Trouble Switching from Bottle to Sippy Cup

I would re-evaluate getting tubes & see chiropractor if they're because of ear infections. (Just an opinion) Also, I would see why she needs to be off of the bottle to have tubes in her ears, maybe it's because the sucking will "pop" her ears?
I haven't found the link between bottles & ear infections to be true for most babies, but you never know.
As far as the cup goes - at least she is drinking out of one. That's good! What about adding flavor to the milk and slowly lessening the amount you put in until she is drinking it straight (if she'll even drink the flavored) Otherwise keep introducing her to it & maybe lessen the amount of milk she gets by bottle so she might want the cup more. It's amazing how their little minds work!

Good Morning H., My first thought was Why tubes at this age. Isn't that pretty young?? I can't remember ever hearing of a baby this young having tubes placed.
I would definitely get a second opinion. Just seems way to young to my thinking. Ear infections can be treated with antibiotic's and a little more diligent care of the little ones ears(not saying at all that you don't). We have been treating ear infections with baby ear drops, and a tiny ear cleaning type * for lack of a better word or description* scraper. I used warm olive oil in my son's ears with a small piece of cotton. Need something to loosen up the wax build up to remove it. warm and oily helps alot.

The switching to sippys from bottles didn't even enter my thoughts, just Why this young! If it were me though I would definitely get a second opinion.

God Bless you
K. Nana of 5

My daughter was also a challenge getting her from a bottle to sippy. Our ped advised us to give her water, juice, and milk in the sippy and only formula in the bottle.. Eventually she will decide that what's inside the sippy is more appealing than the bottle. I'm not sure I understand why your daughter has to be off the bottle for tubes. My 14-month old son is getting tubes in 3 weeks and still takes a bottle for most of his nutrition (he has several health/feeding issues). There is absolutely no way I could/would get him off the bottle before tubes.. totally unrealistic as he'd more than likely end up dehydrated and malnurished! As for his reason for tubes, he only had one ear infection prior to the scheduling of tubes. It was determined that he needed them because the ENT found fluid in both ears, he failed a hearing test and was recently evaluated by a First Steps speech therapist and found to have a 6+ month speech delay.

I would question why it's so important that she come off the bottle prior to tubes. As I said, my son still gets the majority of his nutrition w/ his bottle. He's working with speech and occupational therapists to improve his eating/swallowing skills and our goal is to have him eating table foods and off the bottle by 18 months, but we will see... You ultimately have to do what is best for your child. Every child is different and has unique needs. Good luck!

My son did the same thing. Water from sippy, but no milk. I finally realized that he was just trying to work us over because he drank milk from a sippy at school. Hmmm... Cold turkey isn't easy, but it ended up working for us. Also, we noticed that he preferred the sippy cups without handles- who knew! Just keep trying, if you really need to kick the habit, you can it just isn't easy!

We had tubes put in our daughter's ears too, and they never said she couldn't have her bottle. It wasn't the bottle that was causing the infections either, it was a milk allergy. You might consider that if the tubes don't seem to help, as was the case with our daughter. And, the ped might poo poo this possibility as our good ped did too, but she ordered the soy formula anyway, and all those infections were gone after months of no relief with and without tubes.

Anyway, my son is also resisting the sippy cup, but he loves to drink out of mine. Try assisting her with "your" cup, and see if she will drink out of it instead. It is a pain because of possible spills and having to help her each time, but she will learn a lot faster to be careful with the regular cup, if you can't get her onto a sippy. I think our take is going to be use a regular cup with the baby for now, and wean him onto the sippy from there.

My son didn't really like the sippy cups all that much until we started using the nubies. He was excited about those, but they leaked so much after a while. We tried the straw sippy cups that you can close (they have them at Target), and they didn't leak as much AND my son really liked them! He felt "cool" drinking from the straw. That was at about one year. Try it with your daughter and see!
About the surgery... you know what's best for your daughter. Don't let anyone make you feel bad for making the decisions that will most benefit her health. The decisions themselves are hard enough.
Good luck!

