August 21, 2023 Switching to Sippy Cups
In the scheme of development, at some point milk is not enough for your baby. There comes a moment when expanding diet, learning to chew, to bite and to drink from a cup becomes necessary for a growing baby. This is often difficult time when mum goes back to work and the child is under the care of a nanny or a grandmother.
Sippy cups can be of great help in weaning your baby from bottle to cups. They improve motor skills, hand to mouth coordination can instill independence for a baby. If your baby can sit unaided, and has already started messing around with a spoon, she can face the challenge of drinking from a cup, though enough motor skills to control spilling do not develop early on.
Training cups reduce spills to minimum without the necessary mess. Non-spill cups are best in reducing spills but need suction strength to start the liquid flow. The baby might not develop the required force so trainers or soft spout cups suit best for a small baby.
Some children may be six months old, while others will learn independent drinking only when they are one year old. American dental association advices introducing sippy cup to a baby by first birthday.
Introducing Sippy Cup
- Start off with one that has a soft, pliable spout because this feels more familiar to your baby than a hard plastic spout.
- In case you decide on a non-spill, make sure it has easy to remove and assemble valve necessary for cleaning and maintaining hygiene.
- Children are great imitators. Enjoy a drink with them. They will learn faster.
- Touch the spout to upper palate just like a nipple to encourage suckling reflex.
Refusing Sippy Cup
1. Never get angry with your baby if she is not able to drink from the cup. Learning a new skill is stressful enough for her.
2. Use the sippy cup with breastmilk and sometimes halfway through the feeding as part of introduction routine.
3. Use a brand in which you can switch the nipple, spout and handles for seamless transition. Learning a new skill takes time and adding a familiar milk bottle could increase comfort level. Compatibility and inter-changeability of spouts, nipples and handles makes situation more malleable and fluid both for the baby and mother.
4. Try a different kind of cup. Some cups have valves that are so effective at keeping the liquid from spilling that it’s a lot of work to drink from it. If your baby sucks on the sippy spout but doesn’t get anything, try taking out the valve that controls the flow (if the sippy cup has one of these and it’s removable). Or try a 360 cup. A 360 cup is efficient in keeping the spills away while making drinking natural and easy for babies.
Moisten the cup edge before you start the drinking lesson. This way you will make it easier for the child to suck the liquid – she will understand that the cup is used for drinking and not chewing or licking.
5.Work in reverse order. Teach your baby to drink from the sippy without the lid on it first. Put just a teaspoon or two of liquid at a time and help her raise the cup to her mouth. After she gets the hang of that and understands that there’s liquid inside the cup, put the lid on (without the valve, if there is one). Finally, put the valve in and let her take over.
Things to remember:
- Make sure the baby drinks while sitting, or she may choke. Do not leave her alone, hang around and supervise the situation.
- Don’t give juice to a baby 6 months or younger, and limit juice for older babies and toddlers to no more than 4 ounces a day.
- Breast fed and formula fed babies don’t need water. Cow’s milk can be introduced only after 1 year of age.
- Never force liquid in a baby’s mouth. She may choke.
- Never give a used cup to a baby as you will be unwittingly transfer some of your bacteria to your baby.
- Use plastic cups that are certified BPA Free and change frequently as scratched cups can leach chemicals.