Bottles & Sippy Cup advice

[LittleLegs]

Hi

My LO is 10.5 months and reasonably adaptable and text book.  I have a couple of things that I would really appreciate your thoughts and experiences on with feeding fluids.

DS is currently on 3 bottles a day, what's the average age that LO's reduce to 2 bottles a day?  He has all of his 3 milk bottles in tommee tipeee standard bottles.  He makes no effort to hold the bottle and feed himself and I think he sees it as cuddle/comfort time (he doessn't really like to cuddle at any other points of the day) therefore I don't think he would consume the same quantity of milk if I gave him it in a cup etc??

This brings me onto my other question.  He doesn't drink much water throughout the day.  The little tommee tippee cups he sees as a toy and bangs it around and despite allegedly being non spill he ends up with more on himself.  I recently brought a tomee tippee handled 6m+ cup which really is non spill but I don't think he gets much water out and I have tried myself and struggled myself.  What are good cups for me to get for him, someone recently advised me to get a straw one?

Look forwards to hearing your advice. 

[Lolly]

His 3 bottles are totally fine for the moment, people generally start dropping to morning and night around the year mark and start swapping to cups around then too. You are at the stage now when you are moving towards solids taking over from milk, but he still needs a minimum of 20oz until 1 so there's no rush!

We found that DD wasn't eating breakfast after she turned 1 so we swapped her morning bottle to a sippy cup after breakfast, it took a while for her to be drinking a full cup but we just kept offering it until she was! We also gave her a sippy of milk with her evening meal and then eventually changed her bedtime milk from a bottle to a cup around 18 months. DS had a bedtime bottle until he was about 2.5, it's not a problem providing their teeth are cleaned after the milk!

I used the tommee tippee first cups, the non-spill cups are so hard to drink from (as you found!) they need to squeeze and suck and don't realise there is water in there! The TT flip top cups are cheap and easy to use, they can make a mess with them but they do learn to drink from them sooner. You can help him by tipping it up for him when he puts it to his mouth. Straw cups are good too, but I would start with the free flow one and then move onto the straw.

HTH!

Laura

[Hedgehog17]

If you're in the UK -

I've found DS does best on the basic white sippy cups from Sainsburys. They are non-spill but he gets the water out easily and he can't close the spout as they are rigid - I found with the flip spout ones he kept closing the spout with his mouth instead of drinking 

The other advantages are that they are dishwasher-proof and cheap 

I'm not transitioning DS to milk from a sippy yet as he's having a bad time with teething and needs to regain a bit of weight lost through having a tummy bug. Like yours he's adaptable and textbook, so I doubt there will be any battles over getting rid of bottles when the time is right!

[MadisonC]

3 bottles is fine! I didn't drop to 2 bottles until 1 yr and then it was just morning and night and as of 2-3 weeks ago.. its just night bottle now.  When DS when around 8 months he started using the playtex sippy cup which he really got the hang of and at about 11 months he really enjoyed drinking with a straw so I bought him the playtex straw cups and he loves them! He has no problems drinking his milk and water during the day because he finds the straw fun.

[Texomamama]

DD2 is 12.5 mo and I use the Playtex straw sippy cup that MadisonC mentioned above.  Sippy cups are a very kid specific thing, and sometimes you need to experiment.  You may want to consider getting 3 different kinds of sippy cups- one with a straw (the playtex one is good b/c the straw is simple and easy to use and does not require much suction); one with a hard spout; and one with a soft spout.  DD2 easily figured out the straw one at around 11 mo, but with DD1, she never understood the straw thing and we went with the hard spout one.

What I like about the straw sippy cups is that we can go out to restaurants and DD2 knows how to drink from the kids cups with straws, so we don't have to carry the sippy around with us. 

Also, FWIW, my 12.5 mo is still on 3 bottles.  I am transitioning them all from formula to cow's milk ATM, and once I have finished that transition, I am going to start dropping to 2 bottles, then 1, and hopefully have her completely on the sippy cup by 14 mo.  However, she really loves her bottle, and since she is like your LO (does not hold the bottle herself, likes the cuddle time), I am not going to rush it.

[Tiz_01]

I agree with Texomamama about experimenting with the different cups. I think we have tried about seven or 8 all with different 'spouts' until I got dd a tt non spill with a straw. Thought she would struggle but took to it in about 5 mins, is really easy to drink from.  We have also been 'practising' (more mess than success!!) with a 'Doidy' cup. I think she like feeling a bit grown up

[Oh Little One]

I just wanted to thank you all for your friendly advice.  I persevered with the little sippy cup and he seems to have become accustomed to it and drinks very well.  I no longer have to confiscate it when he's not sipping it!  He also drinks much more than he gets down him ;-)

I am still on 3 bottles a day but thinking about the progression to 2 over the next month or so (currently 11.5 months). 

Thanks guys, really appreciate it and apologies for not thanking you sooner (working mum syndrome!).

[Lolly]

Yeah! Well done both of you!!

Laura