How do you go from bottle to sippy, again? and bedtime ?

So I thought we were doing great. DS was drinking water out of sippy during meals and between bottles. Not much but a sip here and there.

But he refuses to drink formula during meals, or even after meals. I have to wait a good hour to even offer him formula, and then he would drink only a few onces from sippy.

Well the past week, he's been outright refusing the sippy. Any kind of sippy I try. So I went back to offering a bottle 1 hour after meals.
But now he's even refusing bottles.

I let him taste milk, thinking how much he loves dairy, he might actually take to milk. He liked it as much as formula. But put water in a sippy and its gold. He gulps water down!

I don't get it, what did I do wrong? DS is 10m, and can drink water from a sippy. oy! Today he took a bottle 1 hour after meal, but its usually not the case. I can't believe he'll only take 2 bottles a day now. This kid was drinking 40oz at some point.

sorry so long....


oh and bedtime, do you give botte/nurse at bedtime and until what age did you?

Re: How do you go from bottle to sippy, again? and bedtime ?

DS didnt take a straw cup until 13 months. i started at 11 months with all types of sippy cups and he just wouldnt have it. finally at 13 months he saw me drink from a straw and was intrigued. so i grabbed his straw cup and it was like

as for the bedtime bottle...i think im in the minority here. i stopped that bottle around 10-11 months. mostly because DS didnt want it anymore.

ETA most kids will only drink water from the sippy at first. they have this bond with their formula/milk and a bottle. i would also start with the first bottle of the day since thats when theyre the hungriest. give him his formula in the cup and see what happens. i didnt push it. if he threw it, i gave the bottle and tried again in a couple of weeks.

Message edited 1/21/2011 3:34:30 PM.

Re: How do you go from bottle to sippy, again? and bedtime ?

my dd took well to the straw cup - I think because she sees me drinking from straws (I love straws). anyway, when we started transitioning her to milk, we started using the straw cups almost exclusively and at first I would put the rest of her last cup in a bottle at night and then one night, she had like an ounce left before the bedtime routine began (it's part of her dinner, but carries through into bedtime), and I didn't feel like getting a bottle out for it and decided to just go with it. no more bottles after that. well, until MIL decided to give her one. then it was like she remembered - oh yeah, the bottle, I love that thing. we kept moving forward and got rid of them but it was harder to do once she had it back. my suggestion would be first to try a straw sippy and second to switch him over quickly if he takes well to it. switching to milk is a good opportunity for making the switch so you may want to wait until then. good luck!!

Re: How do you go from bottle to sippy, again? and bedtime ?

Going off the bottle is a big transition. I found that taking it away and not giving in is the only way we were able to successfully get my son off the bottle. We started by taking away the afternoon bottle so that he got the am and pm bottle...then took away the am bottle. That one was the one that made the difference but really I think it was because he saw that I was not going to give in. I sat him in his highchair and gave him the sippy. He refused and it went on and on. But no bottle. Eventually he gave in.


Here's what helped me (between experience, advice here and the pediatrician)

- Children fall back on basic needs....eventually they will get thirsty and drink.

- Give yogurt and cheese if you feel milk intake is too low

- Don't give in...they are very smart and if they know will give in because of whinning or crying or tantrums they will act accordingly to get their way

- There is a level of fear in the unknown. The more confident you are with the change the better they will handle it.

- Milk strikes happen....it won't harm them. Just substitute in other ways.


Good Luck!