I don't understand the difference between a bottle and a sippy

norman25 · January 2011

This is quite possibly the most ridiculous question ever...but what the heck is the difference between the bottle and sippy? We had to switch to sippy since DS started rejecting all of his bottles. He downs them in a few huge gulps and doesn't even take a break. So, all that is different is the shape of the spout. I guess what I am trying to get at is what is the big deal over getting them switched to a sippy by a year?

MammaBear81 · January 2011

I think some babies prefer the bottle over the sippy and parents might have trouble transitioning. As for the timing I think if you get it done before a year it's easier than if you try to take it away from them when they are 2 or 3...

punkfiction_v.3 · January 2011

MammaBear81:
I think some babies prefer the bottle over the sippy and parents might have trouble transitioning. As for the timing I think if you get it done before a year it's easier than if you try to take it away from them when they are 2 or 3...

this wasnt the case for us, but everyone is different

and OP you are right - its a drinking device. there is no difference. you just dont want them to take it to bed and pool in their mouths -- either device.

Ciconrad · January 2011

Honestly, I've never understood the rationale of needing to switch to sippys at 12 months. There's no major difference as far as the effect on their teeth. DS #1 resisted the sippy until 15 months and we didn't fully transition off the bottle until 19 months. He was attached to his morning milk being in a bottle. I waited until I knew he could understand we were taking the bottle and he seemed ok with it. It took awhile but when I did it, there was absolutely no resistance from him.

I give DS #2 a sippy of water after his meals and he still mostly chews on it still. We'll start transitioning formula/milk when I feel he's ready. I am in no rush for this to be before his first birthday. When he seems ready, we'll do it.

ANJ410 · January 2011

Some of the sippys that have come out in the last few years have really soft spouts like bottle nipples, but most still have a hard plastic spout which isn't as emotionally comforting to suck on as a bottle. I think one of the main reasons parents are urged to get babies off of the bottle by 12 months i because after that the bottle becomes an emotional crutch/attachment, instead of just a feeding device. My son pretty much rejected the bottle from 9 months on, but I was happy about that. I know MANY people who have 3+ year olds who still drink from a bottle. My DD does great with a sippy so I plan on discontinuing bottles at 12 months with her.

ldoo · January 2011

Yeah, I think you're right. I think it's more of a developmental thing. Past a year, a child can usually drink by pouring it into their mouth, versus having to suck. So why encourage your child to not move onto the next thing? Of course, some babies are resistant, so it's makes it harder.

Also, and I might be wrong on this, but I think one of the ideas behind moving away from sucking is a jaw development thing. That's why the sippy I use for my LOs is without the spout. It may be messy at first, but if they're still sucking a bunch to get the liquid out, might as well be using a bottle!

punkfiction_v.3 · January 2011

ldoo:
Yeah, I think you're right. I think it's more of a developmental thing. Past a year, a child can usually drink by pouring it into their mouth, versus having to suck. So why encourage your child to not move onto the next thing? Of course, some babies are resistant, so it's makes it harder.
Also, and I might be wrong on this, but I think one of the ideas behind moving away from sucking is a jaw development thing. That's why the sippy I use for my LOs is without the spout. It may be messy at first, but if they're still sucking a bunch to get the liquid out, might as well be using a bottle!

children can do that on their own. a kid who still drinks out of a bottle in the morning is the same kid that can drink out of an open cup at meal time.

you still have to suck with sippies.

ldoo · January 2011

Yeah, depends on the sippy. We have super cheapo ones that my 2.5 uses. It pours out of the spout when tipped (cause we don't have the stopper in).

pdxjenn · January 2011

StarAnnice:

As a PP mentioned, they develop an emotional attachment to the bottle, as time goes on. Much like a lovey. I switched both my boys to sippy cups at 6 months. I didn't wean them off, I didn't give them all sippy cups except for a morning bottle or bedtime bottle. When I switched them to the sippy, I stopped using the bottle, completely. It wasn't a fight, because they weren't attached to them yet. It made the transition much easier.

Why do we switch them by a year, in general? Because it's silly to see a toddler, who can walk, drinking milk from a bottle. Same as it's silly to see a toddler walking around with a pacifier in their mouth. Or a school-aged child walking around with a lovey.

Congrats to your kiddos. Lucky!!

I do think that your statements are a bit judgy to be spitting out though. Some babies/toddlers will not use a sippy or a reg cup (ie:mine) no matter how hard you try. Trust me we try all the time. It's a bottle or he gets no liquids. Guess he'll just have to look silly.

sucrets4 · January 2011

Aside from the above talk, I would think the obvious - that it won't leak as much if the LO drops it on the floor. DD stopped taking bottles awhile ago, but she enjoys banging her sippy around on her high chair. She mainly drinks out of a regular cup, though.

lmpdjc · January 2011

I don't know either. A sippy is to a bottle what "Pull-ups" are to a diaper.

Ciconrad · January 2011

pdxjenn:
StarAnnice:

As a PP mentioned, they develop an emotional attachment to the bottle, as time goes on. Much like a lovey. I switched both my boys to sippy cups at 6 months. I didn't wean them off, I didn't give them all sippy cups except for a morning bottle or bedtime bottle. When I switched them to the sippy, I stopped using the bottle, completely. It wasn't a fight, because they weren't attached to them yet. It made the transition much easier.

