Have you been wondering how to teach your baby to drink from a cup, and when you should start?
When to Start With Cups?
The American Academy of Pediatrics recommends that babies start drinking from a cup around 6 months. Of course babies will continue to primarily take breastmilk or formula at this age. By introducing a cup around 6 months, and giving the baby an opportunity to practice using it on a daily basis will allow you to get a head start on working to phase out the use of a bottle. It’s ideal to have the baby weaned off the bottle by 12 to 14 months. Extended use, and especially having the baby falling asleep with the bottle, increases the risk for cavities.
Why You Should Skip The Sippy Cup
For the past many years, the most recommended types of cups to start with have been sippy cups. However I have learned from my speech language pathologist friends the negative effects that using a sippy cup has on a child’s development. So that it has led me to rethink the recommendations. As a healthcare provider, I believe it’s important to do and use things that foster a child’s development. Therefore knowing what I know now, my recommendations for the cups to use come from the perspective of what is going to benefit a child’s development the most, not necessarily what is going to be the most convenient or mess-free.
I realize that in creating sippy-cups, the intention was to minimize the mess and make it more convenient when you’re on the go. However if the use of these cups can actually impede a child’s development, then the question is, is it really worth using them?
So the main concern with sippy cups is that they hinder the baby’s ability to develop the mature swallow pattern and delay the development of oral motor skills that help the baby learn to speak. The hard mouthpiece of the sippy cup presses down on the baby’s tongue and pushes it towards the front of the mouth. And as a result, the baby has to suck to extract the liquid. However, we want to teach the baby the more mature swallow pattern, which involves the tongue rising up towards the top of the mouth to create a wave-like motion bringing the liquid back and down for a swallow. It’s not possible for the tip of the tongue to elevate when using a sippy cup, because the mouthpiece is pushing down on it. By using the sippy cup, the child is made to continue using the more immature suckle-swallow pattern longer than they should. In addition, if the tongue is pressed down from the use of a sippy cup, it can find a natural resting place further forward in the mouth. This can also cause a delay in the progression of a child’s speech and language development.
What Cups Are Good For Babies?
Now I want to let you know the progression of cups that I recommend using. Once your baby starts eating solid foods, they will begin to need a little extra water in the diet for preventing constipation and washing food down at mealtimes.
After you offer the food, then give your baby an opportunity to practice drinking from an open cup with your assistance. The Mini Cup is the best one I’m aware of that is appropriately sized for a baby. It’s designed by a feeding specialist to perfectly fit the baby’s mouth and small hands. A major benefit of using an open cup is that it strengthens the muscles in the baby’s cheeks, mouth and lips, and facilitates the development of oral motor skills that help babies with forming sounds as they learn to speak. Drinking from the open cup also allows the baby to learn the more mature swallow pattern. Another benefit is that the baby learns about lip closure from using the open cup. This will help the baby master closing the lips during feeding as well and prevent food falling out of the mouth.
Sometime between 9 and 12 months, babies are able to start grasping the concept of drinking from a straw cup. The wonderful thing about straw cups is that they also facilitate the development of oral motor skills and the mature swallow pattern. For toddlers you can use both an open cup and a straw cup.
The 360 cups are also very popular, and parents like them for the convenience of preventing spills. But the concern with them is that they also teach an abnormal drinking pattern. In order to get the liquid out the child has to make excessive movements with the jaw. It also causes the tongue to be in an abnormal position when they’re drinking. Therefore knowing these things about it, I don’t recommend using the 360 cups.
How To Teach Baby To Drink From Open Cup
I realize it seems hard to believe that babies can drink from an open cup as early as 6 months. But at this age they do a great job of bringing things to their mouths, therefore there’s no reason to doubt the baby’s ability. Of course starting out, your baby will need your help in holding and guiding. But with practice and time, your child will master this skill set.
For babies 6 to 8 months of age, put a half to 1 ounce of water, or 15 to 30 milliliters, into the cup at a time and offer it after a meal. At this age babies don’t need to drink a lot of water. Their diets are still primarily liquid from the breastmilk or formula they are already taking. You can also put breastmilk or formula into the cup to practice with as well. It’s not recommended to give juice to children under 1 year of age.
