My son is 11 months, and I am trying to transition him to a sippy cup by replacing 1 bottle a day with a sippy cup. I was going to do this once a week, and replace another bottle a week with a sippy cup until he no longer drinks from a bottle. I tried this the other day, and he threw a fit. He was crying and did not want the sippy cup, he wanted his milk from the bottle. I think my problem is that before, I would put water in a sippy cup and he would drink from it and loved his sippy cup, but he does not associate his milk with his sippy cup and he has a big attachment to his bottle. Has anyone had this problem before? What did you do?
Thanks!
Hey B.,
Something that really helped me was the sippy cups that had a soft top. It was like a nipple on a bottle, but was shaped like a sippy cup. once she got use to that i started to give her some sippy cups that had a hard top. she did really good with all of it. hope this helps you and Good Luck!!!
J.
When I had to do this with my son, I put a sippy cup with water in it on the floor with some of his other toys. He put everything in his mouth anyway, figured that it would end up there eventually. Once he realized that it was a "toy" with something in it, there was no turning him back. I guess he looked at it as a fun thing rather than me taking away his bottle. We had no problem. I don't mean to make it sound like it happened overnight... it took a few weeks, but there was no fight against it.
i used the nuby softspout cups, and they worked well b/v the spout was soft like a baby bottle nipple. then i mixed some chocolate in the milk and my boys never looked back.
I did this with both my boys. Sometime between 12 and 13 months I put all the bottles, nipples, etc. up while they were sleeping. I told them they were gone and they had to use the sippy. Out of sight, out of mind. I was shocked at how easy it was. If he still sees the bottle, that's what he'll ask for.
I had the same experience as the other woman who wrote in.... we tried to replace a bottle a day with the sippy cup and soon learned that he would just wait until the next bottle --LOL. So, we just went cold turkey, with the exception of the bed time bottle and within one day-- he was drinking from the cup and no problems. Eventually, we just got rid of the night time bottle too-- within a few weeks. He's 5 now--LOL-- and doesn't seem too damaged from the experience, so that would be my advice. I did that with my daughter too-- she held out for 4 days before she would drink well from the cup-- stubborn!
Mel
You might try sippies with straws for his milk, since they are a little different. Munchkin makes the best straw sippy cup in my opinion. I also like the take n' toss cups with straws.
This is what my pediatrician told me when I was in your shoes. NEVER put formula in a cup and NEVER put milk in a bottle. Children prefer the taste of milk over formula. I gave a last bottle one night and never looked back! Good Luck!
Try the warm water. Not hot. But warm in the bottle. It might discourage him taking it.
I got that idea from a lady I met.
Good luck
I am not sure if this will help, but I had the same problem with my now 2 1/2 year old daughter when we tried to transition her to sippy cups at 12 months. Our pediatrician told us to take all of the bottles away and only offer the sippy cup. She went on a milk strike for one day and then took to the cups with no problem at all. I thought this was a harsh way to tackle the situation at first but in the end it worked and the pediatrician said she has never heard of a child going more than 2 days without milk before giving in...Hope this helps
I had the same problem when I took the bottle away from my now 6-year-old. She was very attached it to it. I finally just took the bottle away from her cold turkey. She refused to drink milk out of a sippy cup much the same way as your son is doing. Bottle = milk. Water and Juice = Sippy Cup. She hated the idea of milk in a sippy cup. I did not go back to the bottle because by that time, 18 months, she was already way too old to be drinking from one. So, I did my best to make sure she got calcium from other sources -- cereals, juice, yogurt cereal bars. I also added some Carnation Instant breakfast to her milk or other flavoring. Some worked, some did not, but you might have to wait for that until your son is a little older. She did drink out of the sippys with the soft tips -- sometimes, too. Good luck and don't give up!!
Been there done that :)
I was able to replace one bottle at a time, but he threw major fits. I just didn't give in. He didn't get that bottle. I did find that I had to use the sippy cups with the soft spout (Gerber makes some) he didn't like the hard spout ones...even though he would use those for his water. GO FIGURE! Good Luck. You just have to hold your ground, whatever you decide that is!
J.
First of all, sometimes you have to let them throw their fits. He'll get "thirsty" sooner or later. When he takes a drink from it, make a big happy deal about it (that's also good for potty training...LOL). "You're such a BIG BOY, now!!"
When I was weening my son off the bottle at night, I basically had him quit "cold turkey". I did this by rocking him to sleep and singing to him. We struggled, at first, but then he learned to love my songs and looked forward to it.
Good luck and remember that everything will fall into place at your child's pace. Just be consistant.
Oh My Gosh, we are in the exact same boat. My son is 11 months and I too and having trouble transitioning to the sippy. He has learned that the sippy cup is for water, and when he is lucky juice, the other problem is that (he is an early walker) so he is totally mobile with the sippy cup and I do not let him walk with the bottle. I tried the other morning to give him his first Drink of the day in the sippy cup and he just would not take it. I didn't have long to wait before I needed to head out the door so I gave in and gave him the bottle which he took right away and gulped down.
My next step is that I will ask that anytime he gets a sippy cup that it has formula in it so that when he does take a sip he will eventually loose the association with water.
I will update you on my progress and if you can let me know what works with your little one! Hopefully we will both be successful soon!
We hid the bottles and made a big production out of trying to find the bottle. We looked under the bed. No bottle. We looked in the crib. No bottle. We looked in the dishwasher. No bottle. Finally I said, "The bottle must be lost. Let's drink out of a sippy cup." Every time he wanted a bottle we would look for the bottle and decide that it must be lost. He transitioned easy to a sippy cup because the bottle was gone.
