Transitioning From Bottle to Sippy Cup....

[BrightEyes]

So my daughter just turned a year old this past week. I have been trying to transition her to a sippy cup for months but now that she is a year I want to "force" the transition.

I am looking for advice on how to get her used to a sippy cup.

I have given her so many different types over the last several months (hard, soft, free-flow, sucking, straw, etc) and she just doesn't "get it" or doesn't care to perhaps? The best luck I have had is with one where I take the piece out because she hasn't caught on to "sucking" the water/milk out of the cup. But with the piece out, the liquid flows quite quickly and she gets way to much at a time which turns her off of it.....

She likes drinking from a normal cup when I hold it but after several sips she's done with that too....and if I allow her to be in control of the cup she gets too much at a time (turning her off of it) and spills it all over.

I know she's probably attached to the bottles especially since I stopped giving her a soother at 6 months (it was only given at night to prevent SIDS anyways..) so the bottle is soothing/comforting to her.... I have tried giving her water in a bottle as a healthy way of soothing/comforting her but she only actually accepted that once....and it still doesn't solve the problem of the sippy cup.....

Any advice you can give me would be greatly appreciated! Thank you

[playfelt]

I have a one year old now I am doing the same transition with. I am using a two handled cup that has a soft spout on it and not using the stopper. There are only 3 small holes in the spout. For now I put the milk in the cup and give him sips of it at meals and snacks when he is in his chair. He hates it and sometimes cries but I just keep putting the cup and milk into his mouth.

Eventually it is water only in the bottle and milk and juice in the cup as in make it a desirable item but for now you need to maintain the bottle of milk if that is her only source. No bottles at mealtime only cups and make having a bottle not as pleasant an experience - ie sits by herserlf to have it not held and cuddled.

Because of that you might have some success having the child on your lap while you give sips from the cup - may take it just to get the cuddles.

If she has a bottle first thing in the morning , just before bed that is enough (16-20 is all she needs for a day so two bottles and rest on her cereal). That means it is cups only all day long from now on. Since it isn't summer there is less chance of dehydration anyways so you can hold out.

I do have one cup that I used for my daughter that is special needs that you put the bottle nipple onto and that was to teach her to hold the cup for herself. It has mini mouse on it so assuming it was a disney product but it is also 15 years old now.

[BrightEyes]

Thank you playfelt.

I will give your advice a try! Her pediatrician said no more than 20oz of milk/day so I have been giving her a 5oz bottle of milk after breakfast, lunch, aft snack and dinner. It makes sense what you are saying about just giving two bottles/day (morning and eve) and then cups through-out the day. I'm just not sure how to go about it in the sense that I don't want her to take in less food knowing an 8oz bottle of milk is coming afterwards or filling up on it before breakfast....and she has never gone to bed with a bottle, I always give it at least a half hour before. I'm thinking maybe to give the bottles as her two snacks, but that interferes with the whole idea of only cups during the day.

I will try giving them after breakfast and dinner anyways, see how it works out!

I will also try giving her the cup when she is on my lap. The bottle she already was feeding herself in a chair so I won't be able to change that much! But I will try giving her the cup when she is on my lap. I will give her cuddles and make it a very positive experience. I think I will have to continue not using the stopper, but I don't mind as long as it helps!