Going from bottle to cups.

[LuckySalem]

Couldn't decide whether to put this here or weaning and decided here.

Ok so DD is 1 tomorrow and I've been told a few times that she should be at least starting to use a cup now.

She has her milk in the morning and at night in a bottle and her juice in the day in a sippy cup. Apparently a sippy cup (although ok for now as no teeth) can be damaging to baby's teeth due to the fact that the juice is by the teeth for too long. Also they delay speech? (dont know if I believe that one but....)

Now what I would like to know is a few things.

1 - Do I ever HAVE to give her milk in a cup (sippy or otherwise) She seems to like it as a comfort thing in her bottle.

2 - How do I get her used to an open top cup without HUGE spillages?

3 - I've only tried once before with open top and she got annoyed that she couldn't drink it - I don't think I helped as I was overly worried about juice spillages.

4 - Just how bad are sippy cups?

Thanks if you managed to get this far and even bigger thanks if you can answer these questions.

dd1 had a bottle/sippy cup for ages and her teeth and speech are fine. Speech is excellent infact. She was a very early talker.

dd2 started refusing bottles/sippy cups @ 6 months and moved straight to an open cup with no problems. She can say three words and even those aren't clear.

Go with what you feel is best. I personally followed babies prompts.

Doidy cups are very easy for them to drink out of. They do spill at bit at first, but you can practice in the bath, or with water so that it's not too sticky!

I'll do my best to answer your questions:

1. Most people will tell you yes, you do have to give her milk in a cup, but personally I don't believe that it is essential. All of mine have kept their milk bottles well into toddler-dom and never had any problems with teeth or anything else. Mine couldn't sleep without their milk-bot so I kept giving it to them for years.

1. Practice with water

1. chill out, have towels ready and be prepared for spillages, don't go overboard if she does spill anything.

1. For juice they are better than bottles and a good transition to open top cups.

Good luck

xx

Thanks Seashells - I'm glad someone explained it to me. DD does Babble alot which is why I didn't really believe the delayed speech thing.

dust - whats a diody cup? lol

thanks squonk - I know I need to chill. Its really wierd cos i'm normally the easy going one but for some reason I panic about her spillages. I think its cos when she was little she was very sick and almost constantly wet chested which gave her eczema and I dont want that to happen again but I dont want to have to change tops after EVERY drink.

Will try again soon.

My DD is now almost 11 months and she now only uses a cup for water and milk. I found that starting on the afternoon milk was quite straightforward and in the high chair - she did not like it on my lap as she maybe associated that with bottle. I then a few weeks later started giving morning and night in cup in the highchair and she has been fine.

I only ever give water and milk so spillages isn;t an issue with water. I have taken the valve out of the cups so she does not have to suck. The liquid went down the wrong way to begin with but she soon got the hang of it.