Bottle to cup: how to make the switch, and which cup to use

When to start, and when to finish

Start early and finish gradually. Offer a cup around 6 months, when solids begin, with a little water at mealtimes and playtime so the cup becomes familiar long before it has to replace anything. Plan to move off the bottle between 12 and 18 months. Every baby moves at their own pace, and these are practice windows rather than deadlines. If you have concerns about feeding or swallowing, ask your pediatrician.

The switch, one feed at a time

1. Cup at meals first. Water in a cup at the highchair, your hands on the cup to start. Nothing is being taken away yet.
2. Swap one bottle feed. Offer milk in a cup at one feed and keep the rest as they are. A relatively calm time of day makes the swap easier.
3. Swap the next one. When that feed is settled, move another, and go from there.
4. Finish between 12 and 18 months. At your baby’s pace. Mastering a new skill takes time and practice.

One change at a time helps. If you are also moving from breast milk to formula, keep that change separate from the bottle to cup change.

The easiest first cup is the bottle your baby already knows

A baby who has just said goodbye to the bottle is often being asked to trust a brand new cup at the same moment. A transitional top avoids that: the body, the grip and the feel stay the same, and only the part your baby drinks from changes.

• The GentleBottle Transitional Sippy Lid turns a GentleBottle into a soft-spout sippy: same body, same grip, new drinking skill. It fits the 4oz and 8oz GentleBottle.
• The GentleBottle Soft Spout is an all-silicone spout with the softness of a nipple. It swaps onto the GentleBottle collar and fits all GentleBottles, so it is not a hard spout.
• The GentleBottle Transitional Set puts the whole path in one box: the GentleBottle, a nipple, a teether handle, the transitional sippy lid and caps.

All three are GentleBottle parts, made to fit the GentleBottle. If your baby already drinks happily from another bottle, move straight to a straw or open cup instead.

A GentleBottle path by age

• Around 4 to 6 months: snap on the Teether Handle. Its side rails are sized for baby palms, so your baby can start holding the bottle, and the textured ring soothes gums between feeds.
• Around 6 to 9 months: swap the nipple for the transitional sippy lid or the soft spout. Same familiar bottle, new drinking skill.
• Around 9 to 12 months and up: bring in an open training cup or a straw cup at meals, while the sippy top handles outings.
• 12 to 18 months: move off bottles entirely, one feed at a time.

After the sippy lid: straw cup or open cup

Both, ideally. An open cup and a straw cup each build their own skill, and many families use an open cup at the table and a straw cup out of the house.

• The 5oz Training Cup with Lid and Straw does both jobs: lid on for spill-resistant straw drinking, lid off for supervised open cup practice. The soft silicone straw has no valve, so your baby draws the liquid, which is the skill being learned.
• The First Cup (2oz) is a small open cup for first supervised sips, and the Silicone Training Cup is the next open cup up, with a weighted base that resists tipping.

For how sippy, straw and open cups compare at each age, see the sippy vs straw vs open cup guide, and for open cup practice without the chaos, the open cup guide.

Who should skip the sippy step

A baby who takes a cup readily does not need a transitional top at all: go from bottle straight to a straw or open cup. If your baby has been exclusively breastfed for 9 months or more, you could try going from breast straight to a cup, with no bottle in between. The sippy lid earns its place for the baby who holds on to the bottle, because it keeps the one thing they trust.

For the breast to bottle half of the journey, the GentleBottle transition guide covers the first bottles, and the responsive bottle to cup article covers readiness cues in more depth.