Transition from Bottle to Sippy Cup

There is a new sippy cup with a very soft spout- I just saw it today at Wal-Mart. I believe the brand was Gerber but it definetely said Graduates on there. Maybe starting her on a soft spout would help the make the transisiton easier. Good luck!

Hi C.
I had a problem taking my youngest off the bottle as well. She hated drinking out of sippy cups. I got some of those little cups from tupper ware and started slowly transferring her to those. I skipped the sippy cup stage doing that and she felt like a big girl because she drank out of regular cups like mommy and daddy. I gave her the bottle and started out water in the cup. That didn't work so I put her favorite juice. That worked! Maybe trying a regular cup instead of sippy cup that will work better.
Good luck!

My 15 month old son is having the same problem to a certain point, he is fine with a cup for water and juice, but not for his milk. I found at Walmart last week a sippy cup with a very bottle like tip. I am sorry but I forgot the name brand, but it was less than two bucks and he is a little happier with it.

Forget the sippy and go to a cup. Yes, it's messier and she'll need your help for a good long while but then you don't have to wean her again from a sippy and some kids just don't like sippy's. Offer her a drink of what you're drinking and see if she'll go for it. My daughter loves a cup and really skipped the sippy phase. Also - don't worry too much about her liquids, it's much more important to save her teeth by getting her off the bottle asap. My sister let her baby keep her bottle too long and just found out she has 6 big molar cavities.

Best of luck!

I know you said you bought one of every kind of sippy cup, but have you tried the gerber, it is a "bottle" that has a sippy cup type top. It is a soft rubber top, there is also the Nuby sippy cups with the silicone type top. My daughter was hard to transition and we went to the nuby cups and it worked. If these don't or have not worked, keep at it. She will eventually change over. You could try telling her that big girls dring from a sippy cup and babies drink from bottles. I am doing this with my 3 year old and his thumb sucking, it seems to be working. Good Luck.

C., it definitely will involve consistency. i had the same problem with my toddler and the pediatrician assured me that when he was thirsty he would drink out of the sippy cup. So we just kept the sippy cup out and within his reach all the time and he eventually figured out that was his only option and started using it. Plus, we even would show him that Mommy and Daddy liked to drink from the sippy cup too, and that helped me because he then wanted to do what he saw his Daddy doing and they'd drink together! It was pretty funny! But it does take time and patience. Let her see you pour the juice from the bottle into the sippy cup so she will know it's the same thing...Good luck!

The daycare I have my son in puts formula in the sippy cup. This way it is still the formula they are used to in a new container. It took awhile, but he got it. He stills prefers his bottle and doesn't drink a whole lot from the sippy cup, but they tell me to just be patient and it will work itself out. Hope this helps, only if a little bit.

I have a blind 4 yrs old daughter and she is very picky as most blind children are. It took us forever to get her t drink a sippy cup. However they have sippy cups that have silicone nipple like lids that are still enough like a bottle that most picky children will transition to them from the bottle. Have you tried those? You may have to go to Babys R Us to find them or even call Gerber to find some. I dont think you should have a problem getting them. Also have you tried letting her drink out of a regular cup? My 20 month old has been drinking out of a regular cup for months now. I still give him is sippy but he like to dribk my water from a regular cup. Also have you tried letting her drink out of a straw? They have sippy cups with straws. You just need to use silicone based lids rather than the hard ones. Good luck and regardless she will drink out of whatever you give her if she gets thirsty enough and as long as she is having wet diapers she is getting enough fluids.

Toss the bottles and maintain the sippy cups. She'll learn to utilize the sippy cups.

You definitely need to get her off the bottle. I'd put away all but 2-3 of her bottles. Then I'd clip the nipple so the bottle doesn't work well. Even though she's only 15 months, you can talk to her and tell her she's a big girl and big girls don't use bottles. When the bottle doesn't work for her she'll start using the sippy cup better.

You might even try a small regular cup. Some children prefer those to sippy cups anyway. I have several friends whose children didn't use sippy cups. I know that when I was a baby/toddle, they didn't have sippy cups...we went from the bottle to regular cups. It's not the end of the world if that happens. In fact, I would have preferred it with my daughter. She's 4 now and still uses sippy cups to some degree...we are moving her to mostly regular cups...she is 1 year from starting Kindergarten and needs to be using a cup regularly.

The main thing to remember is to stick with it. CONSISTENCY is key!!! She will transition if you don't give in.

Good luck! :)

I've had similar problems with my 15 mth old girl! She is attached to her bottle, especially in the morning and then for bedtime. I'm trying to ween her off too by letting her use the bottle only for naps and bedtime, but no meals. She started using the sippy a lot more when I got her the NUBY SIPPY CUPS WITHOUT HANDLES b/c it is most like the bottle with a thick soft spout and holds like a bottle. She's not big on juice either so I try just water and milk in the sippy which helps. Some moms skip the sippy cup and go straight to the spill-proof toddler cups with a built in straw. I've heard it helps if they see you drink with a straw for a while first which is probably why mine hasn't figured it out b/c I hardly use straws :)

My son is almost 3 and he still wants a bottle at night. We started him on his sippy cup by letting him drink from our glasses first. Then we took him shopping to pick out his own "big-boy-glass". Although he still prefers to use the bottle in the AM and PM, during the day he will use the sippy cup. Don't sweat it. Eventually she'll want to be like a big girl and use the cup. Getting her enough fluids is the most important thing. Your doing a great job, MOM!

