Transitioning from Bottle to Sippy Cup

OK, so DS is 13 months and I am going to start transitioning him from the bottle to the sippy cup for his day time bottles.

I am not sure how to do this exactly.

Do you just give the baby the sippy cup and let them drink out of it while they play?

Do you hold them while they drink from the sippy cup?

Does it take them forever to finish the milk in the sippy cup? I tried to give it to DS today and he lost interest and moved on without finishing.

Just looking to see what others have done.

Re: Transitioning from Bottle to Sippy Cup

I have to say - I hated this. Jack was OBSESSED with his bottles that I didn't really think it would ever happen.

I started with his mid-day bottle. The first few days were hard. He would barely touch the milk. He would move around and play - and I would constantly put the sippy in front of him. One thing that I did notice that helped was feeding him cookies at the same time. I mean - who doesn't want to wash down some cookies with milk? That's what really helped it along. All in all it took about a full week before he started drinking the entire sippy.

I then did the nighttime bottle. Again, I thought this would be a nightmare. The first night he only drank half. The second he drank 3/4 - and the third night on - he drinks the entire sippy. Just be patient! I tend to lose my patience and want everything to happen right now - I think I was stressing him (and myself) out!

Good luck! Also - I should add - I went right to a straw sippy since I've read that it's better for their speech development - not sure if that matters at all!

Re: Transitioning from Bottle to Sippy Cup

Posted by Diana1215

I have to say - I hated this. Jack was OBSESSED with his bottles that I didn't really think it would ever happen.

I started with his mid-day bottle. The first few days were hard. He would barely touch the milk. He would move around and play - and I would constantly put the sippy in front of him. One thing that I did notice that helped was feeding him cookies at the same time. I mean - who doesn't want to wash down some cookies with milk? That's what really helped it along. All in all it took about a full week before he started drinking the entire sippy.

I then did the nighttime bottle. Again, I thought this would be a nightmare. The first night he only drank half. The second he drank 3/4 - and the third night on - he drinks the entire sippy. Just be patient! I tend to lose my patience and want everything to happen right now - I think I was stressing him (and myself) out!

Good luck! Also - I should add - I went right to a straw sippy since I've read that it's better for their speech development - not sure if that matters at all!

Re: Transitioning from Bottle to Sippy Cup

Bumping to see if anyone else has any words of wisdom for me!

Re: Transitioning from Bottle to Sippy Cup

I am interested in this as well! DS is the same age and I first started to try the transition from formula to milk and bottle to sippy at the same time - well lets just say that didn't work so we did the milk transition first and now we need to start with the bottles... I've been giving him sippy's of water and juice multiple times a day to get used to it - it's been hit or miss though - sometimes he will drink ALOT and other times not at all...I tried the approach of sitting with him while he drank it like the bottle but that DID NOT work - I find it works best to give it to him while he is eating - he then takes sips in between food and gets the most that way... Sorry I am not much help! I am just starting this as well. Good luck!

Re: Transitioning from Bottle to Sippy Cup

I just took the bottle away and gave DS sippys. It didn't take any time and he just drank out of them, no problem!

Re: Transitioning from Bottle to Sippy Cup

I started DD on the sippy with water at 6 months during meals. I took the bottle away cold turkey at 12 1/2 months. She never took to milk (hates it), but had no problem with water. She only drank water in the cup. I offer it all day. She brings it with her everywhere! I even let her bring it to bed since it's water and it's like her security thing.

Now at 22 months she'll ask for a little juice. I give her juice in a different colored cup once a day - 90% water, 10% juice.

She never had an issue with the transition. Well for the first week she'd cry if she saw another baby with a bottle, but after that she was fine. My ped said not to worry too much about her not drinking milk as long as she's getting calcium for other sources. Since she's milk allergic we give her a milk free liquid calcium supplement.

Re: Transitioning from Bottle to Sippy Cup

at that age i think matthew started to not expect bottles at certain times. So i just handed him a sippy cup of milk just like I would do if it were water. For the first week or two he'd take a sip, look at me like "are you kidding, this isn't water" and put it aside. After that he'd drink it. Most of his milk he gets in the morning and evening bottle. He might get 3 or 4 oz's with lunch sometimes but mostly during the day he drinks water now.

Re: Transitioning from Bottle to Sippy Cup

I just starting giving the sippy cup in place of the bottle, that was it. He always gets it in the highchair so that wasn't changed. He was used to the cup w/water in it so when there was milk in it he drank it all up just as fast as he drank his bottles.