Moving away from bottles to cups?

[Daffodilly]

DD is 11 mths old and has a small bottle first thing in the morning (like me she seems to wake up hungry) and at bedtime.

I've read that by 1 year they should be moved away from bottles - something to do with the sucking? So just wondering what I should be moving too?

She uses either a Tommy Tipee with a flip up spout or an open cup (that I hold) in the day for water. Should I move to this for milk? I just don't feel confident she could drink enough. Also lots of the non-spill cups seem to need a very strong suck - so how is that better than a bottle? Or there are the ones you bite on that she can't seem to get the hang of.

Sorry for all the questions - I am just so confused!

with ds I started offering a cup with milk in when he still had 4 bottles a day (around 9 months or so). I replaced his mid-morning feed with a lidded cup (avent magic cup). Shortly after, I did the same with his mid-afternoon feed. He gradually took less at those feeds and dropped both by 10 1/2 months. As I knew he would take milk from a cup I then replaced his morning milk with a lidded cup and he had it while I made breakfast and finished it during breakfast. I then put his bedtime milk into a lidded cup and he has been off bottles since 11 months.

I use a large avent magic cup for his morning milk and a cow cup for his bedtime milk - he knows what he is getting when he sees the cup. I use a different cup for milk and water so he knows what to expect in each.

I got the avent magic cup from Boots (it has a valve but is still easy to use or you can remove the valve and make it freeflowing)

I got the Cow Cup from Boots and Morrisons. (had to replace the first one when ds bit a chunk out of the the tip of the spout). Again you can make it freeflowing by removing the valve.

Daffodilly - my ds is 10 months and I'm wondering how to ditch the bottle too.

I've just started giving his daytime milk in a Tommee Tippee sippy cup, and he takes this ok now, after complaining a bit at the beginning.

I use a blue one for water and a green one for milk so he knows the difference.

If you don't feed milk during the day now, I'd try and give the morning milk in a sippy cup and see how it goes.

Saying that, I know lots of people don't ditch the bottle by 1 year and I don't think it's the end of the world, as long as you clean their teeth after their last bottle at night, and don't let them drink so much that it kills their appetite for anything else.

HTH

And I would stick to the free flow Tommee Tippee cup for now - I agree, the non spill ones can be confusing for them to start with.

Thanks for that. Good ideas about using different cups for milk and water. She drinks water so well from a cup that I don't want to confuse her and put her off.

She does have a small bottle mid afternoon so I think I'll try this one first in a cup.

I also did a search in the archives too and it seems lots of people use bottles at bedtime beyond a year so I'm probably worrying for nothing (as usual!)