Tranisitioning from bottle - best sippy cup?

[janey99]

Hi all!

DS is 11 months old. I'm about to start transitioning him from his bottle to a sippy cup. He has never used a sippy, but he has been taking sips out of a "real" tiny cup for a few months.

What brands do you all recommend and why?

Currently, he gets a 4 oz bottle 3-4 times a day (and nurses 2 times). Do I offer the sippy cup at the old bottle times, or do I make it available all the time? I don't really like it when I see other kids constantly carrying around sippy cups, but if kids generally need the opportunity to hydrate whenever they want, I'll make it available all time.

He drinks no juice - only formula and BM. Do I provide a sippy cup with water, as well as formula/milk, or not?

Thanks!

Jane

 

[dizneechic]

I know I will be the odd man out on this, but we went from breast to straw cup and skipped the sippy style all together. It's one of those things that personally drove me crazy seeing older toddlers trying to suck on sippy style cups and the straw ones just seemed a bit less annoying to me. Plus it keeps the liquids away from their teeth more so it helped with the juice acids and sugar to sort of bypass the teeth (and yes I drink coffee and tea through a straw myself ).

We introduced the straws with your typical straw, McD's for instance, so they got an immediate reward for sucking on it vs. the little more suck required for the spill proof kids straw style cups. Once that was figured out we started with juice (50% juice 50% water) in the kids style straw cups and then moved into the transition with other fluids (milk, water) once they got the hang of it. When we introduced the straw cups mine had only ever had breast milk from the tap (they never took bottles) so we used the appeal of watered down juice to get them to try it. We started at 11 or so months, and it took a few weeks to get them fully transitioned and at the 1 year mark we introduced milk in the cup and easily weaned (although 2 of my 3 had to switch to lactaid for 6 months before regular milk).

As for brand, we use the Munchkin ones you can find just about anywhere (target, walmart, etc). When I was buying them they came in Dora and SpongeBob styles, but I think there are more characters now.

Good luck with the transition!

 

[CyndiLooWho]

I agree with a lot of the points the post above mentioned, and we had our kids drinking from straws quite early. BUT, for long trips or families that eat in the car a lot, a good sippy that doesn't leak is a very useful thing. We used the playtex ones, b/c they were easy to get anywhere, didn't leak (some I tried did), and you could buy replacement valves easily.

As for the transition, I transitioned my kids from breastmilk to water or whole milk, limiting whole milk for mealtimes and water for all other times. MIL did give them juice in their sippies (she was my daycare), but I found that juice and milk sippies that got "forgotten" were the grossest things to clean out. I even tossed a few right in the trash. That's when I decided that the best way to go was water (and it's better for them anyway).

Also, we never had a problem with our kids carrying the sippy around all the time. We simply told them no. If we were out, I kept one in the diaper bag, but didn't let the boys just run around with them. If they don't do this with bottles (and mine didn't do that either, as they only got bottles if they weren't with me), you can keep them from doing it with sippies, too.

 

[RN4Babies]

I used the Avent sippy for dd. She didn't like the hard spout on other sippies I tried; Avent has a spout that's durable, but not hard plastic.

I'd give her milk at meal times and if she wanted a snack. In between she'd get water if she was thirsty. Neither of my kids dragged around their sippies (or bottles) constantly. I wouldn't offer water freely, especially to a child less than one year of age due the possibility of water intoxication. My dd LOVED water in her sippy cup, so I had to ration it; that's why she usually got milk instead. We never introduced juice, so that was never an issue.

 

[left210]

We are going through this right now with our 10 mo. old. He hasnt done well with the harder spouts like Playtex or even Avent but is doing wonderful with a Nuk sippy. It has a very soft spout. He can also use the Nuby but the Nuk comes out more easily for him and it doesnt spill. The only place we could find them was at Kroger. Here is a link to the cup at drugstore.com http://www.drugstore.com/products/p...ram=gerber_nuk_learner_cup_&CAWELAID=61281225

 

[ksjayhawkfan]

We are going through this right now with our 10 mo. old. He hasnt done well with the harder spouts like Playtex or even Avent but is doing wonderful with a Nuk sippy. It has a very soft spout. He can also use the Nuby but the Nuk comes out more easily for him and it doesnt spill. The only place we could find them was at Kroger. Here is a link to the cup at drugstore.com http://www.drugstore.com/products/p...ram=gerber_nuk_learner_cup_&CAWELAID=61281225

This is the cup we use for our 9 month old. She bites through the Nuby ones and NUK is the only one she really likes.


She takes 3 6 oz bottles a day, 2 naps and bedtime. The rest of the day she gets a cup of formula with her breakfast and supper and water with lunch and snacks. She LOVES ice water.

 

[adtillma1]

We've used the Nuby soft tiped cups as the transitional sippy cup and after a couple of months getting used to the drinking from a cup we move to the take and toss ones.

 

[We_love_WDW]

I tried them all and found that the playtex my first sipster (with handles) or the regular sipster worked the best - it did not leak at all. After using this for a month or so I switched to to the take and toss cups with straws. They are the best. Good luck!

 

[janey99]

Thanks everyone! I'm going to go on a fieldtrip to the grocery stores and drugstores to see which ones they stock!

One thing I didn't mention is that DS thinks he's a prince - he hates holding his own bottle, so it will be interesting to see how he responds to having to hold the cup!

Jane

 

[puffkin]

My DS did not like tipping his head back to drink, so we went to the straw style cups (I liked the Nuby ones). He got milk in it at breakfast and dinner and water or water/juice mixture at other times during the day.

 

[msmama]

My guy never had a bottle (maybe a handful of times in his life) so he started with water in the sippy at probably 6 mos old. He gets water with meals, if he wants a "drink" in between he still nurses.

He prefers the super cheap Take and Toss kind.

He can use lots of different kinds now, including the straw ones, but I save the other kinds for when we're out.

 

[DisneyDreams4P&B]

FYI - Both the Take n Toss and the Nuby (which I use) come BPA free.

 

[my3cinderellas]

Im a fan of the Nuk, that the pp posted. It was the only sippie my daughter would take to. It was a battle and i tried every sippie this was my miracle. LOL

She now uses any kind but before oh boy! lol

 

[longing2Batdisney]

DS2 never took a bottle. We started using the Gerber cups w/the blue soft spouts, he also liked the nuby cups. He did not and still does not like the hard spouts. We mainly use straw cups, again the nuby brand has a great one, the first years take and toss are our favs. For on the road I purchased cups with the spill proof straws, he seems to like these.

Good Luck!!!