Advice for Transition from Bottle to Cup

My best suggestion is to try the NUBY no spill cup. My son loved it. It was easy for him to grip and the silicone spout was an easy transition from bottle. I believe they were even one of the cheaper sippy cups out there. Good luck.

keep offering the sippy cup. Don't give in with the bottle. if she is thristy enough (and knows that hey, this is it -- no more bottle) she will drink from a sippy. it might take a few days.

Good luck,
L.

Why hurry her? I haven't seen any Kindergartners carrying their bottle to the first day of school. When she is ready she will go for the sippy cup. It sounds like you are having a power struggle with your nearly 2 y o. Is she strong willed? If so, carefully choose your battles. The fewer you have the happier you both will be. Maybe take her to the store in a month or two or more and let her pick out a sippy cup that she likes. Be aware though, that even a good sippy cup is messier than the bottle usually. Good luck! Relax!

Just keep at it. Eventually she'll get the hang of it. You may have to demonstrate a few times. Get really super excited when she drinks from the cup. She won't get dehydrated, just keep on offering the cup. Offer it several times a day. Have you tried just a regular cup with out the lid? Don't give her a bottle, then she'll know that she doesn't have to drink out of a cup. Good Luck!

She won't dehydrate - but she will push for what she wants. Put her favorite liquid into the sippy cup and allow her to drink as much as she wants. Switch her bottles to water and at least she will be drinking water at bedtime. My brother's best advise: Take her out for a thin milk shake... she will love drinking out of a straw after that. You may need to suck on the straw to get it started the first time, but she will figure it out!

D.,
I had the same problem with my daughter. I tried several sippy cups, but she was so stubborn that I always ended up giving in and letting her have the bottle, as I was convinced she would just continue to NOT drink if I didn't. Finally, someone suggested the Nuby 3-stage feeding systen. The cup has three tops, one is a nipple (just like a bottle), the second is like a sippy cup, and the third is a straw. One day, I put my daughter's milk in the cup, with the nipple on, and she didn't even seem to notice the differnce. One week later, I switched the top to the sippy, and again, she didn't even seem to notice. I was absolutely amazed at how easy the transition was. I HIGHLY recommend giving this a try. I purchased the cup at Walmart. Good luck!

J.

Dont' worry about weaning her already. When they say that kids will wean themselves, they're not kidding. Last night was night #2 of my now 26 month old going to bed without his bottle. We started only giving him a sippy with meals (water or juice), a bottle of milk with nap and bed. Then we eliminated his nap bottle (about 2 months ago). Started putting milk in his sippy (about a month ago) and just wore him out the last couple days so he went to bed without even realizing he would normally take a bottle with him. Why stress yourselves (and your daughter) out with forcing the issue?

With both of my girls, it took many different sippies to find one that worked for them.
Be prepared to go through buying several to find one that works for your daughter.
Sometimes the cheap ones work better for some kids than the "name brand" ones. Don't be afraid to try the ones in the dollar stores. I found some of those to be better (my child liked them better) than the more expensive ones.

Just keep trying different ones. If you've tried several and she doesn't seem interested, give it a break for a while.
You can buy ones with different characters on them, and that can be a big help.

Some of the baby bottles make a transitional cup, that looks like a sippy but at first you still use the nipple on them, then switch to the sippy mouth piece.

At meals and in the daytime, give her milk and water with straw or sippy cups, or just from a regular glass.At bedtime give her milk from a cup that she has to suck on to get the liquid out.
At age 15 mos. I stopped the bottle for my daughter "cold turkey". She screamed and screamed at bedtime, but after 3 nights, she finally gave up. I did this on the advice of her doctor, who said she was "addicted" to the bottle. It didn't hurt her a bit to give it up.

Hello D.. Does your daughter have a favorite show on tv or charactor? I would take her to the store and let her pick out any two 'big girl' cups she wants. I would also provide juice or water in one cup and milk in the other. If she doesn't drink milk at all, I wouldn't be worried about dehydration yet. She is getting liquids in her meals. Also, you might want to make the transition easier by still offering her the bottle at bed times and cups during the day. If this is the first time trying to get her to drink out of a cup she might not understand the concept. Hope that helps and best of luck!

As long as she is ABLE to drink from the cup then I don't think you need to worry about dehydration....you say she pushes the cup away angrily? If so then she is testing you because she wants the bottle. You need to decide if you want her away from the bottle bad enough.

Hi - I'm doing the same thing right now and my son didn't like anything other than his bottle, until I found a sippy cup that comes with 3 different lids. One of them is a nipple, the others are a normal sippy cup top, and a sports bottle top. it is made by Nuby and it is called a feeding system. I am now out of state, but the only place I could find them is at Wal-mart. Right now, he is using the nipple, but it is different than his bottle, and my hope is that if he uses this for a while, it will be easier to transition the lid to the regular sippy cup top. My only advice is to try it and if it works, use it and only it. I only bought one, so had to go back and forth between his bottle and the new sippy cup and he could tell the difference. So, I took the new one away until I bought more and could totally get rid of his bottles.

