The Transition from Bottle to Cup
Transitioning your child from bottle or breast to a cup is a milestone. It can be a relatively painless transition, or it can be a long process, depending upon your child.
My older children transitioned effortlessly from breast to a sippy cup around 9 months of age. My son is still not doing well with the transition from bottle to sippy cup and he is 19 months old. I have to admit, it is kind of embarrassing taking him out in public with a bottle, only because he’s big for his age and looks like he’s about 2 ?. I know I shouldn’t care about the comments that people make or the looks I get, but it is irritating at times.
The reality is that there is that all children grow and progress at their own rate. I know this, but I have to remind myself of this fact every so often. My son is himself and he will eventually work his way past the bottle and to the cup. We just need to keep working on it!
Most doctors recommend introducing the sippy cup when you introduce juice to your baby. Instead of putting juice in the bottle, use the cup. I have found that not all cups are created equal. My son appears to strongly dislike the ‘no-spill’ cups. I have no idea why, but maybe the very thing that makes it difficult to spill also makes sipping from the cup funky for him. I haven’t tried to use the cup myself, so I don’t know!
After a lot of trial and error, I found a brand of cup that he actually likes! We are finally making progress on the transition from bottle to cup – although I’m not sure if it’s his age or the cup that has made the difference.
Perhaps your child is also struggling with the transition. My advice is to take it slowly and not stress. Try experimenting with a few different types of cups, and don’t worry about it. I can honestly attest to the fact that eventually, children ‘get it’. I’ve never sent any of my children off to school in diapers or using a bottle!
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Melissa H says...
My daughter doesn’t like sippy cups period no spill or otherwise. It is a little more work but we let her sip from an adult cup. I think the reason that she doesn’t like sippy cups is because of how it touches her nose. I noticed that when she does get a sippy cup if she uses it she turns it upside down to drink. At first we thought that it was just that she had it a little wrong but if you “correct” it she will go back to it and she does it every time. So for our little one we usually just hold a grown up cup or get a straw for a grown up cup. Works MUCH better. Maybe your son has the same issues.
Michelle says...
That’s a great idea!
Actually, he has some eating issues and we’ve had him evaluated by a speech therapist–but that was slightly off the tangent for this blog post.:) He’s not “quite bad” enough to qualify for therapy, but “enough” that it causes some issues!
I appreciate the feedback though. I’m so glad that you found something that works for your child and thanks for taking the time to give me the feedback!