Stop the bottle all together, do not give her that option. She may not like any of the sippy cups. There are so many out there that I suggest trying many. We went through 4 or 5 different types until we had that worked. Also, might prefer a straw instead. If you want to try that route, start with a juice box and squeeze a bit while her mouth is on it. There are a few sippy cups that use straws instead. FYI the straw ones are better to help kids get those muscles going for speech.

Hi C.,

If you dont' mind the mess, you could just transition straight to a regular cup. I bought the dixie cups...little ones that are plastic and put just a little in at first and my kids thought that was great! They much prefered to drink out of a big cup rather than a sippy cup. You may try it.

Also, you may want to look at her diapers to see if she is getting enough fluids...several wet ones throughout the day rather than look at the acutal input of liquids. She may be getting her liquids from fruit, etc. Just a thought.

Good luck, A.

I second the advice to throw them away. You know the bottles are in the cabinet, and she knows the bottles are in tne cabinet. It is to easy to get another out! Current research says adults don't need 64 oz. of water a day. Offer water and she will drink what she needs.

This is only the first of many "battles." Check out www.loveandlogic.com for more great advice.

We used the straw cups. When my first child was around 3 1/2 years old, she was not speaking very clearly. When we took her to have her speech evaluated they told us to take her off of the sippy cups. They said that is the worst thing to do for their speech. We changed and her speech improved quickly. Our youngest never used a sippy cup. We just used the straw cups.

My youngest son refused to drink from a bottle or a sippy cup until I found I was pregnant when he was 14 months old. I asked my pedi how to get him to drink from the sippy and he simply said to not make it optional. Your daughter will not starve or dehydrate herself - only give her a sippy. I recommend the sippy with a straw...for my son that was easier and actually more helpful for speech development also. Do not offer a bottle - even at night! It is a much harder transition for the parent than the child! Good luck and be strong!

When she is ready she will take the cup. I had the same situation with one of mine. My pediatrician told me that they would prefer her to be off the bottle, but every child works differently. He said to at least stop giving it to her at night and don't let her take it to bed. My daughter was off the bottle right before she was 2 the same time she was potty trained. You might try putting her in her highchair and giving her a regular cup to drink out of. That worked for me.

The only way to get a child to stop drinking form the bottle is to stop giving it to them. She prefers the bottle because you are giving it to her as an option. Take the option away. Most parents start to irrationally think that the child is going to get dehydrated or get sick or they just grow impatient with a few days of crying and whining that seems like months instead of days. I know I did! Take her to the pediatrician and make sure that she has no problems swallowing, eating or chewing and then just trust that she will drink out of a sippy cup or (gasp!) a REGULAR cup soon when she wants to. She is mostly likely just resisting change and being stubborn like most of us tend to do when change is forced upon us. Trust that she will be fine and just mark the days on your calendar so that you can see that it's only a few days or a week of frustration. You are a great mom and you are not ruining her life or damaging her forever by taking away the bottle. This is only the first step of many when you will have to decide something that you know is best for your child and they fight you on it. Also, if she eats fruits and regular foods normally, she will be getting hydration from that, just as long as she is wetting at least once a day (it will be less since she is not drinking as much) she's fine. Don't worry. And just get rid of the bottles, that way you and she will not have a choice and move on. Thats the first step.

The best advise that I got when transitioning my son was to not give him a choice. If that is too harsh for you, give her her morning and bedtime bottle and then the rest of the day, have it be her cups and nothing else. She will learn to drink from them when she's not given any other option; babies and kids are much smarter than we give them credit for.

And I know that you said that you've bought just about every sippy cup out there (I did the same thing) and my son LOVES the Nuby silicone spouted cups that you can get at Walmart. The spout is so much like his bottles that he transitioned really easily.

Good luck.

I had this same question a couple of months ago and everyone here gave me great advice. The advice I was given by other mothers and my pediatrician was: During the day only offer her a sippy cup. If she favors one more than the other than by all means, use that one. The doc said it was perfectally fine if she isnt drinking as long as she eats and still has wet diapers. One wet diaper in an 8hr period is fine. If your daughter is anything like mine, she will be stubborn and might fight you, but be consistent with what you do. My boys often drink from a sports bottle, well my daughter saw them and wanted their sports bottle. I put water in it, and she loved it and now drinks from that or a sippy cup. Its worth a shot. Good Luck!

My 16 month old was the same way. We started giving her a sippy without the stopper and just helping her not make such a mess. Every time I put the stopper in she threw the cup at me! Eventually she just got it. Now she uses the sippy all the time and she is starting on straws. Your daughter will get there!

The Nuby sippy cups worked as a transition for my son. The Nuby cups have a soft silicone top, more like a bottle nipple. Once he got the hang of that, we switched him to the hard plastic spout cups.

Just try teaching to drink through a cup, or a cup with straw instead, and get rid of the bottles altogether. She knows if she waits she'll get what she wants (kids are just too smart about that :-))Could be rough for a small amount of time, but it'll get easier. You might also try putting the tiny tiny nipples on the bottle so it'll be like always having to drink a think shake through a small hole to her. OR alternatly make the hole huge so sucking won't be so satisfying.
Good luck!

Don't stress, it will come with time.... keep giving her the sippy cup every single day, even if she only drinks a little from it. Eventually, she will get used to the cup & the bottle will be history. It may take some time, so just be patient. Also, as long as she is producing diapers, she is not getting dehydrated. My first daughter (now 5) did the same thing and eventually, she threw her own bottle in the trash! Hang in there and be persistent with giving her something in the cup every single day....hope this helps. Try the brand from Nuby...they are so much like the bottle nipple, you can get them at Walmart for a little over $1. L. G- SAHM mother of 2.