https://boards.hellobee.com/ Pregnancy, Baby and Parenting blog, by Hellobee en Thu, 09 Apr 2026 00:57:21 +0000 https://boards.hellobee.com/topic/transitioning-from-bottle-to-cup-with-milk-help#post-2778091 Fri, 06 Oct 2017 12:45:20 +0000 Goldengirl 2778091@https://boards.hellobee.com/ <p>@ShootingStar: Thanks! So at 12 months, how much milk were you giving? And she took the full amount from a cup with you holding it? </p> https://boards.hellobee.com/topic/transitioning-from-bottle-to-cup-with-milk-help#post-2777653 Wed, 04 Oct 2017 15:30:58 +0000 ShootingStar 2777653@https://boards.hellobee.com/ <p>@SweetiePie: Totally agree with everything you said! </p> https://boards.hellobee.com/topic/transitioning-from-bottle-to-cup-with-milk-help#post-2777652 Wed, 04 Oct 2017 15:29:24 +0000 ShootingStar 2777652@https://boards.hellobee.com/ <p>@Goldengirl: My DD couldn't hold the cup either. We started out holding it for her and putting her hands on it. We found it was easier for her to use smaller cups that had handles. We ended up getting a bunch of these - <a href="https://www.usa.philips.com/c-p/SCF753_30/avent-spout-cup" rel="nofollow">https://www.usa.philips.com/c-p/SCF753_30/avent-spout-cup</a>.</p> <p>I would give milk or water in a cup at meals and at snack time. For snacks we give cheese, yogurt, orange pieces, goldfish, roasted squash, other cooked veggies, etc. We tend to send more variety to daycare, but our snack go-to at home is mandarins and cheese or goldfish and cheese. </p> <p>In order to transition away from formula it's important that your LO get a variety of foods - meat (or other protein sources), dairy/calcium, veggies, carbs, etc. I find DD eats veggies much better at school, so we tend to load her up on them there and worry less about it at home.</p> <p>I have personally found that transitioning away from bottles early was really easy. They're so young now that they don't even really know the difference between a bottle and a sippy/straw cup. But an 18 month old knows the difference. And the older they are, the more attached to it they get. Personally, I didn't want to be dealing with trying to get bottles away from a 3 year old. It was enough getting DS to drop the paci, lol. </p> https://boards.hellobee.com/topic/transitioning-from-bottle-to-cup-with-milk-help#post-2777506 Wed, 04 Oct 2017 10:59:00 +0000 SweetiePie 2777506@https://boards.hellobee.com/ <p>@gingerbebe: Yes I should’ve been more specific. She said ideally 12 months, 15 months is still good. Definitely 100% by 18 months but she preferred not.<br /> I was initially pretty worried about weaning him off mostly because I thought that it would affect his sleep and he was such a good sleeper. But in the end with all of my worrying it was almost a non issue. He was On all cows milk by 13 months and fully off of bottles by 14 months. </p> https://boards.hellobee.com/topic/transitioning-from-bottle-to-cup-with-milk-help#post-2777472 Wed, 04 Oct 2017 10:22:33 +0000 gingerbebe 2777472@https://boards.hellobee.com/ <p>@Goldengirl: I agree with SweetiePie's ped - our pediatrician said 12 months was an ideal goal, but that its very typical for kids to wean off the bottle by 16-18 months. She recommends by 16 months. So don't feel undue pressure to get your kid off the bottle AT 12 months if they just aren't quite there yet. </p> https://boards.hellobee.com/topic/transitioning-from-bottle-to-cup-with-milk-help#post-2777469 Wed, 04 Oct 2017 10:18:56 +0000 SweetiePie 2777469@https://boards.hellobee.com/ <p>@Goldengirl: I don’t think it’s overwhelming per se, just would be a super long post to a thread. Lol.<br /> But let me know if you decide! :happy: </p> <p>And to address why it’s important to get rid of the bottle around a year as asked above (my ped said by 15 months), there are a host of reasons.<br /> 1) oral motor skills<br /> 2) dental concerns (teeth shifting and cavities)<br /> 3) it’s just generally easier to do at 1 vs 1.5, 2, etc<br /> 4) overconsumption (milk intake should decrease quite a bit at a year, not nearly as much WCM as formula or BM) so if they continue bottles (mainly for comfort) it can mean they are getting TOO much milk. Here’s a good article about how it can lead to obesity. <a href="http://healthland.time.com/2011/05/12/babies-on-the-bottle-how-long-is-too-long/" rel="nofollow">http://healthland.time.com/2011/05/12/babies-on-the-bottle-how-long-is-too-long/</a></p> <p>This is helpful as a brief explanation with some tips.<br /> <a href="https://m.kidshealth.org/en/parents/no-bottles.html?WT.ac=" rel="nofollow">https://m.kidshealth.org/en/parents/no-bottles.html?WT.ac=</a> </p> https://boards.hellobee.com/topic/transitioning-from-bottle-to-cup-with-milk-help#post-2777411 Wed, 04 Oct 2017 09:05:01 +0000 Goldengirl 2777411@https://boards.hellobee.com/ <p>@agold: Thanks that makes me feel better! I think it's something to do with their teeth maybe? I have no idea honestly.