Whether or not you breastfeed, bottle feed, or do a combo of the 2, in some unspecified time in the future you will surprise: Is it time to maneuver on to a cup?

In case you simply breastfeed, the simplest swap 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 little one fortunately sucks on bottles, their first birthday would possibly nonetheless be a good selection. That is since you’re already altering from formulation to cow’s milk round that point.

Missed that window? Ready till your child is a little bit 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 medical professor of pediatrics at Albert Einstein Faculty of Medication 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. “It’s important to know your little one, however basically, the longer you wait the tougher it’s.”

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

Bottles enhance tooth decay. Milk has lactose, a sort of sugar. And in the event you’re giving your little one juice in a bottle (although you should not), that is even worse. “The acid in juice is a nightmare for tooth,” Ayoob says.

Milk ought to stay an essential a part of your kid’s weight loss program, and juice is OK every now and then. Sucked from a bottle although, the sugar and acid will keep longer on their tooth, which might result in cavities. Letting a child fall asleep with a bottle is particularly dangerous, as a result of your physique makes much less saliva (which helps to scrub away meals particles) whilst you’re asleep.

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

He says that being too connected to the bottle might have the alternative impact, too: With some choosy eaters, the bottle turns into the “go-to meal,” and a baby might not be consuming sufficient of his breakfast, lunch, or dinner.

Bottles might mess along with her smile. Fixed sucking can change the place of her grownup tooth down the road. It could possibly have an effect on the event of her facial muscular tissues 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 that may later should be corrected with orthodontia equivalent to braces.

Consuming whereas laying down will increase the prospect of ear infections. In case your baby loves to curve up with a bottle, be careful.

“A few of the milk type of gurgles up behind the throat, and it simply type 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 little one ought to know the way 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 ingesting 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 whenever you’re able to do away with the bottle for good, Richel says.

When you determine to ditch bottles, there are two fundamental methods to go about it: Go chilly turkey, or slowly wean her off. Whichever method 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 straightforward. Even in the event you choose to wean slowly, “there might be some pushback,” Ayoob says. “In case you’re making an attempt to do it with none resistance in anyway, you are within the improper enterprise.”

Chilly turkey: In the future, you merely make all of the bottles disappear. In case your little one is sufficiently old to know, it would assist to incorporate them within the course of. For instance, you’ll be able to warn them that at present is the final day for bottles, and that beginning tomorrow, they’re going to drink solely from “huge boy” cups.

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

Regardless of how gradual (or quick) you need to go, Ayoob says you must take away the mid-day bottles first, then the morning one. Get your little one 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 oldsters!) agree that taking away the nighttime bottle is the hardest remaining step. “Denying your child a bottle, particularly that final one earlier than mattress, may 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 little one into sleep. “A pleasant heat bathtub, rocking whereas studying a narrative, and snuggling with a lovey may be nice sources of consolation, safety, and rest earlier than bedtime, even when the bedtime bottle is 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 pondering: “She hates sippy cups.” 

The repair: To guard her tooth, strive a cup that does not have a strong spout. It is too just like a nipple, says Ayoob, who says a straw is a better option. However in the long run, “the very best sippy cup is the one your little one will drink from fortunately and persistently,” McAllister says. “Purchase a couple of differing types and experiment. If you discover one your little one likes, purchase a couple of!”

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

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

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

Not keen to attend it out? Take the nipple off the bottle and provide it with a straw as a substitute. Or begin placing water in bottles and milk in cups and provides your little one a selection. “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’ would possibly tempt her to drink from a cup,” McAllister says.

You are pondering: “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 be sure you feed them different sources, equivalent to cheese and yogurt. Broccoli, soy milk, and calcium-fortified orange juice are good picks, too.

You are pondering: “He’ll 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 keen to place up with a meltdown for a day or two, it can go away,” Ayoob says. “Keep in mind, if he can drink from a cup, you are not denying him liquid.”

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

The repair: Many kids are used to having a bottle to calm down, however that can change. “Infants and toddlers can study 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 can occur.”