Transitioning from Bottles to Beakers at 18 Months Old

2.3.17

I think we've finally cracked it.. Parker is 18 months and we've ditched the bottles! We've made the transition from milk in bottles to beakers. And I couldn't be happier.


Now don't get me wrong. I absolutely loved using our Dr Brown's bottles. They helped with Parker's colic when he was little, and once we stopped sterilising at one (when we transitioned to cows milk), it was simply a case of washing them up.

But Parker had become attached. He associated bottles with going to sleep - something we didn't want to continue. I was sick of having milk covered sheets where he would leave the bottles to drip. And honestly I was totally done with bottles - especially as the Dr Brown's ones have a lot of parts.

I feared it would be a hard process, especially as he was still having two bottles a day. But honestly it's not been that bad at all. And now a week later, we've dropped the morning bottle and he's happy taking his bedtime milk in a beaker.

So how did we do it?

I bought Parker a new beaker - one with a cow print so he knew it was for milk (this isn't really necessary I know, but I thought it was cool). Then before diving straight in with a morning / bedtime bottle I tested it out at nap time. A tip I've always found with big changes is to get them when they're already sleepy (not overtired though), as then they're more likely to give into sleep anyway.


Then from that nap, we never looked back. There were a few moans where he threw the beaker and moaned for 'nunck' (that's P for milk). But we never backed down! It only took a couple of days for him to not even bother with his morning milk.

I'm so thankful we had it easy, as I know it's not always the case - we struggled for a loooong time with our first. So I thought it would be interesting to ask some of my fellow bloggers how they made the switch...

We literally did it cold turkey after my son threw up his bottle of milk due to coughing. He was around 18 months and had gulped down a full 200mls or so. After that I was like right, no more and just gave him his sippy cup. We had about 3 nights of whinging and then he got used to his cup - so my tip - go with the whinging, persevere! - Emma @ Me and B Make Tea

We always gave our eldest beakers for drinks so bottles were only for milk. Then when she was old enough to understand we explained that she was a big girl now so no longer needed a bottle. Bedtime was the worst, but after a few days she was ok! - Amy @  The Smallest of Things


We started the transition by switching to a sippy cup with a silicone spout first, so it wasn't too different to a bottle. After a while, and by trying lots of different cups for their water, we managed to move to a normal sippy cup for their bedtime milk - Gemma @ Two Little Misters

We only used bottles for milk, when water was introduced he had a cup. Then we got him a similar cup for the milk and just swapped the bottle for the cup. He cried for a bit but then drank it. Jo @ Pickle and Pocket

We introduced sippy cups with water when we started weaning, so they were used to them. Bottles only used for evening milk but not to go to sleep with. We tried to make sure the sippy cups were as close to free flow as possible though. Silicone spouts always went down well. He has the munchkin 360 degrees spoutless cup now. Helen @ Talking Mums

And Fran from Whinge Whinge Wine 'Just took it away!' - That's my kind of approach!


How did you make the switch?


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10 comments :

  1. Hahaha you make me sound like a big meanie! ;) He was never that attached. They're so easily adaptable at that age (and his sleep was crap and not reliant on it, so that's an important point!). LOVE the cow cup! Want one!

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    1. Haha don't be silly, we did the same with Indiana's dummies.. I am a meanie ;) x

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  2. Thanks Emily. I need to try this soon and I love that cup so will be going on Amazon to buy one. Fingers crossed Sonny gets on just as well as it did with Parker. Xx

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  3. Erin doesn't get on well with sippy cups at all. She only takes one with a straw atm.

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  4. I love the beaker, it's such a cute design. Iris is breastfed so i'm dreading the transition from boob to beaker. She has bottles occasionally. Lucas went from a bottle to a beaker, but prefered cups with straws. I spent £10 on a moomin patterned one and £4 on a pumpkin one at halloween. He loved the moomins one for ages until it went mouldy because I gave him fresh orange juice when he had a cold. He now wont drink from anything but this blasted pumpkin cup. ITS MARCH KID! haha. Rambling away at you there Emily ahaha.

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  5. Ah I can't remember when my older two gave up their bottles, just getting Benjamin to have one is hard so it might go quite well when I want to give him a beaker! x

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  6. I'm really dreading this stage with little N. I love this cup though, I've just put it in my Amazon basket!

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  7. Erin had this beaker too! It can be hard to lose the comfort of a bottle but sounds like you've (all) done really well!

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  8. Thank you so much for featuring us :) I love his beaker! Glad it went well :) ox

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  9. Love the beaker! I'm clueless about bottles etc as I'm still breastfeeding and he hates bottles. We use the munchkin 360 cups for water, they're fab but not sure if it would be ok for milk!

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