Baby won't drink milk from cup!!

[buttercupo]

Hello, I am sure this is a common problem so would love some advice from more experienced mums!

My 12mo DD loves drinking formula from a bottle. She always finishes it and has a bottle every morning and evening. I know it is time to change to cows milk in a cup.
She will drink cows milk from a bottle (although never quite as much) but barely drinks any milk from a cup and I've tried lots of different types. I also warm the milk.

Any advice?
I know she could have other sources of calcium, but I'm also worried that without a her bedtime bottle/drink, she might wake up in then night hungry or thirsty. Thanks in advance!

[Ihaveoflate]

I just kept the bedtime bottle. We do teeth brushing after so I can't really see any problem. It's the only bottle she has.

[Babysharksmom]

My first had a bedtime bottle til he was 3. Teeth are fine
The other 2 dropped their bottles at 1
Leave her have her bottle and enjoy it
She's just a baby

[modgepodge]

I posted exactly the same thing a few weeks back, except mine is 17m and I’ve been trying to move her over since a year 🤦‍♀️ She just wails if I give it in a cup and refuses to drink it, even though she drinks water from a cup fine. Does yours drink water from a cup ok?

[leafeater]

Mine only ever had milk in a bottle, till the flow frustrated her so she drank from a cup.

You can get different teats that look more like a sippy cup teat.

[thefaceisnot]

I struggled and in the end she took a bottle with a straw. She was fine drinking other liquids in a cup. She is 2 now, drinking from open cups and still having bed time milk in the bottle with the straw. She won't drink milk from any other bottle or cup.

[buttercupo]

Ah it makes me feel better that we're not the only ones! I'm totally happy with her having the bottle and she likes it so much I do feel bad taking it away.
The health visitor was quite blasé about it and said now she's 1 she can have cows milk from a cup and she shouldn't use a teat, so that worried me a bit.

Maybe I persevere with the cup in the morning but stick with the bottle for a while longer in the eve. She drinks water from a cup (most types she'll use).

Did anyone find changing from formula to cows milk make any difference to how much it fills them up?

[buttercupo]

@thefaceisnot I've tried a bottle with a straw and she's fine with water but won't drink more than 0.5-1oz of milk from it..

[Athrawes]

Or you could just drop the milk altogether? Mine was EBF to 13 mo and then never took to cows milk. Tried every flavour but he wasn't having a bar of it. He's 10 and healthy. Cows milk is not essential

[buttercupo]

@Athrawes I think because she likes milk I'm still keen for her to have it, it's more the bottle being the issue. I'm not sure what's better, her drinking milk from a bottle or not drinking milk at all....

[TheTeenageYears]

@buttercupo if it was the milk she particularly liked she would drink it out of anything. The problem is the bottle can be very habit forming and keeping it so she will still drink milk is a dilemma many parents have. Remove the bottle and DC may never drink milk again, keep it and you may find yourself posting in 3 years time asking how you get her to give up the bottle of milk she is now dependent on.

We tried lots and lots of different cups with DS and eventually got him to use a Tommy Tippee straw cup. He refused all the anyway up cups and I remember it to be a trying time and we wasted so much money trying all the various cups. DD had the very basic Tommy Tippee 2 handed cup with lift up spout that has one free flowing hole. She used that from quite young, we were determined not to go down the same rabbit hole with her. She was pulling at my glass to share my drink by the time she was 6 months though so they were just very different children.

[thefaceisnot]

@buttercupo give it a time. Just offer bottle with straw and cup first before the bottle it would give her some practice.

[Ihaveoflate]

To answer your question about transition from formula to cows' milk, I reduced it by an ounce each day over a week, e.g. 5oz formula, 1oz milk then 4oz to 2oz etc. It worked really well and she didn't notice.

I keep the bedtime bottle because she won't drink milk any other way and although she has some (lactose free) milk in her cereal and in cooking, she doesn't get a huge amount of dairy otherwise. She's lactose intolerant.

Like everything in parenting, I had to weigh it all up and come to an acceptable compromise.

[FizzingWhizzbee123]

We transition to a straw cup for a while, so still sucking, then on to a free flow Tommee Tippee. Worked for us.

[Passanotherjaffacake]

Mine wasn’t having anything from a cup at 12 months and we tried everything as we were trying to reduce her bottles. But she just wasn’t ready! It meant she just didn’t drink and started having lots of dry nappies which was dangerous. Now at 15 months, she is much happier and will have both milk and water in a cup so most days she is now down to one bedtime bottle. She just decided one day that milk was ok in a cup. We offered it randomly as the more we tried the more she resisted. She just wants to stay a baby and feels quite stubborn about asserting her rights!

[chickensoup23]

My son has just turned 2. Had milk from a bottle up until a few weeks ago. Literally 1 bottle before bed. I woke up one day and said to him, you don't have milk in a bottle anymore, bottles are for babies, he said okay. And that was it.
No drama or resistance - left it that bit longer and he was able to understand why. His teeth are fine by the way and it was much easier than battling with him when he was younger and still relied on it to settle x

[c24680]

My daughter was fine changing to cows milk.

She's 2 now and still has a bottle in the morning and at night. She happily drinks for a cup throughout the day but won't drink her milk from it, I guess it's a comfort thing, I'm not worried and health visitor said a lot of children her age still have a bottle.

[buttercupo]

Ah you've all made me feel so much better thank you! I've started mixing cows milk and formula to transition over, but will keep the bottle for a while and slowly intro cup over time but will be more relaxed about it :)