Milk into sippy cup ...?

I have stages of trying to move Spencer to a cup but it hasn't happened successfully yet. I read that they shouldn't have bottles after 12 months so I am keen to get rid of them ASAP. We definitely won't be using them at 18 months (in a few months I will probably be eating my words...hahaha).

I also saw a thing on TV with a paed saying how important it was to drop bottles at 12 months but absolutely by 18, which is why 18 months is my new cut off. She was talking to a mum whose nearly 4 year old was still having bottles

We give water in a sippy straw bottle/cup and he loves that but drinking out of a sippy cup is a nightmare. I'm not in any huge hurry to ditch the bottle. It works fine for us and I figure that as he drops his midday bottle he's only have a bottle morning and night and when he can master a cup better I'll deal with it then

i gave myboys sippy cups once they were sitting up in a highchair. they used to just play with them at first but they got the idea pretty quickly. mind you mine didnt have bottles tho...(unless you count a pump water bottle )

we did it this week....stopped daytime bottles of formula last weekend....replaced them with sippy cups of milk and DC continued all week....diddt miss her bottles at all....

we still do morning and evening bottle...she wont let me drop those and thats ok...

she had used a sippy cup for water for ages...she nearly 17 months old....

Gina won't take her milk any other way than from a bottle. Water she drinks from both sippy cup/straw but not milk I'm not too worried either - she's on 2 bottles at the moment, morning & night

Thanks for the explaination - now I can tell daycare why I'm trying to change him over. I just checked the book I had read too (Oh baby by Kathy Fray) - and it said to start changing them in those few months after they turn 1, and definitely by 18 months ... so looks like its similar advice.

I had no probs dropping him down to 2 milk feeds/day - he did it naturally at 11.5 months, so a couple of weeks before he was meant to, but I wasn't worried as he has big bottles (240-260mls) plus eats quite a bit of yoghurt and loves cheese.

I'll work on the daytime milk feed first, and worry about the nighttime bottle later I think!

Cailin had her milk in a bottle right through until I stopped giving her a milk drink at night which was when she was 3. I beleive that the main reason to stop the bottle is because kids tend to walk around with the teat inbetween their teeth and also take a lot longer to drink so the milk sits on their teeth longer so can lead to more decay etc. I just never let Cailin muck around
Also I have heard that it is to do with movement of their teeth and speech etc, in my humble opinion I can't see how 3-4mins a day can really make any difference to how teeth grow...this is just my humble opinion mind you, no major research has gone into that statement

and I will let Jeremy drink his milk in a bottle too right through if he wants

I wonder how it could really impact on speech etc too ... but I'm going with the theory that it will be easier to remove the bottle now than later.
I've also heard lying down and drinking isn't good if they're prone to ear infections - so thats another reason I'd like to get him sitting up with a cup to drink his milk.

Bombshell - they only need 500mls of milk at this stage (or dairy equivalent) otherwise they could not eat enough food, therefore not get enough other nutrients in food. Thats why plunket say 2 milk feeds per day after 12 months. Jake would drink more if I gave him more bottles (but wouldn't be so hungry for snacks/meals), but I don't offer it.

Stacey - I wonder if he really does drink the whole 240mls at daycare - they write full bottle in his book, but to be honest the last few weeks he has started only having about 180-200mls for his daytime bottle at home. And when hes sick he doesn't always drink 240-260 at night either. But his total per day if you include milk on cereal is always over 500mls.

I used a sippy spout on a bottle yesterday and he drank about 200mls, so yay, we will do that for a week or so then try the sippy cup again.