How do you transition from a bottle to a sippy cup?
My 8 month old son nurses about 5 times a day and takes a bottle on occasion. He doesn't hold the bottle by himself yet (at least to my knowledge or in practice with me, the mommy). I'd love to transition him to a sippy cup but, when we've tried it, he can't seem to get any liquid out of it. He'll just chew on the 'straw' part and play with the cup.
2 Answers
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just like with bottles there are a ton of different sippy cups with different lids/straws/etc... for us it was just a matter of finding one our daughter thought felt close enough to her bottle..
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We "trained" our kids to use a straw and then subsequently transitioned them to straw cups instead of sippy cups. First put the straw in the water (or whatever drink), put your finger to cover the top of the straw to create your suction, pull the straw out and put the uncovered end into their mouth, then let go and let the water dribble in.
Once they figure out that liquid comes from the straw they will eventually learn to put their mouth around the straw. Once they start sucking, then make it more difficult by keeping your finger covering the straw end to make them work (i.e. suck) to get the liquid out.
Once they've mastered that, then leave the straw in the cup and then crimp or bend the straw to create resistance while they drink.
Eventually they'll drink from a child's straw cup with no problems.
By the way, straw cups are supposed to be better than sippy cups. My son's speech therapist said that they way you suck a straw works your oral muscles better for speech than a sippy cup does.
