When do you say "good bye" to the bottle?

DD turn one a couple of weeks ago and is showing a LOT of interest in drinking water from a cup (not even a sippy cup but from a regular cup).  She enjoys it a lot and is actually drinking (I see and hear her swallowing fluids).  Of course it's VERY messy but she's been enjoying more than the bottle lately.  Should I slowly be transitioning her to the cup?  She stills wants her milk from the bottle but other fluids she loves to drink from the cup.  Is it too early for her?

[Trialanderror]

Oh, not at all, that`s great! They say the sooner you can wean infants or rather toddlers from bottles and even sippie cups the better. The main concern is always the teeth if it were anything but water in the bottle. With a regular cup the teeth just don`t get exposed to the liquid as long as with sippie cups for example. If your daughter likes water, it is even better. You`re on your way... In my home country in Europe they have just banned sippie cups from preschools and replaced them with regular cups, just as a precaution. There seems to be an unexplained link between the time sippie cups were invented to the rise of early childhood caries (cavities).

[Me2mommy2b]

Yes, the only other liquid she drinks (other than the milk) is the water.  I have not given her any juices yet.  Today, for the first time, I introduced a freshly squeezed apple juice and she absolutely loved it (I have a juice extractor at home that I have not used in ages!!).  I don't know what she enjoyed more, the actually drinking from the cup or the juice itself.

[Me2mommy2b]

The problem with sippie cups is that the child is constantly "sipping" the juice, milk and other liquids that's in the cup.  If you drink it all at once, it's one thing.  Having that sugar throughout a lengthy period is detrimental to the enamel.

[Trialanderror]

Exactly, I always like to encourage parents to stick with water as an alternative to milk for a long time. I am a bit paranoid. After a babysitter introduced juices to my son, he got absolutely hooked on them for too long and his teeth suffered some damage despite best efforts to brush. It varies from kid to kid, some just have strong enamel,  but it sure is a hard taste preference to break...

[cutiemama]

At 12 months my older DD drank water out of a cup and a sipee but would only drink her mild from a bottle until 26 months when we stopped the bottle. She hasn't had milk since then and she's 4!

[decogrl]

Good for you!  I cannot get DD to drink from a sippie cup because she chokes....like everything else, she drinks, eats, etc too fast and then gets sick..she is just like her father....I only give her milk and water too because she is big enough as it is and I don't want her hooked on sweet things.   I keep trying the sippie but it doesn't work...hmmm maybe I will try a plain old plastic cup.

[pertykitty]

with sippy cups its best to only let them have their milk or juice at one sitting rather than walk around with them all day.  i would only let my son have his with other than water at meals or snack time , then it was water only.