Transition to Whole Mik

Try to take away one bottle at a time, saving his favorite for last. Transitioning him to sippy cup is a good idea. YOu may have to try a few different kinds before you get one that he likes and can uses the easiest. My daughter (15 mos) prefers water bottles and hard spout cups---complete opposite from my son (4). The temp of the milk may make a difference to him, too. Enjoy the last weeks. I am a teacher, too, and have loved being home with both kids this summer. Do you have a good daycare/family/caretaker for him? So important!
M. L

I only ever gave whole milk in a sippy. My daughter drank expressed breastmilk from a bottle and then from a sippy at daycare and at the breast at home. Whole milk was never given in a bottle.

I give milk with meals and whenever she wants it. She doesn't drink anywhere near 24-32 oz of milk. She does still have yogurt and breastmilk.

Watch out for allergies, ear infections, cold symptoms, extra mucus when drinking milk. And fruit juices. Cheese and yogurt and broccoli (and alot of other non-mucus producing foods) have just as much if not MORE calcium and vitamins in them. Also, goat milk is very good, has less hormones and an easier to digest milk protein.
I know this is contrary to popular belief, but it has worked for us, my kids are very healthy, and their pediatrician is amazed!
I transitioned to a sippy cup by sitting down with my child and letting them drink it, as if they were being nursed or drinking a bottle. They didnt even really notice, because it was the time with me that they liked most anyway. pretty soon, they were drinking it on their own.

I started my children (now 4 and 3) with their sippy cups around age 1. Sometime between 18 and 24 months I started with regular cups at meal time. That way they are sitting in their high chairs or seats at the table and you can contain any messes that might be made. My children still use sippy cups during times when they are not in a controlled environment so that messes are avoided. At sit down meal times they use regular cups, but if they are running around and want a drink handy - sippy cups are the best. Getting your child off the bottle will be best by 18 months. Its definitely more for comfort at this point than anything else. Start with sippy cups that have a spout shape closer to a nipple if he is resisting at all. Let him pick out his favorite characters and colors - which will make it fun for him. If he seems to be doing okay with the cup - get rid of all bottles. He can still comfort with a sippy.

This worked for my son; when he turned 1, we gave him whole milk in a sippy cup. He only got a bottle at night before bedtime. We completely stopped giving him formula as soon as he turned 1. This made it easier to transition from bottle to cup. With the sippy cups, we bought the ones that had his favorite cartoon characters on it (Go Diego and Elmo). This way he was excited to drink from his cups. It only took about a month to completely get him to drink from sippy cups; eventually and even now, he gets a cup of milk before bedtime.

you might also think of sometimes using a regular cup. i know this sounds crazy. but it can be done and it is a little less like going from one sucking thing to another. we started only while my daughter was on my lap to be helped and went from there. i'm not anti-sippy. we still use them when we go out.

Hi B.. Yes you could transition to a sippy cup at meals then just give him a bottle at bedtime for awhile until he learns to really like the sippy cup..being a BIG KID and all. As far as getting enough dairy, you can also use yogurt,cottage and puddings. This way too he is also getting a variety. Alot of juices now are fortified with viatamin D as well.Start now, so his daycare provider will know about the changes and what if any problems to look for.

Hey B.,

I would try to transition him from bottle to sippy cup with the milk. Just try to make it fun for him. If his intake of milk decreases because of the transitional change, I would suggest adding cheeses, yogurt to his diet.

J. Z.
Independent Shaklee Distributor
www.shaklee.net/Z.

My daughter didn't get the hang of sippy cups right away. My ped also said it was no big deal to him if she was still on her bottle, so she drank milk in her bottle until she was about 15 months. We kept practicing with the sippy until she got the hang of it. She had milk as soon as she woke up in the morning, one at lunch right before naptime & then a third serving of milk right after dinner.

The answer to all of your questions is-- cut the ends off of the bottle nipples with scissors!

I have to say, my daughter never liked the sippy cup, and it was hard to keep the sippy cups clean. My in-laws found some perfect plastic cups with built-in lids and straws. I wish I could tell you where to find some, I don't know where they got them!

Just want to chime in that 24-32 ounces daily is a huge amount-- I would be extra vigilant to signs of allergy. My daughter gets stomach aches and constipation if she has more than a couple of ounces a day. I recently had to give up dairy because I was breaking out in hives (after 12 years of not knowing what caused them). Also, they give dairy cows loads of antibiotics and hormones, which pass right through into the milk. Unless all of your dairy's organic, that's like taking a dose of penicillin and growth hormone every day!
My 2 cents is, try to get your kid to like rice and soy milk and good old water too!

I think his adjustment to sippy cup of milk will depend on his personality. My son took to it immediately because his sister used sippies and he wanted what she had. My daughter took until she was about 17 mo and never did like milk of any form. My advise is to dump the bottle one by one and replace with a sippy. If you need to start with water in the sippy so he can figure out how to drink from it. Some kids have a problem with milk in the sippy, so you may have to blend some fruit in at first. I would try to go to the sippy as soon as you can because the longer you wait the harder it will be for him to dump the bottle.

Try using a cup with a straw. They make spill proof cups with straws which I learned are better for speech development (as they use different muscles to suck from a straw as opposed to the sippy kinds). In order to get my son to drink from one of those instead of a bottle, we gave him apple juice out of one of the Mott's AJ juice boxes. We squirted a little in his mouth and in less than a day he learned how to suck up the straw. Then we put some (immediately) in a straw cup and he got the hang of it quickly. After that, we put whole milk in it and offer it to him during meals, and whenever we think he's thirsty (after playing outside). As your child gets older, he will ask for something to drink throughout the day. Our pediatrician only recommended 24 oz of milk and our son has no problem getting that daily.

Also - there are different kinds of straw cups out there... try to stick with the ones that look just like a straw (Dora/Diego character ones, etc.). The other brand that is a transparent color (green, orange, etc.) is a little trickier for the kids to learn as you need to squeeze and suck at the same time... I think it's a little different than the way they get it from a bottle.

Good luck!!
P.S. We skipped the whole sippy cup stage and went straight to straw cups. It's been awesome for restaurants since most of them give kid's cups with straws. We never need to worry about bringing his cup with us! Just a thought...

I only ever gave whole milk is a sippy cup. I gave milk for b-fast; lunch and dinner as well as right before bed. My kids also love cheese and yogurt to help hit that 24-32 oz criteria.

I recommend straw cups too... much easier for them to use. They don't have to tilt their head back. Instead of bottles during the day, just give him the straw cup when he wakes up and at meals. We usually have another straw cup filled with water for in between meals. I continued the bottle before bed for a couple months but tried the straw cup and he's fine with it. No more bottles - YAY! I like the take & toss straw cups best since they're easy to clean. But some kids are rougher and can get the lids off. There are spill proof ones out there. Just try a few and see what works best for your son.