Transitioning from Bottles to Sippy Cups

Hello Blogging Mama’s,

I felt honor that Kaitlyn reached out to me and asked if I wanted to participate in this linkup. Since I am a mother this second time around I feel more comfortable and motherhood seems to be more easy going. My natural instinct takes over and I honestly love relaying on my instinct whereas in the beginning I felt nervous and doubtful if I was doing things “right”. But that’s the whole point, it’s a learning experience and you’ll learn to trust your decisions on things as time goes.

This week’s topic is “Transitioning from Bottles to Sippy cups”

This topic was tough for me with my first child, my son. Have I known what I know now I would had done things differently for sure. What many parents fear is that the process will take forever, so they delay the weaning. Yes the thought of being stress was my fear so I avoided it for a while. With my second child, my daughter, I introduced the cup as early as six months. At first she saw it as a toy, I held it towards her and showed her “how to sip from it” come to find out she was sipping from a straw at 6 months. Turns out straw sippy cups were "her thing". You will find each baby has their own preference, for example my little one did not care if she was drinking juice from a mason jar, a yogurt cup, or a water bottle- hand her a straw and she is Good to Go!

By showing them how to sip you might look ridiculous for a bit but trust in your baby, and they will be drawn to you and will learn by imitating you. If anything, Sippy cups can help bring out their independence, itcan be a great way for your baby to transition from nursing or bottle-feeding to a regular cup. They can also improve hand-to-mouth coordination. When your baby has the motor skills to handle a cup but not the skills to keep the drink from spilling, a sippy cup can give him some independence while keeping cleanup to a minimum for us mamas.

Some steps to take:

• Begin early// Start as early as possible, if you believe your baby is ready go for it. Remember it takes time not all babies learn the same. But you cannot give up, Offer your baby his sippy cup first and don’t try the breast or bottle unless he/she rejects it. Try different sippy cups. Although sippy cups are still the favored cup for the weaning transition, there are dozens of styles. Some have short, wide spouts or straws, some have handles, others don’t. You and your baby can only discover which one he or she prefers through trial and error.
• Find the one// By now you should know what your baby prefers handle or without a handle, straw or not, small cup or a little one. Some have characters, animals, or colors that grab their attention, use that to your advantage.
• Replace the Bottle// Gradually start decreasing bottle feedings and start increasing more and more milk into their sippy cup. The transition should be slow and stress free. Do it by increasing the milk intake in their sippy cup and decreasing it in their nursing bottle, this is to encourage the child to look forward to their sippy cup when they have been dissatisfied by their bottle.
• Remove and throw away// Once you feel confident and ready let go! Dispose of all bottles and keep out of sight from your baby and especially you. This may cause some crying the first few days and nights but keep being persistent and don’t give in because it will only delay the process and make the transition more difficult for you and your child

*currently our status is- we have mastered all the steps, But I have yet to let go of the bottle completely. I know it soothes her to bed and helps before nap time. My little Elyse is 14 months right now and we have no problem throughout the day but come bed time I am still handing her the bottle. As a mom I need to feel confident to let go ( like I previously stated above) so that's what I am currently working on. I am by no means an expert, just a mother gaining more experience by day like many of ya. I do hope many of you can relate and find some help in this post. Best of luck!