For babies 8 to 12 months you can start offering around 2 ounces or 60 milliliters of water in the cup at a time after each meal of solid food. To give your baby the best opportunity to learn to drink from the open cup, have the baby sitting in the feeding chair while you stand to one side. While your hand is resting at the base of the cup, offer it in such a way that allows your baby to put the hands around the cup to grasp it. Initially your baby may need your guidance in placing the hands onto the cup. While your hand is continuing to support the base of the cup, you can place some of your fingers overtop of your baby’s hands, to offer more support. Naturally your baby will want to bring it to the mouth. After your child puts the lips onto the cup rim and closes them, help guide the cup up to a good angle so the baby can start drinking. Watch and listen to your baby swallowing. If it sounds like the baby is swallowing fast or if your child starts to cough, most likely the fluid is flowing too quickly. If that’s the case, bring the cup down to slow down the flow, or help guide your baby to set the cup down on the feeding tray to take a break between sips.
During the first several weeks of offering the open cup, your child will need your full assistance. But once you see the baby is grasping the concept, start giving opportunities to practice drinking independently. Put only a half to one ounce of water into the cup at a time to minimize the mess. The learning process will be messy at times. But it’s all part of the learning experience. When babies spill on themselves from lifting the cup too far, they start to learn the concept of cause and effect. With time they realize that if they take the cup too far up, it will result in them getting wet. When given the opportunity to practice daily starting around 6 months, I’ve seen 8 and 9 month old babies master the ability to drink from an open cup independently.
How to Teach Baby to Drink From Straw Cup
There are multiple straw cups on the market, but I think the Mini Cup and Straw Training System is the best. This cup was designed by a feeding expert. The shorter straw makes it safer and easier for the baby and toddler to use. Also the straw has two different sides. The first side works great for beginners. It has sensory bumps that give the child feedback to know where to put their lips, and it’s angled which helps ensure the baby’s head is in the proper position for a safe swallow. The other end of the straw is straight and without sensory bumps. It works great for the advanced drinkers. When you start introducing it, if your child is not grasping the concept of closing the lips around the straw and sucking on it, here is something you can try.
Steps to teach baby to drink using straw cup:
- Remove the straw from the lid, dip it into water, and squeeze the straw so it holds onto some of the water.
- Then bring it to the baby’s mouth, and once the baby closes the lips around the straw, you can slowly release the water. This will allow the baby to start putting the pieces together so that the water will be coming through the straw.
- Then you can put the straw back through the lid and give the baby an opportunity to learn to suck the water out through the straw.
If the baby tries to tip the cup up to drink as they would when using a bottle or open cup, help out by holding the cup down, and encourage them to suck through the straw. Realistically it will probably take multiple tries before your child figures out how to suck through the straw. But being consistent and giving opportunities to practice after each mealtime will make it possible for them to master the skill set sooner.
How to Wean Off The Bottle
By practicing with the open cup and then the straw cup, your baby will master taking liquids through those. After they turn one, most children can transition to cow’s milk. And at this age it’s a great time to offer the milk after the meal or as a snack in between meals, two or three times a day in either the open cup or straw cup, and eliminate the use of the bottle all together. At 12 to 14 months children who have been keeping up with developmental milestones are fully capable of taking all their fluids through the use of cups. I find that prolonged use of a bottle happens because parents keep offering milk and other fluids in the bottle, instead of eliminating that option altogether. For toddlers we recommend that they take 16 to 24 ounces of milk per day. Most will take 6 to 8 ounces at a time. A great thing about the Mini cup is that it can be used either as an open cup or as a closed cup with a straw. It holds up to 4 ounces, so you could fill it up twice each time you give milk to your toddler.
When it comes to water intake for toddlers, we recommend that they drink 1 to 4 cups, which would translate to 8 to 32 ounces of water per day. Children don’t need juice in their diet, but if you do offer them juice, it should not be more than 4 ounces in a day and should be given with a meal, not diluted with water for the child to drink throughout the day. Every time your child drinks juice, it coats their teeth with sugar. The risk of developing cavities is lower if they drink it one time and done, rather than sipping on it throughout the day, even if it’s diluted with water. I find that once they get the hang of it, children enjoy using the open cup and straw cup more than using a sippy cup or bottle. And as mentioned, the open cup and straw cup will actually help with your child’s speech and language development.