Transitioning from Bottle to Sippy Cup???

My daughter was easy to transition so I can't help with that... but I do want to suggest trying a cup with a straw. She loved drinking out of a cup from a carry-out place with a straw. I don't recommend the sippy cups with the straw because the straw is too hard. Worth a try?

My daughter was the same way, she would only drink milk from the bottle. Even after getting rid of all the bottles she refused to drink milk. I started giving her yogurts and cheese for calcium. Odly enough, when she started Kindergarden she drank milk at school, but only when it was in a little container with a straw....lol. Sometimes you just can't figure kids out, they have their own special little ways and there is not much you can do about.

My trick? I waited. I talked to my daughter's doctor OVER AND OVER. None of the doctors I consulted had any problem with children staying on the bottle after a year old. My daughter was 2 years old before I told her the bottles don't work anymore and we threw them all away. She even helped me throw them away. I think at 2 she was ready to get off the bottle too. Other moms will look at you like you are a crazy nut but hell I am sure they do things you wouldn't care for too. The looks were actually the hardest things to get over for me but my kid isnt keeping me up at night and is taking a GREAT nap during the day b/c of her bottle. My daughter never really had a blankie or anything and I think her bottle was her safety net. Hope this helps

I'm glad you got him to take the sippy cup! I just spent months trying different formulas and even whole milk trying to get him weaned b/c my milk supply was almost gone. Finally he liked one formula. Now I am trying to get rid of the bottle b/c I don't want him getting attached to that now. He seems to like the straw from Nuby also. I did find one that I thought your son would like which is the Nuby Sports Sipper. It looks and feels like a nipple but is a straw. I think my son is a little too young for this one b/c he liked it at first but then it started frustrating him so I'm going to wait to try that one again. Thought you might like to try it though! Who knew this would be so challenging?

I think that all the other advice is super, my only comment is that if your son is not driking from the sippy cup at the precise moment that the doctor requires it, tell the doctor to find a way to get him to drink from it. Then have a good laugh. Just kidding, but sometimes I think that pediatricians forget that every child is unique. And I think that a dentist is the best source of information on a chid's teeth. Hang in there, and it will happen. Everyone on the street who is an adult finally stopped drinking out of a baby bottle, yours will too.

Have yo tried using a regular cup? We did it with my now 23 month old. It is annoying for you because obviously, you have to help him take every drink but maybe it will help him feel like a big boy. The other thought might be to dilute the milk with more and more water and the water with more and more milk until his associations with the particular vessels changes. Good luck :)

My two oldest sons were the same way!It was much harder with my oldest who is now 8 because they did not have all of the neat things that they do now. But with my now 4 and 2 1/2 year old boys, the nuby cups were great! Once I found them, I had no more problems.You can get them from just about anywhere. I got mine from Walmart for about 2 dollars. You just have to keep checking them because since they are soft, my kids would bite them from time to time and milk would come pouring out! So make sure you get enough.They are also spill proof! You just have to decide when you have had enough of the bottles and get rid of them, it won't be as hard as you think. Good luck!

K.,
Be careful with flavored milk. We tired this with my neice, and now she will not drink regular milk and ONLY wants flavored milk! So, you could be picking a new battle! Def try diluting the milk in the bottle as much as possible each day until it is nothing but water. Have you taken him to the store and let him pick a cup?? Giving him the choce at ANY age will help him feel like a big boy. My daughter had issues with sippy cups. She refused the ones that did not have a soft spout or a straw. So.. I just went and got all the soft spout cups and a few cups with straws. I do not like the straw cups as much cuz it is so hard to clean that stupid little straw, but she loves her princess straw cup. Also, when I stopped BF and switched to formula, we bought Gerber bottles. There was a package that had both nipples for a bottle and then the bottle also had a few soft spout sippy cup lids. So, she still got her bottle, just with a different lid. That seemed to ease the trasition with this child! I wish I had done it with my other kids and then the battle might not have been so hard.
Good Luck and PLEASE let us know what worked for you. Remember it takes 7 days to establish a habbit, but 21 days to break one! So... be mindful and consistent, loving yet stern and you will soon be ready for a new battle! That's if you choose to fight this one. My mtoher's famous saying is "Choose your battles".LOL
HTH
Jenn
Mama to Bryce~9, Austin~6 Taylor~ 1 1/2
Step Mama to Nich~15 Christian~14

