HELP With Transition from Bottle to Sippy Cup.

I just went through the same situation. We eventually just took the bottle away and it took a few days, but he started drinking his milk from his sippy. The Dr. said a few days without milk isn't bad and as long as they are hydrated they will be fine!! Good Luck:) Also, my son was not the greatest sippy cup drinker until we took the bottle away and he had no choice.

Everyone has good ideas, here's yet another! I went through this transition 3 months ago with my twins (they were one). I first switched to whole milk and kept the bottles for a couple weeks. Then, still keeping bottles at nap/bedtime, I would give them milk in their sippy cups at meals, nothing else, not even water. This cold-turkey approach took a couple days, but I knew they were still getting enough milk at their naptimes with bottles, so I stuck with it. In a couple days they were drinking milk from their favorite sippy (not Nuby - flowed too fast) and I have since started slowly taking away naptime bottles, we're down to one at the afternoon nap and one at night.

Yet another transition for parents to muscle through, stick with whatever approach you use and she'll catch on in a couple days.

Hi S.:

Keep in mind that infants (toddlers) don't adjust well with too much change. You just transitioned her from breast milk or formula to whole milk. I think that one change at a time is best. Let her chug away with the bottle for now. The sippin' cup should be used for juice and water by the time she reaches 1 and a half (if possible) but don't push her too hard. By the time she is 2, you can pour the milk in the sippin cup because she will have understood that liquids of all kinds can be drunken from the cup. Then see if she still wants the bottle. If she still hollers for the bottle at age 2, give her a little more time and let her drink the milk from the bottle only, but not the juice or water.

Also, when she truns age 2, start giving her straws to drink with. But for now, she is only 1 so let her keep her bottle.

We had the same issue with our little girl. All I can say is that persistence pays off. Our closet has a graveyard of all the sippy cups we've tried. I can remember she had a difficult time with the Nuby; the flow was still too fast for her, and she gagged a lot. Eventually the Playtex sippies worked best for us. I do have to admit that while transitioning, we allowed 1 bottle a day to make sure she was getting enough milk each day. Keep trying; there will be a day when you can pack away those bottles!

Actually I was reading in a Parenting mag that if you start watering down the milk in the bottle and giving her the good stuff in a sippy cup that it could help with the transition away from the bottle. Trying that out myself as of today so not 100% if it works yet. Just a thought.

Have you tried letting her drink out of a straw to get used to something different? That helped our transition.

I don't know which brand of sippy cups you are using but we used the Nuby brand of sippy cups first because they were more like the nipple of the bottle. My son seemed to take to those pretty well. We started with water and juice (watered down of course) first to entice him a little bit more. Once he started successfully sipping out of the nuby cup, we moved on to the Playtex sippys because they are a lot less messy. When we moved to the whole milk he didn't even flinch because he was used to drinking water out of the cup. I hope this helps. Good luck - she will come around, it just takes time.

I had this happen with my youngest. What worked for me to transition him into the disposable sippy cups the lid has 3 or 4 tiny holes in the spout to drink out of. After he mastered that I let him pick out a new sippy cup at the store and that did the trick!
Good luck.

Try the Nuby sippy cup and if she doesn't tolerate the Nuby transitioning top, put her current bottle nipple on it and gradually phase in the Nuby top.

The gagging on the sippy cup may likely be a behavior which is being inadvertently reinforced when you give her back the bottle. She has learned that if she gags, you take the sippy cup away and she gets her milk in a bottle. Unfortunately, these little ones read us like a book. Whatever you choose to do, be consistent!! Hope this helps!

I wouldn't switch back and forth. Our doctor wanted the bottle gone at one. He sputtered a little for about a week and then "got it". He also does well drinking from a medicine cup as it is the right size for his little mouth and he is learning how far to tip it in order to not pour it on his face.

I had issues with my kids not wanting the sippy. I just gave them the bottle until about 2. Nothing wrong with that. Eventually slowly they would transition to the Nuby sippy cup. It has a soft spout and feels more like a bottle.
I've heard of kids not wanting to drink as much milk because they are forced to dring out of the sippy cup. I'd rather stick to the bottle for a little longer and have them drink all the milk they need....

Hi S.,

Both my children had trouble taking a sippy cup. I think they liked the "instant gratification" from the bottle and were not willing to work at sucking on the sippy cup to open the valve.

I got those "Take-N-Toss" disposable cups that come 4-6 in a pack for about $4. It is just an inexpensive cup with a snap on lid with a spout that has about 4 holes for the liquid to come out. No spout to have to open, but that means the liquid comes out fast.

Both took to the Take-N-Toss no problem. I think because the fluid came out with minimal work. From there, they began sucking on the spout and then learned to suck on a regular sippy cup. I did watch them closely for the first few days since the liquid does come out so fast, I was worried they would choke. A few times they did get a big gulp of liquid, but they coughed and learned to adjust their sip. You also have to watch them dropping it on the floor, because it does spill out fast since no valve.

My daughter gave up the bottle no problem at 12 months. My son is now 14 months and still wants a bottle before bed and at 2 am when he wakes up for a snack (yes, I still cave in to that habit - any suggestions on breaking that??). He used to only take the sippy at meals and insist on a bottle for snack, so we are making progress. If only I can get rid of his need for night feedings and the need to be held while going to sleep!

Good luck!

V.

Sounds like the problem is with the flow of milk. The bottle restricts the flow and sippy cups and straws flow a bit easier. Make sure you try the sippy cup appropriate for her age and get the trainer sippy cup. Hopefully that should help! Good Luck!

I could have written this myself! My son just turned 1, and our transition is not going well.

He seems to have the same dislike of the faster flow from the sippy cup. He doesn't choke, but if he gets too much milk in his mouth, he spits it out.

I just cut the nipples of his bottles to make the holes bigger. It's definitely not as fast as the sippy cup, but my hope is that it will help him build up to the faster flow.

Maybe try it in one nipple to see how your daughter does. I'll be curious to see other suggestions.

Kids don't go to college with bottles so I'm sure it will happen at some point! My ped also told me it didn't have to happen until he was 2, but I'd really like to be done soon.

Hi S.
I don't know if this will help, but my now three year old had problems as well. I don't actually remember the remedy, however, the problem was she could not harmonize the breath, swallow, suck rhythm. I ended up consulting a speech therapist, and she was able to give me good things to do. The problem went away very quickly (which is probably why I don't remember what the exercise was).

I hope this helps (even a little.
A. D.

You can try a sippy cup that comes with a straw. My daughter refuses to drink her milk from a regular sippy and will only drink it from the straw cup.