Transitioning from bottles to sippy cups

[Deleted]

DS is almost 11 months old and I am panicking about the transition from bottles to sippy cups. I finally found a sippy cup he loves. He chugs water from it but absolutely refuses to drink from the sippy when there is formula in there. Any tips? I want to at least get him to drink formula from the sippy once a day before he turns one.

[megs193]

I'm not sure this is much help but my son would never drink formula from a sippy. We just started whole milk in the sippy when he turned 1. It still took him a few months to take more than 3 or 4 sips.

[Deleted]

I would start giving him a little cow's milk in the cup and see if he likes that. It's fine for him to drink a little of it as long as he is still getting enough nutrients from formula/table food.

[Deleted]

DD wouldn't drink milk out of a sippy until 14/15 months, it was hard transitioning off the bottle. She lovvvved her bottles. My suggestion is to one day just get rid of all bottles, and don't give a choice. He will cry but should cave when he is thirsty enough. It was a rough day or two but she got over it.

[Deleted]

Thanks ladies! Cosmos, I am afraid we'll have to resort to the cold turkey method. I have to decide which one comes first since DS is also attached to his pacifier. I am hoping once a few more teeth cut through we can go cold turkey there too. Oh joy.

[sweetnsour]

I stopped cold turkey with the bottles at 12 months. I started the sippy cups when transitioning to whole milk. My first child I made the mistake of leaving the bottles in the cupboard. He would see them and cry. Once I removed them, I didn't have any issues. My daughter went right from bottles to sippy cups with straws. That surprised me since it took awhile for my son to use straws.

Does your child use the pacifier all the time? You could start limiting it to bedtime and naps.

[Deleted]

Are you giving the formula warm or cold? When we switched, DD did not like her warm milk in a sippy cup. After a couple of tries with warm milk, we gave it to her cold and she drank it.

[Deleted]

Oh yes, DS goes bonkers when he sees the bottle. Most times he signs for it when he wants one though.

As far as the pacifier goes, yes he uses it all the time now. He only really needed it during bedtime and naps until the bottom two teeth were coming in. After that, his teeth started coming through right after another. He's been a drooling mess for the last 3+ months. I think the bottom middle teeth (are these called incisors?) are coming in since he keeps chewing stuff back there.

[Deleted]

May 12, 2012 7:39:32 GMT -5 @choco said:

Thanks ladies! Cosmos, I am afraid we'll have to resort to the cold turkey method. I have to decide which one comes first since DS is also attached to his pacifier. I am hoping once a few more teeth cut through we can go cold turkey there too. Oh joy.

I'm a chicken and crazy about sleep so I chose to wean them from the bottle first and then the pacifier. Around their first birthday, I just started giving them cups during the day and kept the bedtime bottle of warm milk for a few months before eventually giving that up as well. They fussed for a bit about it but got over it fairly quickly.

Pacifiers were a different story because they both used one as a crutch for sleep. It disrupted their sleep patterns for a bit and we had to sleep train AGAIN (for like the third time, lol. I feel like we're constantly having to sleep train these kids) but eventually they got used to it. The key is to just be calm and consistent about the change.

[ijack]

I would try milk instead of formula. They really push no milk until a year, but that's mainly because they don't want it to be the main source of nutrition before then. One sippy will be okay. He might just associate bottles with formula. I've had a couple friends have to slightly sweeten milk at first with a little agave and then wean from that (just less agave each time).

[sweetnsour]

May 12, 2012 8:06:10 GMT -5 @choco said:

Oh yes, DS goes bonkers when he sees the bottle. Most times he signs for it when he wants one though.

As far as the pacifier goes, yes he uses it all the time now. He only really needed it during bedtime and naps until the bottom two teeth were coming in. After that, his teeth started coming through right after another. He's been a drooling mess for the last 3+ months. I think the bottom middle teeth (are these called incisors?) are coming in since he keeps chewing stuff back there.

Poor guy, my son's came in one after the other too! His gums would turn black and blue. I wouldn't worry about the pacifier yet. He could still give it up himself. My son stopped using his pacifier around 15 months.