How can I get my 3 year old to take a cup?

I need tips on how to get my three-year-old to take a cup. We have tried literally every cup and water bottle available. We’ve worked with an occupational therapist, we’ve tried cold turkey and he went two days without drinking. Destroying the nipples has become an EVERY day thing, and I’m done with it.

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Be strong! He will eventually drink out of a cup if he is thirsty enough.

Use a regular cup. No sippy cup. He will drink…

I was always told(because my autistic daughter was on a bottle till like 4-4.5) to just cold turkey it and if they are that thirsty they will eventually drink from whatever you give them. I always told her pediatrician or her therapist just do it; just give her a sippy cup etc but they didn’t understand she would scream cry till she got a bottle and it was weird she only wanted a bottle for milk ; juice and water she drank from a cup with no issues lol
I know you say you tried cold turkey but it worked for us alittle older than I like to admit but it was actually a very easy transition yes she asked a couple times but eventually stopped asking

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I recommend trying these, my son didnt want any sort of cup, we tried these and now he’s off the bottle

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Keep holding out on him until he does!

When in doubt if they’ll drink, give em whatever! Tea, koolaid, caffeine free soda as long as they’re taking in fluids so they dont dehydrate. Then take away all the nips. None at all, throw them away. Make it a big deal, have her throw them away and then have cake and icecream. Let her pick her own new cups so she has her input too, makes kids feel important

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And act like her not using the cup doesnt bother you. Kids will keep up the battle if they’re getting a response from the parent.

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Try tale the pressure off it an turn it into a sort of game an goal. My son learn by we call had a cup of water at tea an lunch time an we would clink the cups together an say cheers then drink the water. Also if they bite the teet off the top of the bottle offer them the same bottle thats broken so they learn to sip instead of sucking.

Try straws and a regular cup at 3 i would just skip right over the sippy cup

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We have been using the throw away cups with straws, my 3 year old loves them and she uses her bottle at night.

I just put all bottles in the bin when they were a year old…slight protest for a second then they downed the milk out of a cup…might be harder at that age but there not going to let themselves go thirsty

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My 2 1/2 yr old drinks out of these. If we go out in public and don’t have her cup, we can get her a regular cup and add a straw and she is fine.

Throw all the bottles completely out. Don’t buy no more bottles just cause he refuses to drink out of a cup. That’s what I did when my son was a year was throw all bottles out completely n thankfully I never did pacifiers with him either. So just throw out all those bottles.

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You have to stop buying the sippy cups all together. Just like a pacifier. and the more the mom would buy more pacifiers and more sippy cups to give to the kid the longer she wanted them even though grandma and aunts and uncles like me and my husband and all the other cousins were steadily at throwing that stuff in the garbage can. I mean she even had the kid in diapers until the school house said listen this child does not start school until you potty train her we are not a daycare. Kid was like 7 years old 6 years old and still in diapers a pacifier and a sippy cup. You just have to go cold turkey throw it all away. it’s gone!! there is no more! maybe get one of those cups to child can hold on each side that’s what a friend of mine done with her kids.

Throw all the bottles out and move on to a straw cup. We are tossing all the bottles in a few weeks and only giving mine a cup with a straw after that for everything and then slowly adding in an open cup

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I have heard mums putting bandaids over their nipples and telling their little ones that mummy’s boobies have ouchies and the milk has gone away.

And when the child goes to try and have boobie, they see the bandaids and remember that mummies boobies are too sore.

When child remembers mummy is to sore, that’s when you offer a drink … doesn’t matter if it’s in a bottle at first. You can then go from bottle to cup.

Take baby steps first, there’s no wrong way.

Maybe in the mean time while hea not drinking make home made water popsicles so hell get some fluids too, jello also counts as a fluid

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Get rid of the bottle all together. Keep presenting drinks in other sippy cups or cups. When the child is thirsty, they will drink. The more you keep giving a bottle, the more they will only use the bottle. Stop being the crutch.

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Throw bottles in trash. If they get thirsty they will eventually drink it

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This is why it’s good to get rid of the bottle at one year. It can be very hard now waiting so long to take it. Not only that it can cause serious issues with their teeth. Throw all the bottles away. Get a sippy cup with a soft nipple but stronger than a bottle nipple. Don’t offer any bottles again. Eventually he will take it. Stay consistent no matter what

I buy ‘good to grow’ juice in character cups and reuse the cups for both my kids…they are kind of bottle shaped, but hard and they don’t leak! Gave my daughter hers at one yr old and she never wanted a bottle again.

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I would try to include him in going to pick out a new cup to use and letting him throw out the old bottles/sippies. I find my almost three year old is much more willing to do big changes if I let him participate in the decision making. Give him a couple of options to choose between, and let him decide. Also, really hype it up. Make it seem like this is such a cool thing for him to decide to do, how proud you are that he is becoming a big boy, etc. Toddlers, like most people, like to feel important and they like to feel like they’re doing a good job. And once you you’ve done all that, stick with it. Reinforce the idea that we are a big boy now, and we drink from cups just like mommy and daddy.

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Find nipples that dont have holes like a binky and when he realizes he cant get a drink say the bottles are broke time for new cups

Please talk to your doctor. He may have sensory issues or something.

Gatorade bottles are a good transition. Still need to suck, still have the raised mouth piece, but easier to transition

They have training sippy cups its a cup but you start with the 1st lid or piece which is like a nipple and then once they are used to that they use a sippy nipple and them you can even go to drinking out of the side of the cup …try it might work

Maybe take him to the store and let him pick out his own cup?? Make a big deal out of it😁

Well eventually he’ll drink or the doctor has a plan be firm no negotiation allowed plain and simple

I was going to say the straw too. Once he gets that down put a little in a cup and teach him.

Say you are giving the old one’s to a sippy/babba whatever fairy and that she takes them to the babies cause they really need them collect them all and place them in a bag. Leave them outside or on a door non at night then when they go to bed switch it to cute new cups with a note from the fairy thanking the child for helping the babies!

sippie cup with a straw …

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I showed my 3 year old bottle obsessed son pictures of babies with bottles and big boys and girls with cups, then only let him have a bottle for bed for a couple days and then they were gone. It was a rough few days, denying the kids in the pictures with bottles were babies, then insisting he was a baby, but after a few days, it was a thing of the past

This sounds crazy but…we started super early and just put some juice in one of those plastic shot glasses. :woman_facepalming:t3::rofl: Hey, it worked!!

My kids preferred straws once that was figured out they switched easily

Have you tried the 360 cups? My almost 2 year old ditched his bottle last month and uses 360 cups during the day, or straw cups and then uses nuby sippy cups for nap and bedtime.

Try maybe a straw like in a adult cup thats closed in?..

Try taking the nipple out of his bottle/cup first… like give him the bottle/cup itself first but without the nipple…then he will feel like he has his cup.

It’s getting your attention. A kid can drink from a regular cup at six months old and you are worrying too much. No more sippy cups or bottles - you’ll destroy his teeth for a start! You can either just offer a cup having got rid of all the others OR do the Big Boy Now thing. Go and buy a special cup together (get two in secret!) that is his special cup and give drinks in that. Give away the bottles etc to someone with a baby (for them to throw) as they are for babies. Make sure he’s part of that.

If you havent tried already, try a 360 sippy cup

Start with a hard-lid sippy cup so he can’t destroy the nipple. I had to switch to that with my 2 year-old because she was destroying every nipple too. Then try to communicate and find the reason why he prefers a sippy cup over a regular cup. Does he need something separate to chew/suck on? Maybe it’s teething?