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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.

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!

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!

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

@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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

@Goldengirl: I don’t think it’s overwhelming per se, just would be a super long post to a thread. Lol.
But let me know if you decide!

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.
1) oral motor skills
2) dental concerns (teeth shifting and cavities)
3) it’s just generally easier to do at 1 vs 1.5, 2, etc
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. http://healthland.time.com/2011/05/12/babies-on-the-bottle-how-long-is-too-long/

This is helpful as a brief explanation with some tips.
https://m.kidshealth.org/en/parents/no-bottles.html?WT.ac=

@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.
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.

@SweetiePie: Totally agree with everything you said!