Changing from formula to cows milk and trying to get 1 year old DD to use a cup

[jumpyjan]

DD has just turned one and I seem to remember the health visitor saying you are supposed to stop using bottles at this age. I thought I would gradually move DD onto a cup but tried a tommee tipee spout cup and a doidy cup and she can take little sips but to get any quantity of milk down her we go back to the bottle.

Can anyone recommend a way of getting DD used to a cup or another type of cup we could try. Also do people generally stop a bottle at this age? Is there any harm in her continuing with the bottle for a while longer - particularly for bedtime milk.

The other thing is I guess we should switch to cows milk now. Do you just switch over and give the same amounts? Does it become less important that they have 3 x 7oz of milk a day - I wonder if I should be more relaxed about giving her a 10,3 and 7 o clock bottle now that she is a bit older? Milk is pretty much the only thing she drink apart from a couple of sips of water, we don't give her juice.

Sorry for all the questions - just wondered if anyone else is dealing with this at the mo or recently.

thanks.

I switched ds from bottles to cups at 12 months. He had about 3 days where he drank very little, but then he seemed to realise that his only options were the cup or nothing and took to it just fine. At about the same time he stopped wanting milk in the afternoon, preferring water instead.

I switched from formula to cow's milk a few weeks down the line, just because we had lots of it left to use up.

go back to using a smaller size teat. when they realise they cannot get it as fast as they could with a cup they should start to like the cup better.

hmm interesting - so do you think that at a year they do know how to use the cup they are just not drinking from it properly because they are messing about a bit and would prefer a bottle rather than actually not being able to use the cup?

Not sure whether to just keep plugging away with the Tommee Tippee/Doidy cup or to go for a trainer bottle.

I gave my DS a Tommee Tippee spout cup the same time as we swapped from formula to cows milk (when he was about one). He was ok with the cup, so I'm assuming that because cows milk tastes different he thought bottle=formula and cup=anything else. We still gave him a bottle for night time milk until recently (he's 17 months now) because it helped him to settle before going to bed.

You don't need to be too strict about quantities, I think as long as they have roughly a pint of milk a day including what is in things like cheese, etc then its fine. If we're going out for the afternoon we sometimes don't bother with afternoon milk but just give him a little bit more at bedtime.

I tried DS with a cup before he was one and he wasn't interested at all and I couldn't imagine him ever wanting to drink from a cup - now he's almost drinking out of a normal open cup and its only 5 months later. I'd suggest waiting until your DD is ready - they develop amazingly quickly so there'd be no problem staying with the bottle for a while and trying cups again in a couple of months.

My word, that was a long post, you can tell I'm trying to avoid work!

Probably depends on the child. My ds was a very 'sucky' baby and loved drinking from a bottle (was bf until 12 weeks, ff thereafter and much happier when ff). I think he found a teat much more pleasant than a cup, but he soon adapted. He'd been used to having a cup for water before we dropped the bottles.

Thanks IWGOT. Does your LO drink out of a cup at bedtime now then?

I am trying to decide whether to introduce cows milk and cup in one go or whether to just introduce the cows milk in a bottle for the time being.

hi
my youngest just turned one and we give her a bottle most of them time although introduced a cup with meal time drinks from around 7mths. She can use a cup but if I try to use it for her main milk drink she hardly touches it. We have just started giving her the cup in the day and a bottle of milk. I am not worried though as both ds and dd1 had dropped bottles completely by 18mths. There are older children who still have bottles and it isnt an issue as long as its not being used for juice and they are brushing their teeth after milk etc and not just going to bed.

Yes Jumpyjan, DS drinks out of a cup at bedtime now - we just changed his bedtime routine slightly so instead of bath, bottle, bed its now cup of milk, bath, brush teeth, book, bed (we didn't need to bother with brushing teeth before because he only got his first one when he was 16 months!)

I'd try it all in one go but if she doesn't like it I wouldn't worry - she will in her own time. Like Nemo said its not an issue if they use bottles for a while longer as long as its not for juice.