straw.

Good luck!!

Hi C.,

You've recieved a lot of good advice already...here's my two-cents: Don't make the milk any different from the water. It's just another drink. I also found that the Nuby was too much like a bottle and ended up having to go through another transition with my oldest. My friends experienced this same situation with the Nuby and none of us used Nuby's with out second babies. What I found that worked well was to choose one sippie cup (sounds like she's doing well with one already). Then just substitute her formula in it one feeding a day for a couple of days, then another after she gets used to it...and so on. Once she's on a sippie cup then switch the formula for whole milk the same way. You could also switch to whole milk in the initial transition, that's up to you and your pediatrician. Whatever you decide, you will do great!

I weaned my daughter from the bottle at 11 months as well. At the same time I switched her from formula to whole milk to avoid another switch in a month. I started out giving her a cup of milk at each meal time but still gave her a bottle at her usual times. Over the next few weeks she began drinking more and more of her milk at meal times and I just phased out the bottles. I used the Nuby cups as the lids are soft and flexible just like the nipple of her bottles were. The Nuby cups can be a little messy but it is totally worth it. My daughter made the transition from bottle to cup very easily with these cups. A few months later after she got used to drinking completely out of cups I just switched to a different brand of cups with the harder spouts that do not leak as easily.

I really don't think it's too early, my 1 yo boy was drinking from an open cup well at about 9 months. Of course, he's only been breastfed so he didn't know any other way, but I would recommend trying this first. I think babies find it to be a great novelty to drink from the same kind of cup as mom and dad. I would hold the cup for her at first and get her used to the mechanics of drinking straight from the rim of the cup. Only put a little bit of liquid in it at a time too. They go way too fast at first and you don't want her to choke. Let her see you drinking water or juice from a cup and then offer her some to get her used to it. Then you can put some of her formula into one and pretend to drink it too and offer her some of that. Once she has the mechanics of drinking down well, I would look for some very small cups, maybe with rubber grips, that she can hold in her own hands.

Another thing to try is the cups that have the rubber straws that pop out of the top. Both of my boys love those cups and they're more convenient for any time I don't feel like cleaning up a big mess. My little one carries one around with him all day full of water so he can drink as he gets thirsty.

Good Luck!