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Behaviour/development

Talk to others about child development and behaviour stages here. You can find more information on our development calendar.

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Original poster

When and how to switch from bottles to beaker

24 replies

mrsflux · 14/04/2010 16:42

Ds is 1. He is on 3 bottles of cows milk a day. When should we be getting rid of bottles?
How do you do it?

He drinks water from a Tommee tippee flip top beaker but still hasn't got the hang of tipping it to get everything out. He also dribbles a fair bit and I don't like milky mess if I can avoid it.

Top tips welcome!

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CuppaTeaJanice · 14/04/2010 16:48

Marking thread as almost 2 year old DS refuses to drink milk from anything but a bottle........

DragonMamiCooksWelshCakes · 14/04/2010 20:11

We have this issue too. Hope someone with some answers appears soon!

Original poster

mrsflux · 14/04/2010 20:30

someone must know!

or at least tell us what not to do!

OP posts:

FabIsGoingToGetFit · 14/04/2010 20:32

I took mine off bottles at 6 months. Old enough to give them a go (I started with water at lunch time) but young enough to not be too attached to the bottle. Usually only takes a few days for them to get the hang of it.

CuppaTeaJanice · 14/04/2010 20:37

With my DS it's more of an attachment thing though. He's perfectly capable of using a beaker, and does so with juice. But for some reason when it's milk in the beaker, he looks really confused, fusses around with it for ages, and doesn't drink it.

Pingpong · 14/04/2010 20:39

We dropped bottles when DD1 reached her first birthday and switched to straw cups - not the ones that you have to squeeze together to get the liquid out (I think some of the Tommee Tippee ones have that feature but that was too complex for her) but Vital baby do good ones (but my pup kept stealing them and chewing them to bits) so I got some 99p ones from Savers chemist which also worked well.

FattipuffsandThinnifers · 14/04/2010 20:40

You could try the any-way-up cups (not sure of exact brand name), or ones with the valve and semi-soft spout. Sort of halfway between bottles with teats and freeflowing liquid.

Pingpong · 14/04/2010 20:41

cuppa I think that is exactly why HVs recommend switching from bottles around 1 - not cos it's bad to use bottles beyond 1 but because if you catch them early enough it's before they become really attached.

picc · 14/04/2010 20:47

Watching with interest, too.

DS (14 months) currently only drinks milk from a bottle, although he's very happy drinking water from a cup.

Refuses to drink milk out of cup, and is very attached to bottle. Asks for it now by pointing....

GrimmaTheNome · 14/04/2010 20:58

I expect things have changed in the last decade, but when DD was 6 months we changed her bottles (Avent) from teats to spouts and from there the transition to tommee tippee mug was very easy.

Original poster

mrsflux · 14/04/2010 21:01

the valve beakers are just too hard to get anything out of!
seriously - i've tried!

OP posts:

picc · 14/04/2010 21:08

have read that non-spill cups are bad for their teeth... so surely you're just replacing one bad habit with another?

Pingpong · 14/04/2010 21:09

vital baby straw cup this one does have a valve but is very easy to suck through the straw. You can take the straw out and use it by tilting the cup up but we always use the straw.

RunningOutOfIdeas · 14/04/2010 21:10

I found that DD would not drink milk from the same beaker that she happily drank water from. So I got her a different Tommee Tippee cup (I think it is now called an Explora easy cup). When I tried to drink from it I couldn't get anything out, but then I realised that you could pull the valve downwards making it easier to drink from. DD is nearly 2 and still uses this cup. By pulling the valve down, the milk is fairly free flowing, so not totally spill proof, but less messy than an open cup.

Original poster

mrsflux · 14/04/2010 21:15

running we have an explora cup, i'll try pulling the valve out a bit.
we have shoved it to the back of the cupboard as i thought it was ridiculously hard to suck through!

OP posts:

DaftApeth · 14/04/2010 21:31

It is recommended that bottles with teats are not used beyond one year.

The sucking action required to drink from a teat is different from that required to drink from a beaker or lidded cup.

Children who drink from teats will continue to use an immature sucking pattern that involves the tongue moving backwards and forwards.

The more mature action (which is what an adult would use too) is when the cheeks become involved rather than the tongue.

Most adults who try to drink from a bottle would be unable to because they have lost their immature sucking pattern.

So it is important to move your child on to the next stage in drinking. I binned all my dcs bottles so that I was not tempted to go back to them. It didn't take long fro them to get used to another lidded cup. They each had their own favourites - dd's was the 'anyway up cup', ds liked an avent spouted beaker (which may or may not still be around)

HTH

FabIsGoingToGetFit · 15/04/2010 08:28

I think the okay with water/juice in a cup but not milk is more association as the child knows that milk comes in a bottle but usually juice is always in a cup.

Bumpsadaisie · 15/04/2010 11:37

Hi - Ive been worrying about this too.

DD (10 mths) now drinks juice from a nuby cup with a spout like this www.nuby.com/en/nuby/cups-spouts/9636

She can hold the cup herself and drink.

She still has a bottle with teat at night and in the morning though.

What do you think of those Nuby spouts?

Thanks
Bumps

Octaviapink · 15/04/2010 11:39

Bumps, I think yours is at the perfect age to ditch bottles.

burtie2u · 15/04/2010 16:05

I must be a bad mommy :-(
I spoke to the HV about this as DS 17m still have milk in a bottle (about 3 a day) But has water and juice from a sippy cup.
I asked HV if I should try and stop him having milk from the bottle and she said not to worry as long as he's not walking round with a bottle stuck to his mouth, he will be fine. Also, as few friends have said that once they tried to get DC off the bottle and drinking milk from an alternative, they refused to drink milk :-(
So, still not sure what's best to do

Lotkinsgonecurly · 15/04/2010 16:12

We had a similar problem ( or so I thought) with ds who cheerfully drank everything else water / juice from a sippy cup / normal beaker. However milk he only had from a bottle with a teat. He just refused to drink milk from anything else. So, I let it go, when he was 4.6 he'd started school, I suggested he drank milk out of a mug he agreed that it was time to ditch the bottle. He never sucked on it was just how he got his milk in the morning and at night.

Now nearly 6, he refuses to drink milk.

DD just went straight from boob to sippy cup, bottles never bothered her.

So, I wouldn't let it bother you, they will eventually stop

petisa · 15/04/2010 16:17

Me too burtie, worse than you

Dd is nearly two and has 3 (small) bottles a day, still held by me, snuggled up baby-style Oh dear.

I really wanted to bf but found it too hard and gave up, and dd is v independent and wanted to be crawling/running around from 5 months on, and I really enjoy the couple of mins snuggling each time she has her bottle, it's sooo yummy

We'll have to change things before dc2 comes along in August, the straw cups sound like a fab idea, dd loves straws. I too am afraid she won't take any more milk when I make the change though...

petisa · 15/04/2010 16:20

X-posted with you Lotkins. Feel a lot better now

DaftApeth · 15/04/2010 17:37

They can still snuggle on your lap if drinking from a lidded cup. Maybe wouldn't recommend it with a normal cup though

ds still snuggles on my lap sometimes (but he probably would not admit to it!) and he is 8

It's like lots of things, isn't it? The recommendations are there for a reason. We don't all listen to them all (I certainly don't!) and many children have no problems but some will.

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