Sippy Cups - What Worked for Your Little One?

After trying a lot of different things, my boy took to "sippy cups" with straws, either silicone or hard plastic.

the whole key is picking one & sticking to it. Switching brands just makes the process harder.

I have always depended on the cheapy, disposables. They last forever, & I don't have regrets in pitching them when the spout becomes yucky.

& the only way to deal with his refusal to use them....is to stop offering the bottle. :)

I think Nuby made it, but there is a sippy cup that has a bottle nipple and then you can transfer it to a sippy cup nipple. I started with the Nubys since they are soft like a bottle nipple. Then I went to Playtex because they are they only one I could find that didn't leak.

Ugh, I don't think any of them "work". Seriously. They all say "leak proof" and yadda yadda. Apparently they are not toddler proof, though. They make sippys that have multiple tops to help transition from a bottle. I bought a small nuby because my daughter could chew on it and milk would come out. Best way to get a child off the bottle, though is to simply throw it away. It can't be used if it's no longer there. Good luck.

My girls were all exclusively breastfed and never took bottles, and because of that it took them a LONG time to adjust to a sippy cup and even figure out how to get anything out of it. I just had to be patient and keep giving them sippy cups (usually filled with water at that time). It took months, but they eventually figured it out. I nursed them at meal time, but then between meals I would give them a sippy cup just to "play" with. The idea of using the sippy cups that have both "bottle nipples" and "sippy cup spounts" is a great idea. I think that Avent also makes cups/bottles like that. The Nuby's are great at first because if them chew on the spout they can get something out and figure out that there is something in there that they want out, but my girls all quickly figured out that you can squeeze the spout with their fingers and make a big mess. We switched to Playtex once they got older because they didn't make a mess.

The main thing is to be patient. Since he knows how to suck from a bottle he should know how to suck from a sippy cup. So you might even just want to go cold turkey to the sippy cup. He will get thirsty eventually and use the sippy cup what it was made for.

as a daycare provider there isn't ONE kind that works for all kids. I have a dozen types, at least, that I try with the kids. The current 10 month old seems to do best with handles while the other toddler likes a hard spout and the other one likes a soft spout.

If you have any neighbors ask to borrow a cup to try it out.

I like the straw cups with HARD straws...you can find them at the Container Store and I even saw them at Target up in the storage container section. The cups come with a small container attached and the cups are refrigerator-able, too. These are the only cups my kids would use because they would chew all the soft sippy cup tops and soft straws. These are good cups! :) Good luck!

He may just not be ready. I know most pedi want kids off bottles by 12 months but we really didn't push the issue with my oldest until around 18 months and then we found he was really ready. All kids are different though. My youngest hasn't really been interested in a bottle for months and has been drinking out of a sippy cup for a while. My oldest just took longer as this was one of his forms of comfort.

I think the ones I used were Gerber. But I have had friends that their kids would not use sippy cups only the straw cups. So if the sippy does not work you might try that.

You were me, about 4-5 months ago, when my then 14 month old needed to get off the bottles. He is my 3rd baby, but the only one who was stubborn about keeping the bottle. I introduced sippy cups, but he wanted nothing to do with them. One night after he went to sleep I packed up all the bottles and nipples and put them down in the basement. In the morning when I asked him if he wanted some milk, I opened the cabinet to show him that the bottles were all gone, and proceeded to fill up a sippy for him. The first few cups that day were wasted, but after that he realized that if he wanted milk, he needed to drink from the sippy.

He still doesn't LOVE the sippy, and would truthfully prefer an open cup all the time, but I just can't keep up with that mess, so I only give him an open cup when I can sit next to him to guide him and take it from him before it gets thrown on the floor of splashed all over the table.

We used bottles for a few years. Didn't even START sippies until after age 2. A sippy is just a bottle with a hard spout.

((Didn't start for awhile for 2 reasons: 1: my exes family has teeth problems and that hard spout affects tooth development a lot more than soft bottle tops, and 2, I strongly believe in not fixing what isn't broken. Instead of pushing for the next stage, when things happen on their own, no fight. Just transition.))

When we did : Playtex Insulators. I guess they work REALLY WELL, because my son is 10, all kinds of sippies have come on and off the market, but those are still there in the grocery store. The double valve cleans super easy... Just spike it on the dishwasher prongs.

My kids never got the hang of the sippy cups. We used straw cups. When we introduced them to the cups, we first let them try it out with a regular straw (no valve) and then we would pinch it off with our fingers to prevent them from getting too much. Once we saw they figured out the mouth motion for getting something up the straw, we gave them regular straw cups that have a valve to prevent spilling.

We had the best luck with the Playtex Twist N Lock straw cups. They are not truly spill proof (as few are), but they are spill resistant. The straw is two parts, so the key is to make sure the straw is put together enough that it's not too hard to suck. I would put them together after cleaning and try sucking on the straw myself. If it was too hard, I'd push the straws together more. You can get replacement straws online if they chew through them.

I also like the Take n Toss straw cups with lids. They don't have any valve and the straw is stronger. It can be chewed but I've also used my teeth to re-shape it if they chew it flat. I actually have not need to toss any of them yet. I just wash and re-use. It won't do as well for spills so it won't be good in a diaper bag, but it's good enough for home. It also doesn't have a valve so learning to drink out of it will be easier.

My daughter never used a sippy cup with a valve. She hated them because it's so hard to get anything out. She learned to drink very well from a regular open cup at mealtimes by 14 months. If potential spilling was an issue, I used the cheap plastic cups with the lid with the spout. They still spill, but not as fast. I don't see the need for sippy cups as letting a child carry around a cup is a bad habit to get into. They aren't a necessary thing, and didn't exist when I was a child.

She drank one or two bottles a day until she was three, so she was getting plenty to drink.

My kids did the same thing, and I think it was because they honestly didn't know what the sippy was.

I used Gerber and Playtex and removed the valve. They picked it up and realized, "Oh, there's milk in here!" After a few minutes, I put the valve back in and never looked back.

The Nuby straw cup without the locking cap. It took a little practice, but he drinks now without spitting up most of the time. This was the fifth cup I tried!

Nuby sport sippers (soft spout) and Take and Toss cups.

I also called the Nuby a "bottle", I think it helped.

Try a Toddler straw cup.
It has a lid on it and you put a straw through it.
Some kids will take to this better than a sippy cup.
And then you can by pass the sippy.

My son was exclusively breastfed and never took a bottle. For him, the only sippy that worked was the playtex twist and lock. It has a hard top and a valve thingy on the inside of the lid to prevent spills. Any of the other cups with the soft nipples he would just play with them and spill them everywhere. Straw cups were also really easy for him to get the hang of, but not the spill proof ones, those are terrible in my opinion. We just did the take and toss ones, they aren't spill proof, but they're pretty good at not spilling unless the cup is completely upside down. Good luck!