Switching to Sippy Cup

My first advice is based on my Dr's recommendation of no more than 4 oz of juice per day and it should be diluted with water. She still recommends that and my daughter is 2. Second, as far as the milk in the cup - you're probably right. It took my daughter awhile - she was breastfed but occasionally took a bottle. I found that she like sipping through a straw, so I introduced milk to her that way and after a week or so of that, she was fine with the milk in a regular sippy cup. Munchkin makes some spillproof sippy cups with straws (they have Dora and Spongebob on them). Just keep with it - always offer her a cup of milk with her meals - even if she only takes 1-2 sips it's good. Good luck

Hi A.:
Why add to confusion by changing from bottle to sippy cup for formula? We never put breastmilk/formula in the sippy cup. Just diluted juice or water. This way, our 9 mo. old knows the difference between the two. Sippies are for drinks. Bottles are for milk. The bottles will go when the breastmilk/formula goes...and she'll still be using the sipper for awhile after that until we can get her to use regular cups. So far, so good! She's been using her sipper since 6-7mo. and she much prefers it (and the juice) over her bottle now anyway. I'm pretty sure it will make weaning much easier when the time comes. Good luck!

Well, with my son at one year old I no longer gave him any breast milk at all (I am sure that formula would be the same deal)- I was told that they get the nutrients that they need from the food now... he never took a bottle, He went right to a sippy up... and he is 5 now and did fine with just food - juice and water.

A.,
I had this problem with my two for a long time, my daughter refused milk in a sippy cup. Would talk to her all the time about the bottle and how different it was from a cuppy. After several conversations and attempts I had her help me one morning give all the bottles to the garbage monster, this may not be appropriate for your 10 month old obviously, but it worked with my daughter at 2 years old. Yes I know 2 years old and still having a bottle, it's rediculous. Well, my daughter agreed to throw all the bottles away and off they went tot he garbage monsters to share. With my son, he was a year old when I took him off the bottle, he was easier persay, but and now he is almost three and does not drink from a cuppy.In regards to your question about formula and how much, every child and their pediatrician is different when it comes to how much your child should intake of formula and milk. My daughter had acid reflux at age 3 months so milk was out of the question till she was at least a year, i wasn't even able to start weening her till after her first birthday, what I did, was that to start weening i would put at least 1-2 oz of milk in with their formula( I did this with both of my kids, I started it with my son at an earlier age, 10 months), and the rest water, after several weeks you will start to notice a change in her response to the bottle that you are making, it's hard to explain but you will see a difference almost like she is wanting more. After several weeks I started to use more milk half and half of formula and milk and water, I jsut started measuring out the difference, this is for you to decide. by the time they turned a year old they were on whoel milk and using a cuppy. P.s. make it a point to use the bottle at nights only or even at nap times, if shes' thirsty or hungry enough she will take the cup, give it some time, she will do it when she is ready.....good luck, and I hope I was some help to you,being a single mom is definately hard, keep up the good work, i'm sure you will be just fine...it will all come to you....

Just keeping trying. I agree with the fairy thing, we told my neice that the easter bunny needed the bubba for the baby bunnies, that worked. My son traded his bubba in for a trip to chuck e cheese. My daughter just gave hers up.

Hi A. my name is C. and Im 31 married mom of 2 girls 6 and 4 I wanted to just tell you what the girls dentist told me.. a sipppy is just another form of a bottle and just as bad for their teeth both of mine had to have work done on their teeth because of thebottle and the sippy so you might want to try skipping it and going straight to the cup getting my second daughter off the sippy was hard. I hope this helps

Some kids just take a little longer. My daughter took what seemed like forever to hold her bottle by herself, and wasn't totally switched over to all sippy cups until she was 13 or 14 months, I think. I started replacing one bottle a day with a sippy cup when she was about 10 months old, and just gradually increased the number of sippy cups until the bottles were gone(started with lunch, then dinner, then breakfast, and left bedtime for last). I tried a bunch of different sippy cups with her. She liked the Nuby ones with the soft top the best- they even have one with handles on it and a cover for travel. The only problem I've had with them is that she likes to chew on them, and I haven't found a place that sells the insert. At about $1.70 per cup, they aren't expensive, though. The take and toss cups are actually really great as well, although I never bring them when we go out. They are really cheap (5 or 6 for about $2.50), are dishwasher safe, they don't have a valve, and the lids stay on about 99% of the time (have to drop them on the floor at just the right angle to get the lid to come off). I really don't like the Playtex ones with the handles. They really aren't good for teaching because you have to suck so incredibly hard to get any liquid out-it's crazy! If you take the valves out of them then the liquid pours all over the place and the child chokes. I ended up cutting a bigger slit in the valves so it was a happy medium. The Walmart generic brand (Parent's Choice?) leaked so bad that I took it right back after the first use. I'd recommend not using the ones with the straws until she gets totally off the bottle and has mastered the sippy cup. It is a totally different skill to learn, and it might confuse her. Besides, cleaning those straws are a pain, and the dishwasher seems to "eat" them, because they disappear. Another one I love to use now is the Playtex Sipster. They have a valve, but they aren't difficult for my daughter to drink out of, are leakproof, not as expensive as some of the other ones, and it's easy to get a good seal when you put the lid on. They don't have a cover for travel, though. Some of the Nuby's come with covers, so they are great to bring when you go out.

As far as how much milk/formula to give her, at my daughter's one year appointment our doctor told us the minimum was 24 ounces until she was 2 years old. I know my daughter was drinking 32 ounces a day until she was about 11 months old. One thing to keep in mind is that the solid food she is eating is going to replace some of the "food" in the bottles (milk/formula). That is why she will start to drink less formula. When she turns one you can switch her to whole milk- happy day- much cheaper!! =)
Don't stress too much about it- she'll catch on when she is ready. One thing I realized with my daughter is that she didn't want to hold the cup for some reason. If I held it for her long enough to get a few sips, then she would do better and start to hold it herself.
Good luck.

Try the Nuby brand of sippy cups (at Walmart). They have a soft top more like a bottle. My son did the same thing your baby is doing, but that cup helped a lot. When he was about 9 months old, I just put away all the bottles and figured he would eventually just take the formula from the cup. He lasted all day, then took his milk before bed. There weren't any problems after that. Also, you may want to check with your doctor about the amount of formula she's getting - I thought they ended up with 4 eight oz bottles a day, but that could be wrong.

Your doing a great job. Just have the bottle disappear with the formula. When you switch from formula to vitimin D milk, get rid of all the bottles. Don't put anything but formula in the bottle and she will wean herself at 1. :)

You have the right idea to take her off by a year. I did it with both my children. I had no problem switching with my son. My daughter had a bit of a problem. I suggest you try different sippy cups with her to find the one that works best. Sometimes it is as simple as finding a character she likes or even take her with you and let her pick it out. As to how much formula. What i did was i made the formula in the bottle and poured it into the sippy cup. Another thing you can do for the transition is maybe have a little ceremony where the "bottle fairy comes and takes the bottles you all ready have for the new babies that need them use the same principles as the tooth fairy. Maybe if she believes that she is a big girl and thier are other new babies that need them it will work. Good luck and stick to your guns about things, jocey