weaning straight to sippy cup (with absolutely zero success)

[NorthLondonMum83]

Have ebf 7.5 month old, taking 3 meals a day happily with lots of calcium. Need to various reasons to end bf, have been old that there's no point trying a bottle now by hv. Problem is I can't get any kind of sippy cup past his lips right now. Anyone had more success with particular types, or should I perhaps go for a bottle after all (seems a bit late.....?) thanks!

I had a total bottle refuser and decided at 5mo to forget about a bottle and go straight to a cup. We started with a doidy cup and then moved onto the cheapest 2 handled tommee tippee lidded cups. I highly recommend these as they're cheap and they can use them quite easily. I just used to let my DD play with it at mealtimes to start with and the more she got used to it then the more she started to use it. We introduced straw cups quite early on too. (I used to buy different types of cups/ beakers when I saw them on offer) and my DD is great with all types of cups now.

Just let your DC play with it to start with and slowly start to introduce liquid once they become familiar with what to do. Also good to let them see older children using one as then they're keen to copy

My toddler refused a sippy cup, and would only take milk from a bottle up until he was 2.3. Other liquids he'd take from an open cup, or a straw. My youngest isn't fussed, also hated sippy and went straight to straw/open cup at 8 months. To be honest, it;s down to your kid and what you're happy with, no? If your child will take a bottle, shrug, just give them a bottle until they're a few months older then try switching again.

Bit of a random suggestion, but how about trying to get him interested by drinking out of a (sports) bottle yourself? My 7.5mo rarely took any milk from bottles before we started weaning but has become obsessed with bottles because I drink water out of a blue shiny one. It might just be coincidence but he's magically become interested in both bottles and sippy cups, and he loves playing with sports bottles and Tupperware.

My DS didn't drink huge amounts of anything from a sippy cup until he was almost a year. Just sips here and there. I would try a bottle at that age personally. It's not a huge deal and if it means you can stop BF with a bit of peace of mind that your baby won't go hungry then I'd do it. Bottles are not the evil thing that some HVs think they are.

Doidy cups are great. DD wouldn't drink water out of anything else until nearly a year. We tried every kind of cup and beaker from when we started weaning without luck. She had used a regular bottle from a week old as she had the odd bottle of expressed milk or formula, so she wasn't completely unfamiliar with drinking vessels but she refused to transition to sippies etc. She's now 21mo and will drink from anything if necessary, but prefers her plastic Ikea beakers at home and those systema drinks bottles out and about now. The doidys/open cups work well I think as they are totally different rather than trying to do a poor job of replicating boob that the baby just sees straight through.

I'd just try him with a bottle tbh for milk and let him play with a soppy cup for water.

Another one suggesting a doidy cup.
Or the absolutely most basic sippy cup you can find. No valves or anything.
Are you sure he'd take a bottle? It might be the milk that is the problem rather than a cup.
Will he take water out of a cup?

Thanks all. The sippy cup is the problem - his little lips clamp shut at the sight of it. He'll take a bottle just about when he's in a good mood and hungry enough, doesn't seem to mind the taste of formula at all if it's warm enough. The hv is pretty insistent that I shouldn't use anything but a cup now, just seems to me that I'm so far from getting him to take 500ml of anything from a cup that I might need to mix the two methods a bit? Am mostly kicking myself for not introducing bottle with expressed milk early on - I was just so keen to breastfeed only until 6 months I was reluctant to mess around!

Then just use a bottle HVs are great at telling you how it works it the text book... Reality is you have a baby who likes boob and will tolerate a bottle only, so just go with the bottle if boob is no longer an option for you. The text book also says baby should be totally off bottles by 12mo, but this isn't possible for most. My DD finally dropped her bottles for a sippy at 16mo, but that was only because I went cold turkey on the bottles. It had the added effect of her dropping one of her milk feeds, leaving her with just a cup in the morning, so I'm glad we didn't do it earlier when the milk was still so important. As long as you brush their teeth after the bedtime bottle and don't leave them sucking on it for hours it won't cause any terrible damage for a few more months past the year.

Then I SE a bottle, and chuck the sippy cups in the bath. I'm sure some water will get drunk that way

Then use, that should be.....

Agree it's very easy for HVs to trot out the party line when it's not their child. Every child will be different but I think 7.5mo is very young for most babies to take enough milk from a cup rather than a bottle ime.

Just use a bottle!

I tried this in exactly the same situation . Also ended up using a bottle.

They want the bottle for comfort and it's a relaxing way to drink. A cup is more normal for qater etc not for them taking whole bottle full od milk which he needs at that age. He is so tiny..what is the HV on about...most babies and toddlers have a bottle until they are 2 or so...its normal. He will use a cup as well...but really no point fighting what he prefers .

I went straight from breast feeding to straw cups. Neither child would entertain a bottle or a regular sippy cup 😕. Took them a while to get the hang of a straw but I gave them some yoghurt in a sucky pouch which seemed to give them the idea.

No big deal if you give them a bottle then. Whatever works is totally fine!

Thanks all. Just to keep me on my toes, DS has decided over the past 3 days that bottles are just as much of a stupid idea as sippy cups. And in fact bf isn't that interesting either - he just wants to eat everything i cook and put in front of him. Perhaps I should worry less as he's surely getting lots from solids (I give him lots of yoghurt, cheese etc). I guess that perseverance is the key. I keep thinking that there's some magic trick to cracking this if I only could find it, but I have to keep reminding myself that babies don't work like that!

Have you tried using Babycup. My dd loved these little cups. They made learning to sip such a pleasure.