Sippy Cup Blues

My son is 17 months old and I myself had the same problem. When I first started trying to get him to take to the sippy cup I went and got the sippy top to the Avent bottle and placed that on in place of the nipple,he did not do so good with this one so I tried the Nuby sippy cup and he took to that one. I have now been trying to get him off the bottle altogether but he too will only drink water or juice from the nuby sippy cup. So a friend of mine at work suggested I try the sippy top to the Avent bottle again and guess what;it worked.He still is using his bottle but now instead of the nipple he now is using the Avent sippy top.

Dear T.,
I wouldn't worry about getting rid of the bottle at exactly 1 year. I let my daughter have it a couple extra months, she is now 3 and a half and doesn't take the bottle. My 2 year old still likes his soft sippy cup with milk, he never liked a bottle. If you want to try the soft sippy, it is Nuby brand and it is sold at Walmart or CVS.
Good luck!
A. Laufer, have three kids, 3 year old, 2 year old and 3 month old.

My son started drinking his juice from a sippy cup at 12 months too but wasn't ready to make the big switch until 13 months. He just needed a little more time.

for us we made the bottle boring, after her 1st birthday we would only put water in my daughters bottle, if she wanted juice or milk or anything else it had to be in a sippy. we would make both (sometime they both had water) and leave them on the table after about 2 or 3 weeks she wouldn't touch the bottle at all we just stopped putting it out and she never had a problem.

My son also did not want to give up his bottles. So, one day I just buckled down, put some milk in a sippy cup and refused to give him anything other than that. It only took him an hour to finally give in, as he absolutely loved and still does love his milk. No problem ever since then. Hope this helps!

I am the mom of a soon to be 12 month old too- my daughter was only drinking water from her sippy cup and I tried the formula in it but she didn't take it either- so I just tried it every day and eventually she did it- she did it for the 1st time when we were in the car and I couldn't give her another option and she had to feed herself- she drank it all! we go between bottle and sippy cup all day- just keep trying and slowly eliminate the bottles as you go- do it on your terms in your own time, so what if he's 14 months when it's all said and done, you are still a good mom and he is still a baby- hope this helps! L.

Well, if he is 12 months he should no longer be on formula, he should be on regular milk. But, now is the time to completely take a way that bottle. He will not drink from the cup if he knows eventually the bottle will be offered. Children know when they are hungry and thirsty. Even though the bottle is a comfortr to him, he will not go but so long without drinking. When children are hungry they eat, when they are thirsty they drink, and when they are full they stop. They listen to their bodies way better than you or I could. So don't worry, even if it takes him a few days to finally drink that milk, he will eventually do it. Stay strong and remember that he always has juice and water to survive on. He won't die or go mal- nourished if he skips a few days without milk.....so long as it's not an ongoing habit, he will be just fine. The important think is that you stay strong and consistent. Don't let him break you down, children are experts at this. It is only the lazy, easy way out when we give in to stop the fussing. Be encouraged that you are not alone, and you can do it!!!!!

What kind of sippy cup are you using? If it's one of those Playtex ones that don't leak, it is really hard to get a thicker liquid out of those. My son got so frustrated trying to drink milk from those that I switched to the old fashioned kind of sippy cup just for milk. He wasn't allowed to carry it around since the milk would go everywhere if he tipped it over, but I didn't really want him carrying milk around the house anyway (I didn't mind finding a water cup that had been stashed somewhere for a week, but I didn't want to find stuff growing in my cups).

Are you more worried about what you have been told, or about him drinking his milk? My daughter had a bottle well over a year old, but I was reassured that she was getting the proper nutrients from the milk, so I bared the questions about how old she was for a few months. Advocate for your own child's needs! There will be many more hurdles like this, when society's idea of timing simply doesn't suit your own child.

They make bottles tha you can put a sippy cup lid on or a cup with handles on each side.Try one of those for a week or so then try a regular sippy cup. Remember not all kids are the same one or two more months with a bottle won't hurt anything.

My son has a strong desire to imitate us, so we went with two options. A small water bottle with twist cap so you can control the flow and straight from a cup. The problem with both is that they are not leak-proof, but we went back later to the sippy cup and he took to it. I would leave him in his PJs in the morning and let him practice with the cup and he has always been really good with it (better than when I try and hold it for him!). Good luck!

