Mine never held theirs, either.....until I stopped doing it for them. This happened by accident. My daughter always expected me to hold her bottle for her. When I'd "test" her to see if she could do it herself, she would put her mouth on the nipple, but didn't lift it to get the liquid to come out. I just assumed she couldn't do it. One day, at around 10.5 months, I was feeding her when the phone rang. I set the bottle down and sprinkled some cheerios on her tray to keep her occupied while I was on the phone. In mid-conversation, I looked back to see that she was gulping her bottle down - and holding/tilting it perfectly! These days, she'll still let me hold it for her (which is comforting to me) but she usually drinks it by herself now that she knows that she can.