How to transition a toddler from baby bottles to cups
Toddlers often refuse cups and demand baby bottles despite already knowing how to drink from alternative vessels. This stubborn preference frequently leads to intense resistance and decreased fluid intake during the transition process, leaving parents searching for effective strategies.
What people tried
Every workaround mentioned in the threads below. We haven’t tested any of them — and nobody here is claiming they worked.
- 1Go cold turkey by getting rid of all bottles on a Friday to finish the transition by Monday.
- 2modeling straw use by drinking from personal tumblers
- 3trying a Munchkin 360 cup first
- 4using a squeeze honey bear straw cup to push water up
- 5using Target brand squeeze and sip cups
- 6leaving the cup near the child throughout the day until they are ready
In their words
Unedited, most upvoted first, each linked to the thread it came from.
“Any tips on getting rid of the bottle? 🍼 I had a hard time with my first and now it's time for my second.”source ↗
“He was fine without it and using a straw cup when laying down and has no problem drinking from other cups but always prefers the baby bottle.”source ↗
“We’re currently in the process of transitioning my one year old from bottles to straw cups and it’s going horribly to say the least.”source ↗
“The main issue is she just chews on the straws, for a week now we’ve tried everything we can think, I’ve tried baby birding her by holding the top of the straw and dropping the water/milk in, using different straws and cups and different angles to simulate a bottle feed to get her to grasp she needs to suck and nothings working.”source ↗
“My concern is her fluid intake is obviously decreased even though she’s still urinating so that’s good. I’ve ran out of ideas and could use some help”source ↗
Where this came up
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