Hey T.,

I'm not sure if this will work for you but it worked for my son and me. I bought a different sippy cup, but the formula in it, and held my son in my arms like I did when he was an infant. He loved it and he drank his milk right down. Hope this helps!

Are you giving him whole milk yet? My peditrician told me to go cold turkey if I could with formula and start the whole milk in the sippy cupl. That way, the baby is not used to having formula in a cup then switching to milk. It can make for an easier break.

Good Luck. I know it is hard!

wait a while! my son only just managed it at 2 years old. it's rather a hard skill -- holding the cup, tilting it to your mouth, tilting it so that all the liquid doesn't come rolling into your face, putting it back down on the table. there's nothing wrong with using sippy cups for a little while longer - take away the bottle, but let him use the sippy cup instead. you don't have to insist on a regular cup.

Well, of course, the usual allowances need to be made for the unique calendar of each child. My boy was very attached to his bottle until almost two and used to walk around with the nipple clenched between his teeth and then put his hand to it to take a drink. Oddly, it had the effect of some kind of gunslinger. What we finally did was convince him to leave his bottles for Santa because some other babies really needed them. I remember vividly the moment he very slowly placed the last bottle next to the plate of cookie, sighed, and stepped back slowly in fond farewell.

You might consider making an end run by looking for another kind of cup altogether. Maybe a little cup shopping trip (take your alchohol wipes for testing) is in order. Good luck.

A year is just a general guideline. You should do whatever works for you and your son. If he isn't ready to give up the bottle, then let him have the bottle and try again with the sippy cup in a few weeks. You already have one battle won though... he will drink juice from it... some kids won't even take a sippy cup at that age.

HI There! Have you tried switching to whole milk that is room temperature? I had the same problem, and my son only liked warm milk at first, as that was what he was used to with the bottle. BTW - he is 13 months old, and I still give him a bottle at bedtime.

T., was it your pediatrician who recommended that you take the baby off the bottle at one? I'm just curious. I think that every doctor, mother, grandmother and aunt have opinions about that. I can only tell you what happened for me, which definitely isn't a guarantee that it will work for anyone else...lol. One of my boys wasn't too keen on removing the bottle from his daily routine since the cup was no fun (and honestly at "1" it is a very difficult thing to convince them they're "big boys" now). I didn't do it until he was closer to two. But when I spoke to the doctor, he told me to water down the formula because it was harder to go through the sippy cup then juice which has only the consistency of water. Since I had only been giving him the formula for a few months at that time (I was nursing but became pregnant and had to stop), I just made it look like breast milk instead of what the formula directions were and fed him more of the formula in his cereals. It took a little struggle and a lot of unhappy feelings, but it worked. Getting rid of the pacifier was much, much harder. Please report back with what in fact works for your son. I'd be very interested in finding out what ended up working. Good luck to you.

T.,

I have to agree with most of what was said in the other advice left for you. The "12 month rule" is just a general guideline, not a rule. From what I understand from my pediatrician, you child can't use all the fat in the milk properly until abt 1 year, so it's wasted, that's why you stick with formula until then...not the other way around. Moving up to sippys and cups is a developmental thing, not a nutritional thing...so don't sweat it.

My daughter faught it. I just started to switch her middle of the day formula to milk in sippys first, since she had other food to supplement those meals (and mixed her cereal with extra formula to make up any missed calories until she started to take the sippys better, and eat better solid meals altogether). I kept the night bottle consistent for a few weeks, then made the switch. By that time, she was used to the sippys and the taste of the milk. I also used that time to change her bedtime routine from falling asleep in my arms with a bottle of formula (she is adopted - so I never nursed for obvious reasons) to a story, a song (the one I always sang) along with her sippy), then say her prayer (I say it for her at this point), then in the bed with a kiss goodnight. The sippy leaves the room with me, and she puts herself to sleep. After about two nights of temper tantrums, she has been putting herself to sleep for the past 10 mos. If she wakes in the middle of the night, she self soothes (unless something is wrong - like a foot stuck - I am sure you know that routine) and goes right back down.

Good luck. I hope this helps.

S.

Mom of two beautiful little girls 21mos and 2 1/2 yrs.

