Whether you breast-feedbottle feeding or doing a combination of both, at some point you will wonder: Is it time to move to the cup?

If only breast-feed, the easiest switch is to skip bottles altogether and go straight to cups around the age of one year, or when you decide to stop breastfeeding. If your child is a happy bottle sucker, her first birthday might still be a good option. This is because at that time you are already switching from formula to cow’s milk.

Did you miss that window? Waiting until your baby is a little older? Don’t worry, but don’t expect too much. The American Academy of Pediatrics suggests saying goodbye to the bottle before your baby turns 18 months. “I would say definitely before 2 years, but the sooner the better,” says Keith T. Ayoob, EdD. He is an associate clinical professor of pediatrics at the Albert Einstein College of Medicine in the Bronx, New York.

As a registered dietitian who works with children, Ayoob snatches bottles from children as young as 5 and says it’s not pretty. “You have to know your child, but in general, the longer you wait, the harder it is.”

A bottle provides nourishment and comfort to many children, so letting your little one use it as long as they want can seem pretty harmless. But there are several reasons why it’s smart to switch to mugs:

bottle boost tooth decay. Milk has lactose, a type of sugar. And if you give your child juice in a bottle (although you shouldn’t), it’s even worse. “The acid in the juice is a nightmare for teeth“says Ayoob.

Milk should still be an important part of your child’s diet and juice is okay from time to time. However, if sucked from a bottle, the sugar and acid will stay on the teeth longer, which could lead to cavities. Letting a baby fall asleep with a bottle is especially bad, because her body produces less saliva (which helps remove food particles) while you sleep.

Prolonged bottle use is linked to obesity. Research shows that children who are still using a bottle at 2 years old are more likely to be obese when they are almost 6 years old. Ayoob says some children walk around with a bottle in their mouth all the time, even though they eat a lot of solid foods. This can result in too many calories.

He says that being too attached to the bottle could also have the opposite effect: with some picky eatersThe bottle becomes the “preferred food” and the child may not be eating enough of it. breakfastfood or dinner.

Bottles could ruin your smile. Constant sucking can change the position of your permanent teeth in the future. It can affect the development of facial muscles and the palate (the roof of the mouth), says Dr. Peter Richel. He is the chief of pediatrics at Northern Westchester Hospital in Mount Kisco, New York. This can easily lead to a overbite which may then need to be corrected with orthodontics, such as braces.

Drinking while lying down increases the risk of ear infections. If your little one loves to snuggle with a bottle, be careful.

“Some of the milk gurgles into the back of the throat and stays there while the bacteria grow,” Ayoob says. “Bacteria can climb up the Eustachian tube [in the throat] and in the ear.”

Your child should know how to drink from a cup before you take away the bottle. Many pediatricians recommend parents introduce sippy cups between 6 and 9 months. This is when children usually start drinking water and other liquids in addition to formula and mother milk.

If, from a young age, you start giving some milk (not just water) in sippy or regular cups, things will be easier when you’re ready to ditch the bottle for good, says Richel.

Once you decide to ditch bottles, there are two main ways to do it: quit cold turkey or quit slowly. Whichever option you choose, experts agree that the key is to stick with it. “Leaving aside is the quickest but hardest thing for parents to do, because they feel like they’re being cruel,” Richel says.

Just don’t expect either way to be easy. Even if you choose to quit slowly, “there will be some setback,” Ayoob says. “If you try to do it without any resistance, you’re in the wrong business.”

Cold turkey: One day, you just make all the bottles disappear. If your child is old enough to understand, it might be helpful to include them in the process. For example, you can tell them that today is the last day for bottles, and that starting tomorrow they will only drink from “large” glasses.

Weaning: The idea is to gradually change the bottles for cups. For example, you can fill a bottle cup with just one feeding a day and then add a second cup the following week.

No matter how slow (or fast) you want to go, Ayoob says you should remove your midday bottles first, then your morning bottle. Get your child used to eating something solid first thing in the morning, she says, before you take him away from the morning bottle.

Most experts (and parents!) agree that weaning off the nighttime bottle is the hardest final step. “Denying your baby a bottle, especially the last one before bed, can be incredibly challenging for moms and dads,” says Rallie McAllister, MD, MPH, co-author of Mommy MD’s Guide to Toddler Years. “This makes it much more difficult to get babies sleepand when babies don’t sleep, neither do their parents.

To make things easier, he says he has a bedtime ritual instead. This prevents you from relying solely on the bottle to get your child to sleep. “A nice warm bath, rocking while reading a story, and snuggling with a loved one can be great sources of comfort, security, and relaxation before bedtimeeven when the bedtime The bottle is no longer part of the routine,” he says.

Nervous about putting down the bottle? We asked experts to offer additional help and support.

You’re thinking, “She hates sippy cups.”

The solution: To protect your teeth, try a cup that No have a solid beak. It’s too similar to a nipple, says Ayoob, who says a straw is a better option. But in the end, “the best sippy glass is the one that her child will happily and consistently drink from,” McAllister says. “Buy a few different types and experiment. When you find one your child likes, buy a few!”

You can also have your child use regular non-sippy cups. Still, it may take her some time to learn how to use it herself. Give something thick, like vanilla yogurt or some pureed fruit diluted with a little water, to reduce spillage, says Ayoob.

You’re thinking, “Drink water or juice from a sippy cup, but not milk.”

The solution: “Some children like the bottle so much that they are reluctant to drink milk from anything else, but this is temporary.” hunger strike!” says Richel.

Are you not willing to wait? Remove the nipple from the bottle and offer it with a straw. Or start putting water in bottles and milk in glasses and give your child a choice. “Say, ‘Now milk comes in a cup. Water comes in a bottle. Which one do you want?'” says Ayoob. You can also try making cupped milk more tempting by flavoring it with pureed strawberries or another fruit. “A strawberry ‘smoothie’ might tempt her to drink from a cup,” says McAllister.

You’re thinking, “If he refuses the cup, he won’t get enough.” calcium“.

The solution: Don’t worry if you don’t get enough calcium, even if they refuse cup milk for several weeks. Just be sure to feed them other sources, such as cheese and yogurt. Broccoli, soy milk and calcium-Fortified orange juice is also a good option.

You’re thinking, “He’s going to throw a tantrum.”

The solution: Leave them. Having a seizure is not out of the ordinary for a young child and they will get over it. “If the parent is willing to endure a crisis for a day or two, it will go away,” Ayoob says. “Remember, if he can drink from a cup, you are not denying him liquid.”

You’re thinking, “She’ll never fall asleep.”

The solution: Many children are used to having a bottle to calm themselves, but that will change. “Babies and Small children “They can learn to self-soothe without the sucking they’re used to with pacifiers or bottles,” Richel says. “It just takes a little time. But it will happen.”