how can i get my 1 year old son to use a sippy cup??

I have been struggling since the baby was 1. He is now 16 months, and it has been working reasonably well for the last 2 weeks. Though we still aren't exclusively on sippys, I'm almost ready to put away the bottles. The one that worked the best as a "transition" cup is the Nuby Sports Bottle (I got it from Wal-Mart). It looks almost exactly like a bottle, except that the tip is flat instead of curved. But ever since we've been offering it, he's drinking more from not just that sippy but the other ones we had. Maybe the familiar shape helped with his adjustment, but the way the fluid flows is similar even for the other shaped spouts? For a few months, I only tried on and off. I figured, it's not working, so why bother. But he finally started to take it (with water) when (a) I offered it with every single meal and in between meals (he doesn't get milk in between meals), (b) I refrigerated the cup between uses (he seems to like cold water better), (c) I let him drink out of/play with a regular cup and dump the water all over himself enough that he got used to water and (d) I set a limit for myself of how much milk I'd offer at a feeding (4 oz) and after he hits that, I really push the water (I've broken down a few times and given more milk when he has gotten hysterical, but unless he's really sleepy, he's taking the water in the sippy now). Frankly, I'm not sure if I had done those things at 12 months that the transition would have been much quicker. I think he liked bottles and didn't want to change, and it's taken a long time for the sippy cups to seem familiar. Yes, you could go cold turkey and figure he won't dehydrate, but as long as he's not using a pacifier or sucking his fingers, a few extra months on the bottle won't hurt his teeth: it's long stretches of time per day of sucking that hurts the teeth, according to the ADA, and a few minutes per day of drinking alone is not a big issue.

My nephew, 11 mos, refused to drink from a sippy cup too. His parents tried everything. One day I was babysitting him and I took his sippy cup and pretended to drink out of it, making a HUGE deal about how good it was, saying MMMMMM and YUM and just being totally silly. Well he started reaching for it with his mouth open so I put the sippy part in his mouth and just kind of held it there. After a few seconds he took a little sip, well then I made a huge deal out of that with YAYs and clapping and smiling, That encouraged him to take a bigger sip. I reacted the same way again and now he drinks out of it all the time. Sometimes it takes someone different showing him how fun something is. Just out of curiosity though, why doesn't your son drink juice or water? By 6 months babies should be drinking diluted juice with their meals and by 9 months should be drinking 4-5 oz of water a day. Make sure that you don't put formula in the sippy cup or juice and water in a bottle. Babies must learn to differentiate between formula from a bottle, which is a "meal" and other liquids from a sippy cup which is a thirst quencher.

I have the same problem with my 11 month old daughter. Just a few days ago she FINALLY figured out how to drink out of it! But she only took about an ounce and threw it on the floor repeatedly. She isn't real big on juice anymore so my only option is to put formula in it. Since then, she hasn't taken another drink, she just chews on it. The one and only sippy cup she drank out of was one with a straw. I don't know if you've tried one of those yet or not? Our pediatrician also recommended using the soft spouts as it's more like a nipple. She said to just keep offering the sippy cup everyday and eventually she will get it. I hope so! Good luck to you!

You can put milk in sippy cups. They aren't just for juice or water. I got my son to do it by buying the softer top ones from Walmart by NUBY. They are the cheapest one's out there. Once he got used to drinking from those I switched over to a harder top. I started him at 10 months. The other thing is if you are still using bottles you need to get rid of them completely so there is no choice but a sippy cup. Trust me, they may scream for awhile but they will learn that the sip cup is their only option and they will catch on. When I transitioned my son I kept only his night time bottle until he was 11 months and then it went adios as well. By 1 he was totally transitioned and did fine.

Throw all the bottles away. I know it will be hard, but he will get used to it. Thats what i did. When your son is thirsty and realizes that the only option he has is to drink out of the sippy cup, he'll do it.

My daughter was MADLY in love with her bottle and it only took her like 3 or 4 days to get used to it.

EDIT: i read the answer that catTX left, i did that with my daughter also. It's not a good idea to use those sippy cups because then you'll have to wein him off those too. Just last week i threw those NUBY bottle like sippy cups away, my daughter still cries for them. It was harder taking her off those then it was a bottle.

reward him say if you drink out the sippy cup we can go out and get icecream or even something in the house ill make you cookies or cake if drink out of the cup or even buy him little toy first cuple times bribe him then hell do it for now on after

start with the sippy cups that are like bottles first. nuby makes some.

Just keep offering the cup, if you are breast feeding you are going to have more problems, maybe you can express some breast milk or put formula in it, not a lot and eventually add water to it. until he is drinking water.