</p> <p>@SweetiePie: Thank you, that's so nice! I might take you up on it later but for now I think I'll just see how it goes before overwhelming myself too much. </p> https://boards.hellobee.com/topic/transitioning-from-bottle-to-cup-with-milk-help#post-2777360 Tue, 03 Oct 2017 22:31:57 +0000 agold 2777360@https://boards.hellobee.com/ <p>I kind of went cold turkey to whole milk because I ran out of breast milk. My girl has no problem with it. I also still use bottles. I don't get the reasoning to stop bottles at one year old. She's still a baby. And she likes a bottle. I suppose when she's a bigger girl, I will give her sippy cups. But I don't know when. </p> https://boards.hellobee.com/topic/transitioning-from-bottle-to-cup-with-milk-help#post-2777357 Tue, 03 Oct 2017 21:34:03 +0000 Mrs. Lemon-Lime 2777357@https://boards.hellobee.com/ <p>My LO loathes his mucnhkin 360 cup. I have tried it myself and find milk is too thick for it to come out reasonably quick for him.</p> <p>At the WCM transition we moved him to weighted straw sippy cups. He was able to convert completely in about 7-10 days. I stopped sending bottles to daycare and then simply offered him a sippy at only. </p> <p>For a couple bottles at home I gave him part formula and part WCM. At school he was getting 100% WCM. Once we finished the formula we had on hand we gave LO WCM and he didn’t have any issue. </p> https://boards.hellobee.com/topic/transitioning-from-bottle-to-cup-with-milk-help#post-2777355 Tue, 03 Oct 2017 21:27:47 +0000 SweetiePie 2777355@https://boards.hellobee.com/ <p>I have a super detailed email about this that I have shared with friends who had kids after me. They’ve all found it very helpful. I can send to you if you’d like. It’s just wayyyy too much to put here. So I’ll send if you want super detailed info on how we did it (with pediatricians advice) and how it went. I address everything you asked. </p> https://boards.hellobee.com/topic/transitioning-from-bottle-to-cup-with-milk-help#post-2777276 Tue, 03 Oct 2017 15:07:46 +0000 snowjewelz 2777276@https://boards.hellobee.com/ <p>@Goldengirl: Nope so she drinks like an 6-8 oz bottle after she wakes up in a straw cup, then goes about her day eating her 3 meals + snacks. She eats yogurt/cheese so I'm not worried about not having enough dairy. Then before bed as part of her bed time routine she'll have another 6-8oz straw cup of milk, before teeth brushing. She's almost 3 and it's still the same routine! </p> https://boards.hellobee.com/topic/transitioning-from-bottle-to-cup-with-milk-help#post-2777264 Tue, 03 Oct 2017 14:52:31 +0000 gingerbebe 2777264@https://boards.hellobee.com/ <p>@Goldengirl: DS1 had reflux and so he just was not food or milk motivated at all. He did not want to self feed, he did not want to hold his own bottle, he did not want to use a cup - I get it. I will tell you that he's a sturdy little 3 year old now who eats and drinks great, using open cups and silverware. </p> <p>Neither of my boys took to cups or whatever early. DS2, even though he was a fantastic eater, wasn't into self-feeding. Baby led weaning was not for our family. Even now, DS2 at 16 months, needs me to help feed him dinner. He uses a spoon and does a halfway decent job shoveling into his mouth, but he spills a lot so he gets frustrated because he wants MOOOOARR so I have to also do back up spooning. After he figured out spoons, he does NOT want to eat with his hands unless its a finger food, so no going back on that either. </p> <p>All this is to say, nothing is wrong with your kid. I remember being stressed out with DS1 because the child could NOT eat or do anything. But it really does click for them at some point - unless they have an oral sensory issue or something, which you can talk to your ped about when he turns 1 if it bugs ya.</p> <p>Don't worry about cutting the bottles out if you know for sure he's not drinking enough from the cup yet. Just work on ways in the meantime to get him eating more.</p> <p>For my kids, I gave them dry snacks that were SUPER appealing (yogurt melts and puffs - like brand name Gerber ones - were the best tasting, right size, perfect melty consistency, etc) for my picky gentlemen who were learning to self-feed. I had a little kiddie stool and I would put a few pieces out on it with a straw cup of water and they would learn to pick things up and I would offer them the cup every once in a while in case their mouth was dry from the snack. I would also offer the puffs and melts on the tray at meals and then once I knew they could do it fine, I'd mix in raisins, cut up bites of banana and blueberry, etc. Still with some puffs and melts to engage them, but with other things in there too. </p> <p>Another thing both kids loved was yogurt. So once a day for the afternoon snack, I would feed them Greek yogurt because it was nice and thick and would stick on a spoon. I used regular flavored yogurt because I wanted it to be tantalizing. I would give them their own spoon to hold, then I would spoon feed one bite, it would get they interested, and then I would take the empty spoon and replace it with a loaded spoon of yogurt. I would guide it to their mouth and they would be so pleased. We would go back and forth trading loaded spoons like that until they were finished. I didn't let them hold the yogurt cup/bowl, but just handed them spoons. Once they got this down, we did this with thicker purees, oatmeal, mashed banana, etc.