How do I get her to drink her milk from a sippy instead of a bottle?

[peanut4us]

She's 13 months now, and she really needs to get off of bottles! She drinks water just fine out of a sippy cup, but she will only take a few swigs of milk out of the cup... she wants the bottle. Any suggestions?

[jubilee]

I am having trouble getting Logan to drink more than an ounce at a time from a sippy. I am wondering if it is because of the hard plastic- I mean how comfortable can that be to suck? I might try the "drink up cup" Karen mentioned in another post.

[egoldber]

You may want to try a straw sippy instead of a sippy with a spout. Its easier for kids to get more out than from a spout sippy.

Also, it is normal for her milk consumption to go down for awhile (week to 10 days) during the transition. It will pick back up once she realizes the bottle is not an option. As long as she getting plenty of calcium and fat from other sources, it isn't a big deal.

But I would pick one or two times a day and stop giving her the bottle at those times. Then a week or so later, pick another one or two times. Doing this, we had DD off bottles, very painlessly, by 14 months. She got her nighttime bottle for another month or so and then she just stopped needing it.

HTH,

[jennifer13]

Do you give her the cup at the same time as she would have a bottle, or in her high chair with meals?

DD does well when I hold her in my lap and she drinks from her sippy, but now I don't know how to wean her from THAT! :)

Jennifer
Mom to Norah 5/23/03

[momma_boo]

I've been giving her the sippy/straw (we use both) during her meals. After she eats a few bites (me too if I'm eating), I usually hold up the cup, putting the sippy/straw near her mouth and she'll take a few sips. We usually do that during most of the meal and then she might take the cup herself occassionally or when she's done for a few more swigs. If I just leave the cup there, she won't drink as much.

[kfcboston]

Joey -

My DS's milk consumption definitely dropped during the transition, and there was certainly a hissy fit or two. But he was getting ample dairy and fat in his solids. He came around after 5-7 days, and is a 100% sippy man now.

Good luck!

[cuca_]

I second the straw cup suggestion. DD has never been a fan of sippy cups. However, about a month ago my sister gave her a sip of water from her glass with a straw, and she immediately got it. I decided to purchase some straw cups for her and she is pretty good at using them. She is just 11 mos. so I just started giving her morning formula in a sippy. Some days she drinks the whole thing, sometimes she doesn't. The first few days I just kept offering it to her every so often, and she pretty much finished the whole thing. We are still in the middle of the transitioning, but this seems to be working.

HTH

Carmen

[chrissyhowie]

We had the same experience as Katie did with Charlie. I began transitioning Chloe to sippy cups for milk at her first birthday. She actually spit the milk out (as if it were some horrible substance :P) the first few times with the sippy, I think mainly because she had been using sippies for water only at that point. But after about a week and a half, she was 100% sippy and I happily packed all the bottles away. I just made sure she was getting good amounts of calcium in other forms (yogurt and cheese) during the time her milk consumption dropped. Now at 15 months I'm starting to introduce straws for variety sake and so that I don't always have to lug the sippy with us when we are out. Good luck and just keep plugging away! Sara will eventually figure the cups out if you give it a little time!

[McQ]

We're going through this in our house too. Loves water out of the sippy. But not the milk. No advice here (just trying to do what others have suggested) but just wanted to say you're not alone.

Allison
~ mommy to Declan 3.24.03
and number 2 EDD 9.14.04

[amp]

I agree w/ Beth. Try a straw cup. He can drink from a regular cup, but can't hold it himself without a big mess, so we tried adding a straw and holding it for him. Didn't work. We were concerned about his water intake as we approach the time for weaning from the bottle. He just didn't/doesn't consume much from a sippy. The Take N Toss straw cups are great! It turns out he learned to drink from those in one night and drinks a bit more with those than will any other cup. (See my Take N Toss Rocks thread below!) So try the straw and see if it works better for her.