tips for sippy cup transition please...

[*Becky*]

H was a star with this. He was drinking milk out of his sippy by day 3 but M is not having it.

I have got rid of the am bottle and replaced it with a sippy. I have tried 2 different cups but neither have worked. If I put it in her regular tommee tippee free flow she will take a couple of sips but that is it.

From a calcium point of view she is fine but I would like her to take milk from it as she def needs the pm milk still and in the next 6 months I would like to ditch the bottle for that too.

Any tips??

Do I just keep offering and hope one day she just takes it?

[creations]

Hey Becky
I found DS wouldn't swap his morning bottle for a sippy, but was happy to take a sippy of milk with his last solids meal of the day and drop the BT bottle.  So maybe keeping the morning bottle and ditching the afternoon one might be more successful?  He did drink a lot less milk from the sippy and for a while I continued to offer some milk before bed but rapidly reduced it and tbh he wasn't really interested in it as he'd already had a sippy milk just over an hour earlier.  Then I moved to offering water just before bed instead, which he gets in a sippy cup and rarely wants.

The morning bottle which I found more difficult to get rid of, I changed to a cup and straw or a straw bottle instead.  He is happy to take a full amount of milk this way.  Might be worth a try.  You'll still be using the sippy for water drinks through the day so the drinking skill will still be learned.

[*Becky*]

thing is she has the bottle right before bed and I really don't think she would go for a cup...yet. I am going to change up her bedtime routine so she has books downstairs and then milk but it is still a big part of bedtime which currently is a dream so don't want to mess with it too much.

I could try a straw cup for sure....

[Roseii]

I know it's not perfect but I've managed to get dd2 onto a sippy cup with a valve, I know she's still sucking but I think it's a step in the right direction. It helps that it's a Peppa Pig sippy cup (at an extortionate £7.50 )

[creations]

Becky, my DS also had a bottle right before bed too and I was just as hesitant to change his bed time routine.  I really didn't want to unsettle him at BT because it was all so smooth.  However, it really wasn't that hard and the way I did it DS didn't even realise anything was different so there was zero disruption and BT continued to be a breeze.

Offering the sippy of milk at dinner time (here 5.15pm when he was that age) which was his smaller solids meal (he took most solids at breakfast and lunch) worked for us.  Obviously I'm not saying it would work for every LO.  Then at BT I offered the same amount he had always taken BUT if he did not finish the bottle then the next night I only offered the amount he had taken plus an extra 30ml just so I had a bit of 'back up' milk there and knew he'd take to his fill.  This way he was kind of self weaning.  I always felt a little worried but he never ever cried for more milk.  I also had a bottle or sippy of water on standby in case the milk did run out and he could have a bit of water instead.  Over very few nights the bottle of milk reduced to nothing and I then just offered the sippy of water which he sometimes had a sip of and sometimes had a drink of but our BT routine never suffered.
I also felt it was more important for us to ditch the BT bottle because I was brushing his teeth before the milk rather than after.  Brushing teeth after the bottle would also have been a disruption to our calm BT routine so I didn't want to do that either.
I continued with the morning bottle for another couple of months until he was happy to take it from a straw.  When I wanted to pish/encourage it I snipped the teats on his bottles and had him sit more upright for the bottle, then switched to straw and again through this transition he didn't bat an eye - but when I had tried to move directly to a sippy cup he had gone mad at me!

There are many ways, that was just ours.  Hope you find a way xx

[*Becky*]

thanks both of you.
yes once she gets teeth the bottle will have to go but she only has 2 atm and i am not too worried until there are a few more.
Charli - did you try lots of cups then? I have tried 2 and she is not going for them but could try a straw cup I guess. I would spend £7.50 if it works!!
Creations - thanks for sharing - we may go down that route too...

[Roseii]

I think I tried one a fair while ago, she totally rejected it, then as she was approaching 2 I figured I should prob try again so we bought her the Peppa one and I did BT routine as normal, was breezy about it, handed her the cup and said "oh look at your new cup for milk it's got Peppa on!" and she took it fine. Like I say it does have a valve so I think that helped, that the milk wasn't just flowing out, I will need to get rid of that at some point...!

[cath~]

Hi Becky - where/when do you offer her her morning milk?  As soon as she wakes? In high chair or somewhere else?  Perhaps if you offer the sippy/cup of milk somewhere different and at slightly different time from where/when she used to have her bottle that might help?  If she's sitting on you to have it, what about trying reading a story as a 'distraction' and she might drink w/o realising IYSWIM.

[*Becky*]

I have tried almost feeding it to her with her on my knee and have also tried just putting it down and then getting on with something else but neither work. It is strange a she loves her milk.

[cath~]

hmm, I guess if you just keep offering she can have it if she wants and if not, offer her some cheese/yog/milk in cooking during the day to make up for it?

L went through phase of not wanting much milk in the evening but at the moment she's having it all again now.

After one, I think amount of milk drunk is less important, esp if you're offering a varied diet anyway.

[*Becky*]

yes that is what I am thinking. She still gets 7-8 oz at night plus milk on cereal, yoghurt and cheese so this is not essential. I will just keep offering and trying different cups I guess.