</p> <p>Yes, when my boys both finally clicked with a straw cup, they were holding it themselves - which is why the handle is key. For DS1, he couldn't stand a cup with ANY resistance in the straw - it had to be an open straw with no valve. If it had resistance, he would drop it and move on. So we used the Tommee Tippee cup with handles. Once he was fully on cups and didn't care about handles, we used the big Tommee Tippee cups or Zoomi cups. </p> <p>DS2 could suck just fine out of the Munckin weighted cup (it has a teeny bit of resistance, but not bad) and he still prefers it bc it has the handle and he doesn't have to worry about drinking it from any angle or direction since its weighted. He gets pissed at regular straws for that reason. </p> https://boards.hellobee.com/topic/transitioning-from-bottle-to-cup-with-milk-help#post-2777256 Tue, 03 Oct 2017 14:33:45 +0000 Goldengirl 2777256@https://boards.hellobee.com/ <p>@kayla0416: Thanks, we do have the Munchkin 360 but he doesn't seem able to figure it out despite everyone claiming it's easy to use! Tried for months but never took :(</p> <p>@snowjewelz: So would you give the milk as its own "feeding" or just add it on with meals? I'm confused what the right thing to do is!</p> <p>@ShootingStar: Thanks, this is helpful! A couple questions though - my LO can't hold a cup, Like, seriously can't. So do I still give him milk from a cup and I just hold it like I do his bottle? Then is there a point of stopping the bottle before he can hold a cup? And when you cut each of those feedings, when would you give the whole milk/cup? Also what kinds of snacks did you replace with? My worry is that the formula has so many nutrients and I want to make sure he's getting everything but it feels like a lot of pressure!</p> <p>@gingerbebe: Thank you. He's still not feeding himself or holding the cup and it's been stressing me out :( I know he'll get there but it's frustrating when it feels like every baby several months younger than him is already doing those things. And oh man, I didn't even think about milk hurting his tummy, oh no! That sounds crappy (pardon the pun). When your LOs were using the straw cups, were they holding them themselves? I think he's starting to get the hang of the straw but only for little sips of water. And he doesn't hold it. My worry of cutting the bottles out is he's still taking around 24 ounces a day and seems desperate for it each time. So I'm not sure how I could increase the solids enough to make up for it, especially since he's not feeding himself. </p> https://boards.hellobee.com/topic/transitioning-from-bottle-to-cup-with-milk-help#post-2777173 Tue, 03 Oct 2017 11:33:33 +0000 gingerbebe 2777173@https://boards.hellobee.com/ <p>Neither of my boys held their own bottles and DS1 literally did not understand sippy cups until almost 2 years old. Both my kids transitioned with straw cups.</p> <p>With DS1, we just left out straw cups of water all over the house that he could sip on while he played. We taught him to use a straw by getting those Take n Toss straw cups and squeezing the water up the straw (or milk or juice if you think it will be more tantalizing). Once he understood the mechanics of straws, we offered him straw cups of milk at the table for each of his 3 meals. We liked handled cups with a soft silicone straw. DS1 favored the Tommee Tippee handled straw cup. He didn't drink much out of it for weeks, but he knew the mechanics of how it worked, which is what mattered to me. </p> <p>DS2 did not get straws like at all - we would squirt and it would just dribble out of his mouth. But then literally right at his 1st birthday, he grabbed DS1's thermos and that was that. He just knew he wanted it and went to town. We switched him to a Munchkin weighted cup, which at 16 months is still his favorite for milk.</p> <p>Neither of my kids could handle whole cows milk at 12 months. They both liked the taste of it, but it gave them explosive butt-peeling runs. We had to baby step it by using toddler formula for a few weeks, then slowly mixing in whole milk for a few weeks, and both were on cows milk by 13 and 14 months respectively. </p> <p>So, long and short of it, they both needed straw cups, they both needed well until 12 months to figure it out, but the actual milk transition happened later than the cup transition.</p> <p>I also wouldn't worry about volume - my ped said if they were getting at least 16oz of fluid a day, they were hydrated and by 1, if they were getting 12-16oz of milk a day she was fine with it, and AFTER 1, she was like 8-12oz a day of milk is fine if they're getting cheese and yogurt.