When I had to start the switch from bottle to sippy cup for my daughter, it was a challenge as well. My daughter would drink from a sippy cup if it had water in it, but had problems with milk. My cousins (who have lots of experience with this) suggested that when I give her the sippy cup that has the rubbery leak proof thing, to take it out. So that's what I tried and she still wouldn't drink the milk out of it. So I added just a little bit of flavor milk (strawberry) to the regular milk. Believe it or not, she drank the milk from the sippy cup. I did that whole thing (without the leak proof thing and a little bit of flavored milk) for a little while. Now I use the rubbery thing and I don't need to add the flavored milk. Although every once in a while I will add some strawberry or chocolate milk to the milk for a treat.

In the morning when you give her milk, try heating the milk up a little in the microwave. That's the only way my daughter will drink her milk in the morning. The rest of the day, she drinks it cold. But in the morning, it has to be warmed or she won't drink it!!

well I have a one year old and she takes any thing in just about any cup. but she has started trying to drink with out the lid. so maybe if you try to help her drink the milk from a cup without a lid she might decide she likes that idea. Plus I took all the bottles in the house except one for feeding before bed and tossed them in a bag and gave them away. thus out of sight out of mind. sometimes its hard to break a bad habit and the bottle has become a comfort object along with a habit. I have to say though I started her on cups around 6 months so that helped. just a tip for the next one.

Only offer plain water in the bottle at room temp. Everything else goes in a sippy.
She will decide that she does not want the bottle if that is her only option.
Good luck.

Some kids do great with the straw cups they don't have to tip them to drink them...I dislike cleaning them and all the parts, but some kids do well with them.
Lots of luck
B.

My grandaughter had the same thing with the tubes at 11 months. Dont let her even see the bottle, it is sippy all the way now. she will adjust in time and be atient because it may be rough at first.
Teach her to sign for milk. great way for children to communicate. My grandaughter hears perfect but was taught sign at 9 months to help them to communicate she is twqo and still does it now and again. She learned to sign more and milk and water.

H., I had the exact same problem with my first daughter. She had to get tubes at 1 bc of an abundant amount of ear infections. They said it was partially caused from her laying back with the bottle and they don't tend to do that with a sippy cup. When we took her off the bottle we have never again gotten her to drink milk. She is almost 4 now and we have tried it all. She just didn't want it if it wasn't in the bottle. Our Dr just told us to make sure she is getting the calcium other ways. But with my 2nd one we are having a hard time getting her off the formula. she will drink a little milk out of a sippy cup but not enough to satisfy her like she does with the formula. They are all so different and stubborn in their own ways. We had to pull the bottle away cold turkey for my first right before she got the tubes. We are trying to not have the same thing happen with the 2nd but it seems to be more of a formula problem than a milk problem. Try a straw too, my 1 year old loves drinking from a straw regardless what it is. Good luck! and the tubes worked wonders for our daughter!

my response is similar to the other two postings: WOW, how many ear infections has your daughter had....to warrant tubes at this early age? BUT I will say, in my daycare, I have had a couple of children with tubes by age 12 months...after months of almost nonstop infections & antibiotics.

That said, developmental anatomical differences in childrens ears are usually the cause for tubes, not a buildup of wax. Soooo, maybe your dr. is not out-of-line with his thinking! (It's just cause for concern with all of us other Moms & 2nd opinions never hurt!)

As for being off the bottle before surgery, I have NO problem with that! Most children are either off or close to it by one year of age. With both of my sons & with my daycare kids, this has held true. It will not hurt her, but will also help move her along developmentally .....especially since she's taking milk already & your baby is due in June! This will actually help aid her in becoming the "big sister".

To transition, a lot of Moms use vitamin-fortified milk flavorings...like NesQuik. It truly does work!