Transitioning to a Sippy Cup

I agree to a point with the last poster. Sometimes you have to be strong and tell him that he is a big boy and should drink from a big boy cup. If, however, that does not work for you, NUBY has a great cup for transitioning. It is a sippy, but it has a great soft "nipple" on it. They are really cheap and have worked for a lot of the toddlers that I have worked with in the day care.

Wow! I mostly disagree with the one that said no sippy cups, I have enough problems with spills and stained carpets to not have sippy cups. 18 month olds can't drink successfully from a regular cup, at least not right away, that takes a lot of time and patience and since you are working mom, you would be asking someone else to let your child spill and they have to take care of it... not cool. I have used a variety of sippy cups, the Nuby ones mentioned are good, but not necessarily the best. The rim isn't very wide, so the soft insert is easily pulled out by a child that bites on it (happened many times). My kids have all had sippy cups and none of them have stuck their tongues out as mentioned. If this worries you, Munchkin makes a sippy cup that has an edge on it so it feels like they are drinking from a real cup(http://www.munchkin.com/products/detail.html?section=prod.... Munchkin (and several others) make some really good training cups.
As for technique, I have one that has worked successfully for me and my family members (I did it first and told them about it, transition was a choice and made in less than a week). Fill the cup with your child's favorite drink, the one thing that they ask for the most, fill the bottle with a drink you are happy for them to choose, but that they don't usually want. For me it was sweet pediasure/milk mixture in the sippy cup (they thought they were getting chocolate or strawberry milk) and water in the bottle (both of my boys hated water but I would have been happy for them to have it). Then, when they were thirsty, I let them choose which drink they wanted. They could have the drink they really wanted, or the bottle, but not both. Within 4 days, I was able to put the bottles away forever and there was never a fight about it, it was their choice. You can always just make him switch over but I tried that with my older son and he was screaming. For him, giving him the choice was much better. My sister and sister-in-law both did this with their kids and it was 3 days for one and 6 days for the other... It works!

avoid sippy cups altogether and go STRAIGHT to a regular cup- Don't worry, he will drink when he is thirsty- Sippy cups force him to stick his tongue forward (no good)- he's a BIG BOY now, Show him you mean it.

This brings back memories for me! I didn't transition my daughter until she was 2. But then it was cold turkey and she wasn't happy. At her normal bottle time, I got her and her doll a sippy cup. When she saw the doll "drinking" from the cup, she wanted the doll's cup. By the 2nd or 3rd day, she was fine. Maybe you can try the same thing with a favorite stuffy.

Hi T., I'm about to do the sippy cup thing too but I was curious about your situation. What formula are you using? My 13 month old also has tons of allergies (whey, casein, wheat, soy) and I have just purchased Neocate for an arm and a leg. May I ask what formula you're using?

Thanks so much. M.

Yes we just transitioned our daughter form a bottle to a sippy. She was stubborn about it for 3 days then finally gave in. The hardest part was the "before bed" bottle which was more of a comforting one than a nutritional need. But we basically went cold turkey by the 2nd day and she cried a little in the crib, but then fell to sleep and the next day was so much better.

I know it's hard, but you may need to do cold turkey. I'd suggest removing all bottles from the house (donate them, throw them away, or pack them in a box with lots of duct tape) so that you're not tempted to go and retrieve them. Your son may refuse the sippy cup at first but eventually when he's hungry/thirsty he'll take it. We like the platex cups (blue and orange cups with different color lids) and I see a lot of families with them. Also, some people love the sippy cups with straws. Best of luck--it may be a hard few days but he'll catch on. Try not to overwhelm him with too many different cups though.

I am an in-home daycare operator, although that makes me no expert... I do have a lot of experience in the transition. My advice is to just take the bottles away. Make it kind of fun... Have him put them in a bag with you and tell him that they are going away to babies that need them. Then replace it with a cup that maybe he can go to the store and buy (what a big kid). Just stick to your guns... Trust me, I have had a few kids come thru my daycare that know I mean business and they are not getting a bottle and give no problem, but go home and have a fit. Parents tend to feel guilty, but kids know how to play you. Stick to your guns... You're the boss!!!

Good Luck

Try transitioning first to the Nuby brand of sippy cups. They don't cost too much and are available at most Walmart's and Target's. My 2 eldest girls first refused every kind of sippy cup other then these ones. They are plastic topped so the texture and motion of the sippy mechanism is similar feeling to a bottle. The down side is that if he starts chewing on it eventually it will start leaking but that usually takes a while, and by then you can get him onto another (more durable) sippy cup. Nuby makes a good intermediate stop for us. Good luck!

Linds

Mommy of Bridgette (3.5 yrs old), Anya (2.5 yrs old) and Leilani (5 months old)