Making the Transition from Bottle to Sippy Cup

When your child nears the age of 12 months, you start thinking about bottle weaning. This can be an enormous challenge for parents. Babies and toddlers love the comfort of their usual nipple. Giving your baby a milk or juice bottle to sleep with can damage their teeth. Here are some tips that can help you and your child get over the weaning hump.

During the day, you can try giving only water in the bottle and tastier drinks like milk and juice from the sippy cup. Your child might adapt to the trainer cup sooner if he or she gets a little persuasion from their favorite drinks. You can also try liquids that your child may never have had before like strawberry milk or root beer. Be patient and understanding. If your child does not take well to this method, give them time. Never deprive your child of milk or formula if they won't drink from the cup. Like many situations in parenting, it might take a few tries to get success.

Take a pretend sip from the training cup yourself or use the cup yourself for a while in front of your child. Once they see you using it they are bound to get curious. Act natural, as if you use sippy cups yourself all the time. This is a fun way to trick your toddler into taking more interest into the cup.

Take advantage of transitional training cups like the ones offered by the Nuby brand. These cups feature soft rubber nozzles that may seem more familiar to your child than the standard sippy cup. Some are even spill proof. You will want to replace the nozzles frequently because the grill-shaped rubber mechanism they use will wear out over time and small pieces might come off. Also clean these nozzles carefully. A bottle brush can easily puncture them.

Make sure that your toddlers' transitional cup suits their physical needs. Smaller cups might not hold enough liquid while larger ones might be more difficult to grasp and hold. Some children might like the dual handled cups and some may not. I went through several different kinds of sippy cups before finding the right one with my first baby. Check out the baby section of your local store to find an array of different types and sizes.

When your baby finally makes the transition from bottle to training cup it is a wonderful milestone. A spill proof trainer cup filled with water is a great alternative to a nighttime milk bottle and much better for their teeth.