One of the many milestones that your baby achieves in the first year would be the transition from using a bottle or nursing to using a cup. Some parents really worry about how well their child is going to take to a cup after using a bottle for so long, but thankfully there are so many options for cups today that you have a couple things to try. If your baby doesn’t do well with one, you can easily switch to another until you find something that works.
Introducing Your Baby to a Cup:
We started with soft spouts because those most closely resembled a bottle. I poured water in the cup, and just offered it to him off and on throughout the day. Some days, I just made sure it was left in his reach and he could grab it if he wanted. It’s very normal for them not to be very interested in the cup at this age. Jase was still receiving the majority of his nutrients through nursing, and they still should be getting what they need from breast milk or formula, so there wasn’t much of a need for anything else.
Jase couldn’t really grasp the concept of tipping the cup up to be able to get anything out of it, so we also picked up some cups that had straws. I used these cups to begin introducing cows milk to him around 10 months. (More on that in a minute).
These are also a fun sippy cup to use with your child because they resemble holding a real cup! The baby can drink from any side which is really convenient for them. They are also spill proof so you don’t have to worry about that either. I prefer the ones with handles for easy grasping
Introducing Your Baby to Cow’s Milk.
When I first began to give Jase milk, I would give him a little in a cup during the day just for him to develop a taste for it. He was not interested in it at all. Then as I began the weaning process, and started nursing less, he had moments where he was more open to milk. Still not very interested in it, but again very normal for that age. It’s important to transition slowly to make sure they don’t have any reactions to the milk, so his slow interest to it wasn’t a big deal for me.
When we really got into the process of weaning, and he was down to three feedings a day, I took his afternoon feeding away replacing it with a cup of milk. This was the first time he really drank any of it, and was interested in figuring out the cup. We were using the cups with straws at this point making it really easy for him to transition.
I continued to offer him milk at set times throughout the day in his cup with the straw, and offered water and a normal Sippy cup with a soft spout. Gradually he learned that he had to hold the cup up to get anything out of it. We went directly from nursing to the cup, did nothing with a bottle in between.
Introducing the cup was an incredibly smooth transition and not something that had to be forced. It’s normal for babies not to take much interest in their cup when they are still breastfeeding, but with all things, it comes in time. Before you know it they’ll be much more active and they’ll prefer the cup!
How did you transition your little one to a cup? Was it an easy transition for your family? What are your favorite Sippy cups?
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