Switching from Bottle to Sippy Cup - 19 Months Old

[Sadiebird]

I'm starting to think about making the transition from a bottle to a sippy cup for my 19 month old and I have a question.  He currently gets three bottles a day, one when he wakes up, one with lunch, and one with dinner.  We warm the milk in all three bottles before giving them to him.  Should I address the "warm milk" issue first and gradually warm his bottles less and less until they're cold milk and then work on the transition to the sippy cup?  Or should I just go cold turky and offer him cold milk in a sippy cup with lunch and then once that's working do the same for dinner and the morning milk?  Thanks in advance for your suggestions!

[The Vern]

I'm afraid I can't offer any help, but I have a similar question, so want to lurk on this post. DD is 16 months, gets 2 bottles, morning and afternoon. I have no temperature issue as she was always used to slightly cold milk (we just place it in warm tap water for a couple of minutes and always did).  I'm wondering if people have experience with going cold turkey on the bottle? Or is it better to transition? I'm anticipating there will be a few days of very little milk intake. She'll currently take a few sips of milk from her sippy but no where near the 6 oz per bottle.  Good luck to you Sadiebird.

[mom2dj]

I also am lurking on this one....
My son is 17months and i am trying to get him to drink from a sippy, but everytime I bring the sippy to him he throws a huge tantrum and refuses...
so am at wits end...
good luck

[camorrissette]

I too can only tell you what we did.  Every child will be different.  Nolan was on the bottle and we just went cold turkey.  I found that weening just confussed he and made him think if he threw a fit I would back down, so cold turkey it was.  I told him that this was all there was.  We never had an issue with the milk temp.  He seemed to like it cold.  Something that I did do to ween him off of the bottle was I gave him the sippy cups with the soft top (nibby cups).  He would actually take them when he wouldn't take others.  He would get milk twice a day before his nap and before bed.  I give him milk with meals or snacks now and he takes any sippy cup or regular cup.  I hope this helps!!!   

[Gippie]

Here is another "what we did".

I was giving a night and morning bottle of warmed milk.   DD has been on sippy's and regular cups for a while.   DD has had a lot of ear infections and at the last appt the PED said to STOP the bottles and the binkies to prevent one more contribution to the ear issues.   I stopped the bottles THAT night.   We changed her night routine 100%.  I used to go in her room with the bottle, sit in the chair and cuddle.  Now we sit in the living room with an open cup of milk, read "three nighttime books" and then go in her room to read one more.  At the start, she drank little milk and now I have gone to milk in her sippys so we could not worry about being as "careful" with the open container. 

Now we offer a lot of milk throughout the day and she asks for it a lot more than before.  In the beginning first days when we transitioned, I offered some "snacks" with her milk to fill her up where those 8 ounces of milk did before.   Now that milk is OK, we don't need the "snacks" and I think I did some warming in the beginning....but then I went to cold to avoid the stress of a transition....because it really wasnt a transition - it was a CHANGE (I couldnt slowly turn the bottle into a cup ).    In the end, it was the "ruling" from the PED that gave ME the confidence to can the bottles...I was really worried - but it was EASY.

Now we are working on the binkie....

[taygensmom]

We first switched to room temp milk in the bottle, and then cold milk via sippy by replacing one bottle feed at a time, then all daytime bottles, then lastly the night bottle. He was attached to his bottle but adjusted very quickly and did fine! Hope all goes well!

[hawkeye1315]

I used a slow transitional approach for my LO.  He was use to the Avent bottle system.  So I opted to use the Avent sippy spout too.  First I added the handle to the bottle.  Then when he was used to seeing a new handle on his bottle, I replaced his nipple with the sippy spout, but kept the bottle portion.  I saw that he was frustrated with the slow flow of the sippy spout, so I removed the valve.  I poured the milk out to show him that milk somes from the spout and brought it to his mouth.  It took him about a month to get use to the sippy spout. 

Hope my experience someone. Good Luck. 

[TERESA-E&C's Mommy]

We bought the NUK transition sippy cup.  It has slits instead of holes, but it is just as soft as a bottle.  I have to say we went cold turkey.  DD drank so well the first time using that cup that we just continued.  Then we gradually went to sippy cups that had a harder spout.  It took about one month.  Each time we changed we went cold turkey.  She did fine with all.  Our thing is she still wants me to hold it for her while DH reads stories before bed.  Good Luck.  We really loved the NUK cups!!!!

[SallyDom]

Hi everyone, we are in the process of giving Dom his daytime milk in a sippy (Avent Magic Sportster) and it seems to be going ok. It's taking him ages to drink it tho whereas with a bottle he downs 10oz in about 3 minutes!

Just a question I have from reading this post; should I aim to be giving cold milk. I've never thought about it really and have automatically warmed it a little but is there a reason to give it cold or is it something to do to make life easier?

Thanks
Sal
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[franchick]

Sal - I don't think it makes any nutritional difference, it's more just to make it easier for everyone, although someone else might know differently. Also, if others are giving your LO some milk, they might just give it cold (e.g. my daughter's nursery give cold milk in an open cup at lunchtime).

Our daughter pretty much drinks milk at any termperature, from straight to the fridge to nice and warm. She tends to prefer it cold when the weather is hot and prefer it warm before bed time. Because she is now 2 years old, I just quickly warm it in the microwave (which I know you SHOULD NOT do for little babies) - i always make sure I mix it well afterwards and then taste it myself to make sure it is not too warm. I like warm milk myself, so I am happy to do this as long as my daughter wants it like that.

[Ennypen]

When Woo was making the switch between the bottle and a sippy I used a sippy with a soft spout so ti was sort of a middle ground between that and a harder spouted sippy cup. I found that this helped him to stil be able to drink a fair amount of milk / water or whatever he was given in it. Now he has harder sippy cups and drinks a good amount. I used a Dr Browns cup.. but have heard that many Nuby cups are good as they have the soft spout.

As regards the temperature of the milk.. its entirely up to you and your LO.. whatever suits! Woo always had his milk slightly warmed but now he loves it fresh out of the fridge.. nice and cold!

H xxx

[SallyDom]

Thanks for that, I'll start to warm it less and less I think, he will drink it from the fridge but it seems to take him ages.

I personally couldn't drink warm milk, I need it to be icey cold straight from the fridge!

Sal
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