My son is 7.5 mos old and is a great eater. He drinks formula and also plenty of baby food and baby-friendly crackers & fruit. I would like to get him started using a sippy cup, but so far he's not too interested. He'll play with it, but doesn't quite get the concept that there's something in it and resists when I try to put the "sippy" part in his mouth.
My daughter also had trouble figuring out the sippy cup. I found a sippy cup at Wal-mart (the Nuby brand) that has a silicone top that is flexible like a bottle nipple, but is designed like a sippy cup. We tried it, and she was able to figure it out pretty quickly. After a month with that she understood how to drink from a regular sippy cup. I hope this helps!
MOST OF ALL...when he takes to it DON'T quit for any reason. You are at the right age for him to start learning and he will, but if you stop it will be lost and you will have to start over. Just keep introducing it and when he gets frustrated give him his bottle back but leave the sippy cup. My daughter took to the straw cups first and then the hard nuby right after. Remember that the flow needs to be slow for them to start or they get over whelmed.
He is still young so just letting him play with it is a help. Just put water in it and see what he does. If he doesn't really take to sippy cups try strawed cups, they have a variety of them and are better for their teeth. When he hits the year mark, just take all the bottles away, without a word to him and only offer the alternative cup you want him to have. Neither of my kids even blinked an eye about bottles being gone. I just did it on their first bday and they went with it. Also show him how a sippy works by you acting like you are drinking from it and saying it is yummy.
He will figure it out, he is just young still.
Our 8 mo daughter started to get how the sippy cups work after we took out the little plastic piece that slows the flow. We just had to be patient and let her get really messy and wet a few times and then she was able to pick it up and pop it right in her mouth. Although we do find her just playing with it sometimes and still soaking herself, so we're working on that!
Your son will let you know when he is ready. You are doing the right thing by introducing it to him. It will just be a matter of him "taking" to it. My solution to this problem was buying "born free" sippy cups. They are easier to learn on, and are a perfect transition from the bottle to the sippy cup. You can order them online, or get them at whole foods. I then got the sippy cups that have straws- these are great b/c they are spill proof, and make the transition from sippy cup to real cup easy. I simly showed my son how to use the straw and he mimicked what I did and figured it out pretty quickly. Check out the born free sippy cups- they really help! Good Luck!
Take the valves out. Our oldest never did figure out how to suck on the sippy cups - and on most cups you have to suck really really hard on. If you have the rule that all eating and drinking is on your bottom in the kitchen, then it doesn't matter if a mess is made. By 11 or 12 months he was drinking from a cup (no lid) w/out messes. So we did the same thing for our second and she also breezed right through this stage. It is helpful to make the liquid as warm as you would in the bottle.
We started one son with a straw, and once he got that, the rest was a breeze. We just cut the straws pretty short and put the cut part in the cup. You're at the right age to try. Some kids are just harder than others. I know a friend who did open cups with some of hers and then transitioned to a lid. That worked well for several of hers.