Good luck - N.

D.,

I broke my son at 10 months and i did it by switching one bottle a day then it just kinda went to cold turkey. Maybe you could offer her water in her bottle and her the milk in her sippy maybe even let her see you put it in her sippy. My son would just do what ever it took to get his milk...lol! But he did better than i expected. I would maybe just try to give her the sippy when she is NOT tired and try to make it fun. Well good luck to you :0)

I broke my children of the sippy before their first birthdays. It was easy just give them milk and I let them pick theirs out. My girls just did it naturally.

Maybe just try putting a straw in a regular cup.

There are multiple sippy cups that have transitions to holding a cup. There are cups with a nipple on the cup that is similar to a bottle nipple. Other cups have a sippy cup with a hard top and something of a pour spout.

Hi D.!

I just went through the same thing with my youngest. She was still taking a bottle at nap time and then at bedtime at about 18-20 months. I knew I needed to get her off of the bottle. She would take water and juice out of a sippy, so I knew she could do it. I was mostly concerned with her getting her nutrients from the milk. Both bottles were difficult to give up. However, we took the nap time one out first. Then the bed time one. All within about 2 weeks of each other.

I give her milk at every meal in a sippy. She hadn't taken it for a couple of months, but I offered it to her on a regular basis. Finally, just the other day, she started using the sippy at dinner time. She doesn't always drink her milk at breakfast or lunch, but dinner is pretty constant now. I use the inexpensive, disposable sippies that you can put in the dishwasher. I have only had a few issues with leaks and spills - mostly because I am not aware enough and didn't snap the lid on completely. I think they are great. I have also bought the same brand, but it has a lid with a straw. I will have my youngest try that every once and a while as well. She is definitely getting the hang of it.

I think the thing you have to decide is if you can handle the possibility of a day/evening or two of not so good times. Like other moms have said, she won't go thirsty, especially if you give her other liquids to supplement. I just wouldn't give her some water or juice and then expect her to drink her milk as well. If she is thirsty, she will drink.

Good Luck.
K.

Hi D.,

I saw some suggestions for a Nuby. That's a wonderful choice. It worked well for my first... not so much for my youngest. Just throwing another option out there if that doesn't work.
I have used Born Free Bottles on my youngest. He has a very strong suck reflex, and the Nuby wasn't satisfying him. The Born Free bottles make a trainer and a sippy cup to ease the transition to cups. The tops have a rubbery sippy spout, so they get the sensation of a nipple, but increased skill of drinking.They are a bit pricy ($9)per cup. Needless to say, I don't have as many cups as I did the Nuby cups. But it has done the job for me. He is 12 months and will choose that over his bottle anymore. Again... whatever works. Every baby is different, so the more options the merrier. Best wishes!

I love the Nuk sippy cups. They have a soft tip and handles. I found that my youngest didn't like the hard topped ones and when we found these, he immediately started using them.

hey

well i been there but i broke my 17 month old right before her frist bday when she was drink formula all the time and she loved it it took one day i put milk in the cup and water in the bottle she keep taking the water but i new she loved the milk way more i would take the keep and drop some milk into her mouth so that she would know i would only get milk if i drink from the cup buy 6pm she was hiding behind her daddy drinking from the cup it took a week because i would give it to her but she wouldnt tak it only on her on time so i would have to place it close buy and she would do it on her on after that she would take it like i was giving her the bottle i did let her take the bottle at bed time and naps because she wasnt used to drinking from it so it would keep her up but i did that for only three days until she can take it to beed with her and i used some cups from walgreens it come to in a pack and the 3 bulks good luck am on pty trainng right now and were doing good

Just get rid of the bottles all together - don't have any in the house. Trust me your 18 month will not dehydrate herself - if she gets thirsty enough she'll drink out of anything that you give to her.

good luck and God bless,
Mel

My daughter took several weeks to eventually take a cup. I started trying around 9 months and she wasn't fully transitioned until about 11 1/2 months. I offered her a cup at every meal and snack time so she at least got used to it. I was still nursing so I think that is why she was refusing. What I finally did was offer her the cup and if she didn't take it she didn't get liquid for that meal. I only did this once a day so that she wasn't getting dehydrated. Eventually she started taking little bits and then one day she drank an entire cup of milk out of the blue. Just be consistent and keep offering the cup. But, I think if you give in every time she refuses, she will never accept it. Good luck.

Cold turkey is, in my experience, the best way to do it. Say goodbye to the bottles and don't go back. Take her to the store to pick out a cup she likes (my niece is 18 mos and loves the Little Mermaid cups) and try to make it fun. I doubt you'll need to worry about dehydration...make sure you give her lots of fresh fruit as those have high fluid volumes. Every time you give her that bottle again she's going to know it's there and that if she just holds out long enough...