Let's talk sippies, bottles, and "real" cups

So L and O are 10 months now. Until now I've only given them sippies with lunch and dinner, in their high chairs. They do OK usually, but don't down them by any means. They usually just have water in them.

I was reading What to expect the first year, and it said while sippies have there place, it's much better to teach on a real cup, and don't use sippies very much because it can have some negative affects. I can't imagine trying to use real cups at this point!!

I want to transition to cups (sippies) and start cutting bottles....so my questions are...

1. When did you transition from bottles to sippies?

2. Did you use sippies or real cups?

3. Did you give cups just at bottle times or let them graze through the day? It also said grazing was a no-no.

TIA,

Jennifer

 

We transitioned over time, dropping bottles one by one, and they had their last bottle at 12.5 months.

We use the Nuby straw sippy cups still to this day.

Milk is with their meals, with their snack they get half juice/half water, any other time of the day they get water.

A regular cup would just be too much of a mess right now, we'll be saving that for later.

 

We did sippies. We also did little dixie cups in the kitchen with water-small amounts. They wanted to have cups, so, they HAD to sit. If they got up I took the cup away. I also read that the cups with straws were a good option tosippies. It takes the liquid past the teeth so it does not just sit there and it help to develop the muscles in the mouth that are used in speach.

 

I don't see a huge problem with sippies -- I think 10 months is way too early to worry about "negative effects." Just because you read it in a book doesn't mean it's true!

That said...

1. When did you transition from bottles to sippies?
Around 1 year. We started giving them sippies around 7 months, but they couldn't hold their own until almost a year. And then we cut out the bottles and went just to sippies.

2. Did you use sippies or real cups?
Sippies (First Years take & toss) -- we are just starting with real cups now, at 2 years!

3. Did you give cups just at bottle times or let them graze through the day? It also said grazing was a no-no.
Not at bottle times, but no grazing -- at meals & snacks. They can have water anytime they want it. They have milk at meals, plus after meals if we haven't gotten around to putting the sippies away yet. We also do sippies at bedtime.

 

My youngest transitioned to sippies gradually, droppig bottles one at a time. Her bedtime bottle was the last one we dropped and she was about 14 months when I did that. I was just dragging my feet becuase she might be our last and I just didn't want to part with it.

She has been using sippies at meals and snacks up until about a month ago (she is 2 1/2). She now has cups with meals. She gets angry if you put anything in a sippy for her at the table. She wants a big girl cup! She will use a sippy in the car or stroller and that's about it. I was just thinking I need to clean my cupboard of all the sippies! At the age yours are now, I would not try and go to a cup without a lid or you will just have a huge mess all the time. If you are that worried about sippies, you can get the cups with straws!

 

We started offering sippies around 6-7 mos. They didn't actually drink well out of them until close to 12 months. I went through a lot of experimenting with sippies before finding one they liked. By 12 months, they were down to just a morning and evening bottle, so it was easy to do away with those. Bottles were gone by 13 months.

I briefly let them drink out of their sippies with no lids a few months ago. At first they did OK, I think because it was new, but then they started knocking the cup over and not being careful, so I did away with that. They drink out of sippies 99% of the time, occasionally they take sips out of my glass or get a little cup. Mostly, I am keeping them to sippies for my own sanity. I can't deal with spills and mess. I'll transition to regular cups sometime in the future. I don't let them wander around with a constant sippy of milk or juice, only water during the day, so I'm not worried about tooth decay or empty calories.

 

We didn't use bottles but I started giving them straw sippies of water when they started solids at 6 months. They took to them right away. I started to give them open cups for practice (water only) around 10 months and didn't expect much. It was Summer so it didn't matter if they got a little wet and they dumped plenty down their chests. They're now proficient with an open cup and rarely use a sippy at home although we still use them on the go. I'm personally glad to see sippies go because they take up so much space and they need special cleaning.

 

My girls are 10 months old too. They still get all of their liquids from bottles. We did introduce the sippies with water in them around 6 months, but they have never showed an interest in them at all. I'm not surprised though because they're also too stubborn to hold their own bottles!

To help them train a little bit, I bought clear plastic solo cups and put a little water in them (like a tablespoon) and let them drink it on their own. With the clear cups I can see where the water is and help them a little bit so they don't pour it up their noses. They actually do pretty good with that and almost always get the water in their mouths...and down their chests, but that's okay.

They LOVE drinking from an open cup and they LOVE drinking bottled water! I don't know what their problem is with sippies though. Maybe I'll start pushing them again and see what happens. It sure would be convenient if they would take one.

 

1. When did you transition from bottles to sippies?
We started occasionally introducing a sippy of water pretty much as soon as we started them on solids...so around 6-7 mos old. They didn't drink much out of it, and then we pretty much switched cold turkey to sippies when we cut out formula, betwen 11-12 months. Even though they hadn't been drinking much out of the sippies, they got it pretty quickly.

2. Did you use sippies or real cups?
Uh, no way could we have switched to open cups right away. We did try straw cup because I have often heard those are better for muscle/sppech development than regular sippies, but they just made a big mess with those. We used Gerber sippies w/ handles for a long time, then we pretty much switched exclusively to the take-n-toss variety. When we transitioned to open cups at around 2 yo (again pretty much cold turkey -- their choice) we also used the take-n-toss since they were small and clear (well, opaque), which really helped them in the transition.

3. Did you give cups just at bottle times or let them graze through the day? It also said grazing was a no-no.
We don't let them graze throughout the day, but when we moved to sippies we just gave them at meal and snack times, not at the previous bottle times. We didn't have any time that was just a "here's a cup of milk" -- once we went to sippies it was drinks with meals only, or of course if they specifically asked for water I gave it to them whenever they wanted. But no grazing.