How to Transition Your Baby from a Bottle to a Cup

Whether or not you breastfeed, bottle feed, or do a combo of the 2, sooner or later you will marvel: Is it time to maneuver on to a cup?

For those who simply breastfeed, the best change is to skip bottles fully and go straight to cups across the 1-year mark, or everytime you determine to cease nursing. In case your youngster fortunately sucks on bottles, their first birthday may nonetheless be a sensible choice. That is since you’re already altering from formulation to cow’s milk round that point.

Missed that window? Ready till your child is somewhat older? No worries, however don’t wait too lengthy. The American Academy of Pediatrics suggests saying bye-bye to the bottle earlier than your child is eighteen months previous. “I would say undoubtedly earlier than age 2, however the sooner the higher,” says Keith T. Ayoob, EdD. He’s an affiliate scientific professor of pediatrics at Albert Einstein Faculty of Drugs in Bronx, N.Y.

As a registered dietitian who works with youngsters, Ayoob snatches the bottle from youngsters as previous as 5 — and he says it is not fairly. “You must know your youngster, however normally, the longer you wait the more durable it’s.”

A bottle provides meals and luxury to many youngsters, so letting your toddler use it for so long as they like might sound innocent sufficient. However there are a number of the explanation why it is good to change to cups:

Bottles increase tooth decay. Milk has lactose, a kind of sugar. And if you happen to’re giving your youngster juice in a bottle (although you should not), that is even worse. “The acid in juice is a nightmare for enamel,” Ayoob says.

Milk ought to stay an vital a part of your kid’s weight loss plan, and juice is OK at times. Sucked from a bottle although, the sugar and acid will keep longer on their enamel, which may result in cavities. Letting a child fall asleep with a bottle is very unhealthy, as a result of your physique makes much less saliva (which helps to clean away meals particles) when you’re asleep.

Extended use of a bottle is linked to weight problems. Analysis exhibits that children who’re nonetheless utilizing a bottle at age 2 usually tend to be overweight by the point they’re nearly 6. Ayoob says some youngsters stroll round with a bottle of their mouths on a regular basis, though they’re consuming loads of strong meals. This can lead to too many energy.

He says that being too hooked up to the bottle may have the other impact, too: With some choosy eaters, the bottle turns into the “go-to meal,” and a toddler will not be consuming sufficient of his breakfast, lunch, or dinner.

Bottles may mess together with her smile. Fixed sucking can change the place of her grownup enamel down the road. It will probably have an effect on the event of her facial muscle groups and palate (roof of her mouth), says Peter Richel, MD. He is the chief of pediatrics at Northern Westchester Hospital in Mount Kisco, N.Y. This could simply result in an overbite which may later must be corrected with orthodontia akin to braces.

Consuming whereas laying down will increase the possibility of ear infections. In case your toddler loves to twist up with a bottle, be careful.

“A few of the milk sort of gurgles up at the back of the throat, and it simply form of sits there whereas micro organism grows,” Ayoob says. “Micro organism can crawl proper up the Eustachian tube [in the throat] and into the ear.”

Your youngster ought to know tips on how to drink out of a cup earlier than you’re taking away the bottle. Many pediatricians inform dad and mom to introduce sippy cups round 6 to 9 months. That is when youngsters generally begin consuming water and different liquids apart from formulation and breast milk.

If, from a younger age, you begin giving some milk (not simply water) in sippy or common cups, then issues might be simpler once you’re able to eliminate the bottle for good, Richel says.

When you determine to ditch bottles, there are two most important methods to go about it: Go chilly turkey, or slowly wean her off. Whichever means you select, specialists agree that sticking to it’s key. “Chilly turkey is the quickest however most tough for folks, as a result of they really feel they’re being merciless,” Richel says.

Simply do not anticipate both method to be simple. Even if you happen to choose to wean slowly, “there might be some pushback,” Ayoob says. “For those who’re making an attempt to do it with none resistance in any respect, you are within the flawed enterprise.”

