Please help transition to straw cup for milk feedings

[anuta77]

Hi,
My son is 12.5 mo and I have just started the process of transitioning him from bottles to straw cup for his milk feedings.  He's had water from the straw cup for months now so it's not a novelty for him.  However, he drinks much much less milk from the straw cup than from the bottle and it takes him a lot longer.  So far, it seems like this started affecting his afternoon nap (takes much longer to fall asleep) because he doesn't get all the milk that he used to get prior to this nap.

Here's his routine:

6-6:30am - wake up, bottle (6 oz)

7:30-8 am - breakfast

9:30 am - milk (straw cup) - more for training purpose, takes maybe 1-2 oz
9:30 am - nap

11:30 am - lunch

1:30 pm - snack

2:30 pm - milk (straw cup) - takes 2-3 oz, used to take 6oz
2:45-3 pm - nap

4:30 - 5pm - dinner
6:30 pm - bath
7 pm - bottle (6-8 oz), snack
7:30 pm - bedtime

My approach was to first transition the afternoon bottle to the straw cup, then the am bottle, then the night bottle.  Am I doing something wrong?  This afternoon he drank 3 oz from the straw cup but couldn't fall asleep and got sooo upset, I even gave up and offered him a bottle but he didn't want it after all, he was just too upset. 

Also, he never walks around with a bottle, drinks it very fast (5 min avg) s I don't think it can affect his teeth in a negative way.  Basically, I'm doing this mostly because I heard that drinking from the bottle delays speech (don't know if it's true, though)  Our ped told me to get him off the bottle by 18 mo but I know kids who still drink out of the bottle at 24 mo.  Please offer any advise if you can.

Thank you.

[lilmonkey]

It does take time for babies to convert from a bottle to a sippy/regular cup.  I would not worry too much with regards to HAVING to wean your lo to a sippy or cup by a fixed date b/c of two reasons: a) he is still young and you can have time to wean him and b) he is a fast drinker.  I think that most dentist are concern when los "nurse" their bottles for a very long time and have it in their month constantly.

Dd was finally off the bedtime bottle by 20 mos although she would drink her milk in a sippy or cup during the day.  Like your lo, dd was a very fast drinker with her bottle.  She would finish 8 oz in under 5 min and it did took her some time to get used to drinking her milk just as fast from a straw cup.  I found that when dd is taking in much milk than I just offer more food to compensate for the calories.  Also after 12 mos, the average intake for milk is around 16-20 oz so I think that your total is within range.  If you want to make sure that he has enough calcium then offer him other dairy products or calcium rich food.

HTH