Free What to Expect the Toddler Years by Heidi Murkoff

(perhaps in direct response to pressure you’ve been applying for her to give up her beloved bottle), these tips should help win her over:
    Go cup-shopping together. Let your child hold the cups you’re considering buying, and allow her to pick her favorite style, color, and design. Some toddlers prefer one handle, some two, some like a spout, others want a cup with a straw built in. Then there are those who want to be grown-up like Mom and Dad and drink from what looks like a real glass. You may have to experiment with a variety of cup styles before you hit on one your child accepts. If you can, buy (or borrow) several so that your toddler can choose which cup she wants at each meal. All cups you choose should be nonbreakable; a weighted bottom will make tipping less likely.
    Let your toddler get acquainted with her cup. Let her use it to feed her dolls, to serve tea to a friend, or to fill and empty in the sink (under your supervision).
    Put the cup first. Always offer your toddler a cup before the breast or the bottle—but hold the parental pressure. At each meal and snack, pour a small amount of a favorite beverage into a cup. Place the cup within her reach and offer it to her periodically between bites (“Here’s a drink of water”). If she pushes the cup away, don’t force the issue. Continue to use this no-pressure approach daily, varying the cup and the beverage. One day,possibly when she’s particularly thirsty, she will surprise you and take a sip.
    Switch the liquid. Serving a liquid she’s unaccustomed to drinking in her bottle may make her less resistant to the cup. Once she’s used to the cup, you can start filling it up with her favorite fluids.
    Don’t make weaning dependent on your toddler’s acceptance of the cup. If you do, she will keep rejecting what she considers an unacceptable bottle substitute. Instead, start cutting back on bottle feedings even as she continues to reject the cup. The human body craves fluids, and ultimately your toddler will take them any way she can get them. (If she’s consuming less milk during the weaning process, make sure she gets additional calcium from other sources, such as hard cheeses and full-fat yogurt; see page 506.)
    Cover all bases. Drinking from a cup will be a messy business until your toddler becomes proficient. A large over-the-shoulder bib for your child and a plastic sheet or newspaper spread under the high chair will help handle the spills. Starting out with water or heavily watered-down juice will be less hazardous to clothing and floor. Don’t make a fuss about spills, or you might give your toddler another reason to reject the cup.
W EANING FROM THE BOTTLE
    “I know I’m supposed to start weaning my son from the bottle now that he’s a year old, but he doesn’t seem ready to cooperate.”
    Timing may not be everything, but when it comes to weaning, it’s a great deal. And weaning your toddler now would be excellent timing, for several reasons:
Dwindling flexibility.
Though he’s certainly not the putty in your hands he was six or seven months ago, your toddler’s still a whole lot less set in his ways now than he will be in the months to come. Once negativity and rebelliousness start kicking in, and every issue becomes a battle of wills, enlisting his cooperation in the weaning process will be more difficult.
Waning appetite.
Bottle drinkers tend to consume unnecessarily large quantities of milk and juice. At a time when toddlers start eating less, drinking more can sabotage appetites and contribute to eating problems.
Continuing health risk.
Infants who drink their bottles flat on their backs have an increased risk of ear infections. The problem can continue for toddlers who aren’t weaned from the bottle.
New health risk.
At this age, when most toddlers have at least several teeth, the bottle can start to become hazardous to dental health. Bottle-induced tooth decay, known as “baby-bottle mouth” or “nursing-bottle syndrome,”