The transition from bottle to cup comes with many challenges. Not only does it feel like the end of an era as a parent, but it can be very difficult for the child as well. The average age of the bottle to cup transition is 12-18 months.
However, the sweet spot may be a month or two before that 12–18-month mark. Once your little one’s first birthday hits, they may be ready to ditch that bottle for good. It’s important to find that sweet spot to avoid a deep attachment to the bottle and, therefore, a harder transition.
Cup training your child takes a lot of patience, but we’re sharing our favorite tips to hopefully make the process easier!
Tips for Cup Training
- Show them how to do it! Of course, the easiest way to start cup training your child is as easy as doing it yourself. You can also hold the cup while your child takes a sip so they can practice taking sips from the cup before worrying about doing both.
- Make sure that when you are showing your child how to drink from a cup, you are having a drink, too. If you pretend to drink, your child may as well.
- Switch it up! Offer one cup for water, another for juice, and another for milk. This gives your child a choice on which cup to use and will help you discover which works best for them.
- Put a little bit of liquid in the cup when you start, do not fill it to the top.
Now, the next question you are probably asking yourself is, what cup should I use? After all, there are so many out there, so how do you know you are choosing the right one?
The 360-munchkin cup is one of the best options out there. For starters, it is dentist recommended to support the best oral development for your child. It also comes with many other pros.
- The 360-munchkin cup has only a few parts, making it easy to clean, which is a huge win.
- It is also great in helping your child get used to a regular cup, which is the entire point of cup training.
- It is anti-spill.
- The quality is exceptional for the value.
- All the parts are also dishwasher safe.
What If I Want to Transition to a Straw?
If you prefer straw training, you want to make sure you are choosing the right cup as well. The great thing about the 360-munchkin cup is that you can get an alternative top for the sippy cup with a straw for your child to practice with.
Now that you have chosen the brand of choice for your cup training journey, it is a great idea to bring your child along to let them choose the color of their new 360-munchkin cup! This gives your child a reason to be excited about cup training!
Discontinuing the bottle and moving on to straw training or cup training depending on your preference can be daunting, even with a lot of research. The American Academy of Pediatrics explains the benefits of discontinuing the bottle and introducing the sippy cup.
The USDA also offers tips on cup training and the importance of choosing the right cup. It can take some trial and error to find the perfect cup for your child and fully transition them off the bottle.
Though some may want to go cold turkey and take the bottle from their child right away, that may not be what works best for you. Every child is very different and will respond differently to cup training. Therefore, it is important to have options like a straw cup vs. a sippy cup vs. a specific training cup.
Choosing the Right Cup
The type of sippy cup you choose is very important. As stated above, cleaning your cup is one of the biggest challenges faced when parents start cup or straw training. This is because many of the cups come with a lot of pieces, and it can be difficult to keep them all clean.
Training cups are specifically designed for cup training. They are designed to help your child with hand-eye skills and generally have a spill-proof valve.
Straw cups are also popular for this transition. Some children prefer to drink from a straw because it can be easier to regulate how much liquid they consume at a time.
It is important to trust the process and yourself when it comes to cup training. That is why the 360-munchkin cup is so highly recommended because it checks all the boxes that you are looking for when cup or straw training.
If your child is in daycare, this process can feel stressful. It becomes even more stressful when the child has just started at a new daycare, and you are trying to work with them on the bottle-to-cup transition. That’s why using these tips to help your child adjust to a new daycare can be helpful with so much changing for your little one.
Potential Challenges of Cup and Straw Training
- Your child pushing back on the process and refusing to take the cup. If you are struggling with your child having a meltdown over no longer being offered a bottle, there are many tips out there that can help with this.
- Cleaning the cup
- Input from other parents on whether it is too soon to cup train or if you waited too long. If you run into issues with parents who constantly want to give their opinion, knowing the right way to handle and navigate critics can be very beneficial.
It may feel very daunting to go through cup training. It comes with its challenges for the parent and the child, which can make the transition hard on everyone. Knowing what cup to choose, how to navigate the changes, and how to introduce the cup to your child makes all the difference. No matter what age you start cup training and how you go about it, consistency across the board from anyone who looks after your child is beneficial.