Need advice re switching from bottles to cups

WinesNot Whines · September 2011

I've been trying to get M to drink milk from a cup, but he has zero interest so far. I still have a small amount of BM left in my freezer, but my stash will be gone in 2 weeks, and I'm not going to give him cow milk in a bottle, so this transition is happening in 2 weeks, whether he likes it or not. Tongue Tied Any tips on how to make this transition easier? I've already tried offering him both BM and cow milk in a cup, but he won't drink either. He will drink other things from a cup, however (water and watered-down juice), so I don't think it's a cup issue. He just won't drink milk from a cup.

I know he doesn't necessarily need milk if he gets calcium from other sources, but he currently gets 10 oz of BM a day, and I'm worried about how he's going to replace those calories if he doesn't drink milk.

ghostgirl · September 2011

Have you tried using a totally different brand of sippy cup or a straw cup? In DD's case, to this day she will not drink milk from any kind of sippy cup - but she will happily drink it from one of those Thermos Foogo Straw Cups.

MrsPhilDunphy · September 2011

I think a lot of us had similar problems at transition time. I know C did. He would drink water from a sippy fine, but basically throw a sippy full of milk across the room. Really, the only thing we did was stick with it and ride it out for a few days. The first bottle of the morning was easiest because he was usually so starving he didn't care what we gave him and then the rest got easier as well.

I'm sure you could try one of the million other cups that are out there, but for us it was just a matter of going cold turkey and riding it out. And it was literally only a few days.

DCtoLowcountry · September 2011

Ditto MPD. If DS knew there was a bottle in the vicinity, he'd hold out. So we made a big show of putting all the bottles away and there was just sippies from then on. We used the Nuby ones. Like MPD, it was a few days of some sippy-throwing drama and then it was the new normal.

mamabear2010 · September 2011

DS was drinking water from a sippy cup while he was taking BM in a bottle. He refused BM in the cup so I decided that I won't bother trying to get him to drink the BM in a bottle, I'll just offer WCM in a cup when the time came for it. I offered it around 12 months and he took it. I guess it just tasted different enough for him that he didn't make that connection that it was also milk and needed to be in a bottle. It was also a straw cup and we never went back to sippy or bottles. I'm a SAHM so whatever little BM he gets now is from the breast. I would also suggest cold turkey if mixing BM and WM isn't working. Just get rid of the bottles and he will eventually take the cup.

amh_navyblue · September 2011

Another vote for going cold turkey and for trying different cups and/or straw cups. for a couple of days it may seem like he's not getting enough, but he'll make it up once he figures out what his new options are;)

victoria1212 · September 2011

we had to do cold turkey too. friday night we got rid of all bottles (and the drying rack they usually were on) and then Saturday morning just offered the sippy cup and she did not put up a fight.

She only liked the munchkin sippy cups with the soft valve for a long time. Now, she prefers a straw.

tomandcourt · September 2011

I would start with the "easier" ones first--not the bottles before naps or bedtime (if you do that) but the ones during the day with no routine attached. We found some sippies that were sort of like bottles (these) and that helped.

It also helped to have daycare work on this, too. J still sometimes wants a bottle before his nap on the weekend (don't judge!) but he hasn't had a bottle for his nap at daycare in probably a year. I think it helped to see all the other kids drinking out of cups, so he wanted one too.

Sofka · September 2011

I wrote a very similar post just a couple of months ago! DD was easy, she learned how to drink from a straw cup (we don't do sippies at our house) in 2 hrs at 8mo old and by 12mo she was off bottles and 100% using straw cups.

DS was not easy. He took a mix of cow and BM in a bottle fine but refused in a cup. I stopped putting BM in it b/c I was running out and didn't want to waste it. We went back to bottles until I ran out of BM at 13.5mo, this is also when I fully weaned from nursing. I just took away all bottles (we used Playtex and I set a goal of once we ran out of drop-ins, we don't buy any more) and gave him cups. Sometimes, he'd take a sip, sometimes he'd spit it out, sometimes he'd swallow it. It took 1.5mos!! (nothing is easy with this kid) but we put milk in his oatmeal and milk in his cottage cheese and he gets a YoBaby yogurt each night. After 1.5mo he started drinking milk from a straw cup. There are still days I don't think he drinks enough but overall, I think he gets enough calcium (will discuss w/ pedi at his check-up). For us, it did take a long time but I just stuck with it. Good luck!

WinesNot Whines · September 2011

Thanks, everyone. It sounds like going cold turkey may be the best option, so I'll do that in 2 weeks after my BM stash is gone. I've tried a variety of different sippy and straw cups (at least 4 different kinds), and M clearly prefers straw cups, but he won't drink milk out of any of them. Hopefully he'll accept them after we ditch the bottles. Daycare has also tried without success. It will be an interesting few days around here at the beginning of October.

BirdGirl01 · September 2011

It's been a slow process for DD. She's finally mastered straw cups, but will take much longer to drink from them.

Our pedi said she wasn't concerned if we continued to use bottles for a while as long as she's not getting more than 20 oz of milk a day.

tracy042206 · September 2011

We had to go cold turkey too. They were both at ages where not getting milk for a few days wouldn't hurt them so we went cold turkey and it only took 1 day for Maggie to catch on and 3 days for Molly.

Amy&Steve0421 · September 2011

Not sure if this would help - but could you try drinking milk out of a straw cup/sippy cup? With Ben - if I do something - he wants to do it too. So when we went from sippy cups to straw cups, I just had all my drinks out of one - and after one day he was on straw cups full time.

WinesNot Whines · September 2011

Amy&Steve0421:
Not sure if this would help - but could you try drinking milk out of a straw cup/sippy cup? With Ben - if I do something - he wants to do it too. So when we went from sippy cups to straw cups, I just had all my drinks out of one - and after one day he was on straw cups full time.

This is a good idea. I don't drink milk myself, let alone whole milk, but I could take one for the team if it helps to get him to drink it.

Sofka · September 2011

WinesNot Whines:
Amy&Steve0421:
Not sure if this would help - but could you try drinking milk out of a straw cup/sippy cup? With Ben - if I do something - he wants to do it too. So when we went from sippy cups to straw cups, I just had all my drinks out of one - and after one day he was on straw cups full time.

This is a good idea. I don't drink milk myself, let alone whole milk, but I could take one for the team if it helps to get him to drink it.

this is how I taught DD to drink from a straw cup; she mimicked me and got it right away; it took DS 2 months to get it!

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