My baby is 6 months old and during the day I feed her from a sippy cup. At times she is fine w/ it but others she gets extremely frustrated and wants her bottle. How soon did you start giving your baby liquids in a cup? And what process did you follow? I mean, did you quit the bottle cold turkey one day? And what do you do when you're out in public? I have no problem being patient helping her w/ her cup at home & letting her make a mess, but in public? I just give her a bottle as its the easiest and cleanest way. All the books say it's good to start them as young as 5 months, but none say exactly HOW to do it.

My daught likes to drink like we do from a cup.  when she was like 5-6months old I gave her a cup that had a lid, but it wouldnt stop all the liquid from coming it would drip.  when she got the hang of that we went to a cup that had a soft nipple, but she never like the handles on the learner ones.  You just have to experiement and see which one she likes.  I think I have all that walmart sells.

I had the same problem as you when my son was that age. All my mom friends were telling me I needed to switch him off the bottle onto a sippy cup. He really didn't get that hang of it until he was a year old. I started out by giving him his bottle when it was time to go to sleep (naps and bedtime) and by then we were using whole milk (which I also think helped him transition easier since it was different than formula). Then, during the day when he wasn't sleeping I used one of the Playtex Tumblers (which is very similar to an adult travel coffee mug. He enjoyed drinking out of that for awhile. He avoided traditional sippy cups at all cost. Finally, after a couple of months of using the Playtex Tumblers, I bought him some Thomas and Friends sippy cups and he immediately started ditching the bottles and drinking straight out of the sippys. Don't worry about when they start doing it. The pediatrician told me that it is more of a social transition to switch from the bottle to the sippy than  a physical one.

wow...sounds like I'm behind.  My daughter is 7 months and we haven't started sippy cup training yet.  I have one that I give her from time to time to play with or try to drink a little out of, but we haven't tried it seriously yet.

my daughter is 9 months old and we just started the sippy cup (we started really late compared to you guys). i bought a gerber brand one with a soft spout and  handles. i put warm apple juice/water in it without the valve, and then i 'pour' a little in her mouth.  she'll drink a little bit that way and when she doesn't want anymore, i put the valve back on so it won't spill and let her play with it.  sometimes she'll put the spout in her mouth herself but she doesn't know yet that she needs to suck to get the juice.  we try this once a day. i think she'll get the hang of it eventually. i'm not in any rush. i just want her to be off of the bottle/breast (yes i'm still breastfeeding!) by 1.

I'll be honest.. we are skipping the sippy cup.  My daughter is drinking for a straw so we decided to go with the sippy cup with the straw in it.  So far she gets it only in the afternoons but she feels like such a big girl with her big girl cup. 

I don't think you guys are late at all.  Some kids do take them early and some don't.  My son was the same as far as he didn't really get it until he was about 1.  He is 18 mo. now and we still use them.  I also started with the Gerber cups and still use them.  I love them.  I started with the ones that have a curve to them and handles then went to straight with handles and then to bigger and no handles.  He can use the ones with the straw, but those leak a little and don't feel like messing with it. 

As for how to stop the bottles.  One of the best ways is to stop one bottle at a time.  Like now, again at 18 mo. my son gets a bottle in the morning, which we are starting to fade out, and then he gets one before he goes to bed at night.  During the day it is all sippy cup.