Why do we switch them by a year, in general? Because it's silly to see a toddler, who can walk, drinking milk from a bottle. Same as it's silly to see a toddler walking around with a pacifier in their mouth. Or a school-aged child walking around with a lovey.

Congrats to your kiddos. Lucky!!

I do think that your statements are a bit judgy to be spitting out though. Some babies/toddlers will not use a sippy or a reg cup (ie:mine) no matter how hard you try. Trust me we try all the time. It's a bottle or he gets no liquids. Guess he'll just have to look silly.

Determining when to transition my kids to new things like sippy cups or big boy beds or weaning from pacis based on an age that other parents deem "silly" is well....IMO, silly.

To me, worrying about the age to transition to sippy cups is like the least of priorities on my parenting checklist. When my kid is 16 is anyone going to give a hoot whether he was on a sippy at 6 months or 16 months (or in a big boy bed at 18 months or 3 years)? Nope. He's not even 3 yet and the fact that he took the bottle long beyond 12 months is completely irrelevant. He eats and drinks from a cup the way any average 2 1/2 year old does.

Now, if you're kid happily takes a sippy somewhere between 6-12 months, then sure, transition, because it's certainly the ideal situation. However, it would have been way more dramatic for me to yank the bottle from my 13 month old and go through drama of him refusing the sippy and not drinking milk for who knows how long. Instead, we took our time, slowly transitioned a bottle at a time and were weaned to sippies by 18-19 months without a single fuss, meltdown or fight. Did someone at some point see my kid walking with a bottle and think he was silly? Probably. But I couldn't have cared less.

punkfiction_v.3 · January 2011

Ciconrad:
pdxjenn:
StarAnnice:

As a PP mentioned, they develop an emotional attachment to the bottle, as time goes on. Much like a lovey. I switched both my boys to sippy cups at 6 months. I didn't wean them off, I didn't give them all sippy cups except for a morning bottle or bedtime bottle. When I switched them to the sippy, I stopped using the bottle, completely. It wasn't a fight, because they weren't attached to them yet. It made the transition much easier.
Why do we switch them by a year, in general? Because it's silly to see a toddler, who can walk, drinking milk from a bottle. Same as it's silly to see a toddler walking around with a pacifier in their mouth. Or a school-aged child walking around with a lovey.
Congrats to your kiddos. Lucky!!
I do think that your statements are a bit judgy to be spitting out though. Some babies/toddlers will not use a sippy or a reg cup (ie:mine) no matter how hard you try. Trust me we try all the time. It's a bottle or he gets no liquids. Guess he'll just have to look silly.
Determining when to transition my kids to new things like sippy cups or big boy beds or weaning from pacis based on an age that other parents deem "silly" is well....IMO, silly.
To me, worrying about the age to transition to sippy cups is like the least of priorities on my parenting checklist. When my kid is 16 is anyone going to give a hoot whether he was on a sippy at 6 months or 16 months (or in a big boy bed at 18 months or 3 years)? Nope. He's not even 3 yet and the fact that he took the bottle long beyond 12 months is completely irrelevant. He eats and drinks from a cup the way any average 2 1/2 year old does.
Now, if you're kid happily takes a sippy somewhere between 6-12 months, then sure, transition, because it's certainly the ideal situation. However, it would have been way more dramatic for me to yank the bottle from my 13 month old and go through drama of him refusing the sippy and not drinking milk for who knows how long. Instead, we took our time, slowly transitioned a bottle at a time and were weaned to sippies by 18-19 months without a single fuss, meltdown or fight. Did someone at some point see my kid walking with a bottle and think he was silly? Probably. But I couldn't have cared less.

this this this this this.

i think its great to try the transition and hooray if it works well. but whether or not your older kid takes a bottle at naptime (or your preschooler carries a lovey. heaven forbid they are attached to an item that gives them comfort) is not even on my radar.

my oldest (now 4) had a bottle at night til 3 (of water). did she drink in an open cup the rest of the time? of course. did she want to drink her bottle of water, put it on the table, and go to bed at bedtime? yep. and why the heck not? now a year later did that change anything? haha no. she liked it, she had a sibling that had bottles, and it was a comfort item for relaxing before bed. is that something that mattered later? no, of course not.

my 2.5 year old never finishes sippies. but she has meds she HAS TO TAKE in the mornings. so she drinks it out of a bottle bc i am 100% sure she will get her meds. but ahhhh what if we had to run to the store and she's not done? heaven forbid someone see me put her bottle away before we go in, right? lol u iz judgin me for doing what i have to do to keep my kid healthy.

you follow your own child's needs. when #2 is off the meds or starts finishing sippies - then we'll transition that morning med bottle. but until then, ill el oh el while others think its weird

ldoo · January 2011

I'll go out on a limb and agree with you on this. When the little 3 year old in my daughter's gymnastics class had to have her blanky with her, it was annoying, in the way and looked ridiculous. Yes, it's a comfort item, but I personally choose to let my kids find other more age-appropriate ways of finding comfort.

And I'll be honest, even though I admit it's incredibly rude of me: I DO judge it when I see 2-3 year old with pacis (and my best friends' children still have pacis - I keep quiet and don't say anything to them) or bottles.

To me, at some point, I consider it to be stunted emotional development. A 1 year old with a bottle? No. I don't think that's stunted at all. But I do choose to move it along so my 1 year old is fairly quickly learning to find comfort in things other than a bottle.

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