</p> <p>I would keep offering the bottles, but maybe cut one bottle out (say, the lunch one) and replacing it with a cup. Once he's used to it, swap out another. Both my boys were OVER bottles once they got the straw cup, so it may be painless. </p> https://boards.hellobee.com/topic/transitioning-from-bottle-to-cup-with-milk-help#post-2777169 Tue, 03 Oct 2017 11:30:09 +0000 ShootingStar 2777169@https://boards.hellobee.com/ <p>To transition away from formula, you son need to be a varied diet of solids. I'm assuming by now you've introduced solids. For both of my kids we started feeing them at meals with us and at daycare, and we offered a sippy of milk. My LO2 had trouble getting the hang of sippies but eventually she got it. I would not bother trying to mix formula and milk unless your son outright refuses it a few times. </p> <p>Then what we did was eliminate one bottle a week and replace with solids. I found it easiest to eliminate the bottles in the middle of the day. My kids were on bottles roughly at 7, 11, 3, 7. So the first to go was the 3pm, then the 11am. Again, they were replaced by snacks, and at this point they were already on 3 meals a day. Then the morning bottles got phased out and we went right to breakfast. And last the night time bottle. I skipped that feeding, no replacement. And neither kid minded because they were getting plenty of food throughout the day. </p> <p>So eventually you get to the point where they breakfast, snack, lunch, snack, dinner. I've done this gradually with two kids and we haven't had any problems. The worst part for me was that LO2 never learned to hold her own bottle and took longer to learn how to use sippy cups, so I had to hold them for her at first. </p> https://boards.hellobee.com/topic/transitioning-from-bottle-to-cup-with-milk-help#post-2777168 Tue, 03 Oct 2017 11:29:56 +0000 snowjewelz 2777168@https://boards.hellobee.com/ <p>With DD1 I just kind of did it cold turkey. She was ramping up eating a lot more real food by 11-12 months, and I gave her straw cup with milk/water a lot more. Then a week after she turned 1, we just took away the bottles, and replaced with 1 morning and 1 night cow's milk session in a straw cup. We warmed the milk and she was fine and we never looked back! She also never had an issue transition cold turkey from BM to formula, so maybe she just never cared! </p> <p>Planning to do the exact same thing with DD2. She has only had BM though, so I wonder if it will go as smoothly. Ever kid is different! </p> https://boards.hellobee.com/topic/transitioning-from-bottle-to-cup-with-milk-help#post-2777149 Tue, 03 Oct 2017 10:39:20 +0000 kayla0416 2777149@https://boards.hellobee.com/ <p>@Goldengirl: our daycare helped a lot with this and I liked the way the did it. They had been doing bottles between meal times, but at about 11 months they switched to offering the pumped milk in a sippy at meal times, then fed her whatever she didn't drink out of the sippy with a bottle after the meal. She slowly started drinking more and more from the sippy, then at 1 year they went cold turkey only offering her the pumped milk from a sippy at meal times. Over the next couple weeks, we transitioned to whole milk by mixing 50/50, but my daughter didn't seem to notice the difference and probably would've been fine switching cold turkey. </p> <p>We liked the Munchkin 360, and still uses it at 17 months, but she didn't really get the hang of it until about 11 months. Until then we were using the spout-type sippies. </p> https://boards.hellobee.com/topic/transitioning-from-bottle-to-cup-with-milk-help#post-2777136 Tue, 03 Oct 2017 09:36:05 +0000 Mrs. Pickle 2777136@https://boards.hellobee.com/ <p>What kind of cup do you use? I'd try a couple different types. My LO couldn't do a sippy so she used a straw cup. We started getting her used to the cup by offering her water in it during meals. Then we focused on phasing out nursing sessions and replacing them with whole milk during meals after she turned one. </p> https://boards.hellobee.com/topic/transitioning-from-bottle-to-cup-with-milk-help#post-2777132 Tue, 03 Oct 2017 09:28:13 +0000 Goldengirl 2777132@https://boards.hellobee.com/ <p>I've been told that LO should switch from formula to whole milk by the time he's a year old, and the recommendation is also to not use bottles by that point. He's almost 11 months and I feel totally confused how to approach any of this, so would appreciate some insight from those who've gone through the transition!</p> <p>My main questions are:<br /> -He currently drinks 4 bottles during the day, about 6 ounces each. How do I start cutting those feeds down/out?<br /> -The little guy is not proficient at all with holding a cup. He also doesn't feed himself! So I'm not sure how to transition to giving milk in a cup...<br /> -Do I need to slowly introduce whole milk, or I just change it over cold turkey?</p> <p>Any tips appreciated! </p>