Chilly turkey: Someday, you merely make all of the bottles disappear. In case your youngster is sufficiently old to grasp, it’d assist to incorporate them within the course of. For instance, you may warn them that right this moment is the final day for bottles, and that beginning tomorrow, they’ll drink solely from “large boy” cups.

Weaning: The thought is to slowly swap out bottles in favor of cups. For instance, you may fill in a cup for the bottle at only one feeding a day, then add a second cup the next week.

Regardless of how sluggish (or quick) you wish to go, Ayoob says you must take away the mid-day bottles first, then the morning one. Get your youngster used to consuming one thing strong very first thing within the morning, he says, earlier than you take away the morning bottle.

Most specialists (and fogeys!) agree that taking away the nighttime bottle is the hardest closing step. “Denying your child a bottle, particularly that final one earlier than mattress, could be extremely difficult for mothers and dads,” says Rallie McAllister, MD, MPH, coauthor of The Mommy MD Information to the Toddler Years. “It makes it far tougher to get infants to sleep, and when infants don’t sleep, neither do their dad and mom.”

To make issues simpler, she says to have a bedtime ritual in place. This retains you from solely counting on the bottle to ease your youngster into sleep. “A pleasant heat tub, rocking whereas studying a narrative, and snuggling with a lovey could be nice sources of consolation, safety, and rest earlier than bedtime, even when the bedtime bottle is now not part of the routine,” she says.

Nervous about stopping the bottle? We requested the specialists to supply some further assist and help.

You are considering: “She hates sippy cups.” 

The repair: To guard her enamel, attempt a cup that would not have a strong spout. It is too much like a nipple, says Ayoob, who says a straw is a better option. However ultimately, “the very best sippy cup is the one your youngster will drink from fortunately and persistently,” McAllister says. “Purchase a number of differing kinds and experiment. Whenever you discover one your youngster likes, purchase a number of!”

You may as well have your youngster use common, non-sippy cups. Nonetheless, it’d take a while for her to be taught to make use of it by herself. Give her one thing thick — like vanilla yogurt or some puréed fruit that is been thinned with somewhat water — to chop again on spills, Ayoob says.

You are considering: “She’ll drink water or juice from a sippy cup — simply not milk.” 

The repair: “Some youngsters love the bottle so very a lot that they are going to be cussed to take milk from anything, however it is a momentary starvation strike!” Richel says.

Not prepared to attend it out? Take the nipple off the bottle and supply it with a straw as an alternative. Or begin placing water in bottles and milk in cups and provides your youngster a alternative. “Inform her, ‘Milk is available in a cup now. Water is available in a bottle. Which one would you like?'” Ayoob says. You may as well attempt to make milk in a cup extra tempting by flavoring it with puréed strawberries or different fruit. “A strawberry ‘milkshake’ may tempt her to drink from a cup,” McAllister says.

You are considering: “If she refuses the cup, she will not get sufficient calcium.”

The repair: Don’t fret about them not getting sufficient calcium, even when they refuse milk from a cup for a number of weeks. Simply you’ll want to feed them different sources, akin to cheese and yogurt. Broccoli, soy milk, and calcium-fortified orange juice are good picks, too.

You are considering: “He will throw a tantrum.”

The repair: Allow them to. Throwing a match is hardly out of character for a toddler, they usually’ll recover from it. “If the mother or father is prepared to place up with a meltdown for a day or two, it’s going to go away,” Ayoob says. “Bear in mind, if he can drink from a cup, you are not denying him liquid.”

You are considering: “She’ll by no means go to sleep.”

The repair: Many youngsters are used to having a bottle to cool down, however that may change. “Infants and toddlers can be taught to self-soothe with out the sucking that they’ve been accustomed to from pacifiers or bottles,” Richel says. “It merely takes a little bit of time. However it’s going to occur.”