I'm a mother of three, and one thing I can tell you about the bottle is don't be in such a rush to take it away from a one-year old. I always regretted listening to my doctor and forcefully taking away the bottle from my oldest when he turned one. They're still babies at one. You will know when the time is right. I would say by two years old they should weaned or starting to be weaned.

Hi Tammy

I am a mother of 5 and all of mine had the same issue. Don't worry about taking the bottle away from him right at 12 months. And it is ok to do it but it is a hard task at that age. Give him time and make it a big deal that he is drinking from his sippy cup, but make his bottle less inviting, like filling it with water when he wants his bottle.
Trust me you will never get him to drink his formula from his cup! They, since birth or wheening stages, start drinking their formula from a bottle. So that is their security or habit. So when you start them on juice, its usually from a cup and it tastes much better than the milk. They adapt to whatever you train them to do. But you can always keep trying. Good luck and don't be discouraged

So I see your husband goes out to sea. What does he do? My husband goes out to sea too. My husband is a scallop fisherman and he is gone most of the year. At least you have family support. My family live 11 hours from me and with 5 children and a full time job I have no time to travel. It was really nice to find someone with at least something to my situation. Hope to get to talk with you more.
K. T

Oh hon *hugs* Who told you you have to take his bottle away when he turns one?

My daughter, who will be two on Jan 14th, still drinks her milk from a bottle at bedtimes. She firmly believes that juice goes in a cup and milk in a bottle. We've occasionally gotten her to drink milk from a cup, but I'm honestly not stressed about it. She'll be totally off bottles in the next year. How am I doing this? By giving her cups only, except at bedtime. And now that we've finally found a sippy cup she's actually drink from (we've been using just regular cups for her), I can start giving her that cup at bedtime instead of the bottle. Come June, we're packing all of the bottles up and putting them away. So when she asks for a bottle we can tell her, "bottles are gone - use your cup". But she's older, she'll understand that.

Good luck...
Tendyl

T., You might could try giving him a cup that is especially for his formula. Making it a special cup just for that might make it a little easier for the transition.

Hi T.-My pediatrician told us at our son's one year appointment that she would like him weaned off the bottle by 18 months, and he mostly did it by then. We found some great "transitional"-type sippy cups at Walmart that have a very soft top, much like a thicker bottle nipple material. He was still getting a bottle first thing in the morning and last thing at night, then he only got the bottle first thing in the morning, and eventually he was so used to drinking from the sippy cup that we did away with the bottles completely. I found it easier to do it in steps, and to transition from softer sippy cups to those with the hard plastic tops. He is 2 now and will drink from anything.

My twin boys did not start using a cup until they were around 18months. I did switch them to straw-type sippy cups since I read somewhere that the straw is developmentally the correct type of cup to use after 12 months. I made a BIG DEAL out of the new straw cups that I bought for them and even used a straw in my own cups for a while - to urge them to want to be big boys and like mommy. They loved moving to the straw. We had bags and bags of straws for a while. But, even to this day (they are 2.5 years old now) - I will not allow my boys to drink from a cup away from the table or kitchen - they are just too easily distracted. They use regular sippy cups in the car and in the playroom.

Don't stress out about what your pediatrician said. It's a guideline. Maybe if you get some funky new cups or straws - your son will get into the change. If not now...then try again in a few months.

Good luck..!

Pediatricians typically recommend taking the botle at 1 year (sooner if possible) because the constant drip of milk or juice from a container that you only have to turn upside down (same with the spillable sip cup) has been shown to be associated with baby bottle cavities (especially if babies are allowed to fall asleep with a bottle and don't get their teeth wiped/brushed afterward). Cavities are completely preventable and the pain associated with them far outweighs the struggle of weaning from the bottle. Consistency is key with any change. If he is taking juice then he's proving he knows how to use the sippy cup but this frequently happens when juice is always given one way and formula/milk another. Have you tried letting him drink it from a regular cup (messy) or a different style sippy cup? All kids are different so you may end up spending a little up front to find out what kind he likes. Sippy cups with straws were a favorite of my son once we realized he'd left all his Avent ones at relatives houses. As long as you don't teach him that by refusing the sippy cup, he'll either get juice (little nutritional value) or milk in a bottle you can avoid a serious pitfall to transitioning him. As stated in a prior reply, if at first you don't succeed, try, try again. Wish you much success in what won't likely be the last transition your son will resist (my 2 year old loves keeping his wet pampers on!).