Have you ever given him flavored milk? I would try that first, as a "treat" and only in the sippy cup. I don't think it has anything to do with the milk itself though- he's just very attatched to his bottle. So, if that doesn't work- I would take the bottles away completely. I would pack them away so that they wouldn't be a temptation when he's throwing a fit and you are close to giving in. That way, if he wants his milk, he may have it- but only in a sippy cup. It seems to me like that's what you will have to do. All of my children were off the bottle before their first b-day- I can't stand seeing 2 year olds walking around with a bottle BUT I don't think at 13 months it's that bad. Good luck!!!

Hi K.,
I had trouble switching too. My little girl has lactose intolerance and was having issues getting enough calories at that young age - so I certainly wasn't going to take away her bottle! But, there finally came a time that it really needed to be done. My little girl responded to having something brand new. Have you tried a straw? Or maybe making the milk chocolate or strawberry might be enticing enough to try it in a different form. Then, once things start going smoothly you don't always have to flavor it. Another thing that helped is I bought those disposable sippy cups with Elmo on them. She really like the cup and was more willing to at least hold them!

Hope it helps. Let us know what worked!
jen :)

K., i waited too long. but i did wake up one morning and got rid of all bottles. like get rid of, as in nowhere in sight for me to get them when my heart would hurt from girls refusing the sippy cup. i asked my husband to put them in a bag and discart them all. he did it. and we were left in the house with sippy cups only./ it took a few days until my girls realized if they wanted milk it will have to come from the sippy cup. there weren't screams much either. they refused the sippy at first then wanted the milk so took it. so my only advice to you is if you decide this is it, getting rid of one bottle at a time would mean at least 4 battles or 3 depending how many she drinks right now. but if you do it cold turkey, there's only one battle, a major one, but still one.
good luck
vlora

My son was the same way. He absolutely had to have his milk in a bottle. He never sucked his thumb, or used a pacifier. His milk in the bottle was a comfort device. I didn't push it. I figured there are worse things that he could be doing. He never went to bed with the bottle, so he wasn't sucking on it all night.
I bought every sippy cup out there. Gradually we started "losing" some of the bottles, and I didn't replace the nipples that were no longer working right. When we were down to one bottle and one nipple, he was two years old. At two he could understand things like losing something. One day when he wanted milk, I told him I couldn't find the bottle. He helped me look all over the house. When he was satisifed that it really was gone, he accepted his milk in a sippy cup. My son is four now and has no problems with his teeth. I have met other mothers along the way whose kids are still using bottles after 15 months. I wouldn't sweat it. I've seen plenty of five and six year olds who still use pacifiers during the day, and/or at night. I was kind of crazy about stopping the bottle for a while, then when I relaxed my son was happier and so was I. Hope this helps.

I was in the same boat as you. My youngest who is now 5 would not drink milk from a cup when I took him off the bottle. The only thing I could do was make sure he got calcium elsewhere by giving him pudding, yogurt, cheese, etc. He does drink milk now that he is in school but he prefers other things to it. Have you tried giving him chocolate milk?

hey K.! this is really hard, but youre going to have to be persistant and stick with it (i had to do this TWICE)... and my kids got over it in a week... go get a couple of those nuby sippy cups (its a cup but has the soft tip, like a bottle) greatest invention *ever*... and THROW OUT ALL THE BOTTLES!!! save like one, just in case your child is feeling crummy one day and the bottle may soothe him, but throw them all out and stick with the cups!! he will pitch a fit the first few days, but once he realizes that youre not budging (and dad cant cheat either!) he will learn to live with what hes got. then you can gradually get some hard-tipped sippy cups. GOOD LUCK and let me know how it goes... you can do this!!! ~R.

All these moms are right...ditch the bottle if you can. Also, judt b/c the doctor "says so" remember it's a *guideline*. If your kid doesn't drink milk for a few days it won't hurt anything. Also, just b/c you are using a sippy cup doesn't mean it's any better for the teeth (except maybe in an orthodontic way). You still need to brush them well after meals and milk-snacks. Good Luck!