WHEN to start your baby on a cup: About the time you start your baby on solid food, unlimited water (as much as your baby wants) or a small amount of diluted juice can also be given in a cup. Many parents are choosing to avoid giving babies juice altogether because of high sugar content.
HOW to introduce a cup: We recommend you use a NON-spill proof cup most of the time, or a cup with a spout (free-flowing) or a straw to promote cup-drinking skill. The more babies practice drinking from a cup helps them be ready to wean from the bottle when they are about a year old. If your baby is interested in taking sips of anything appropriate you are drinking, just hold the cup to their lips and gently tip it back to help them get the idea. Counter-intuitively, it’s easier to start with an almost-full cup, because you won’t have to tip it back very much and the liquid will flow slowly. If you put a little water in the bottom of a cup, your baby will have to tip it back a lot, and the liquid will come fast! Some parents give their baby a cup to play with in the bath so spills don’t matter, but it’s a bit tricky to keep the bath water separate from the drinking water!
WHAT kind of cup should you use? There are all kinds of baby cups out there to try, it doesn’t really matter which kind your baby uses, as long as it allows for free-flowing liquid into your baby’s mouth. Didn’t we all learn on those double-handled ceramic cups with surprises painted at the bottom? Spill-proof sippy cups tend to reinforce a strong sucking reflex, which can delay speech development as well as regular cup drinking skills.
We hope you find this handout on introducing a cup helpful.
DISCLAIMER: We know when you surf the web for information, you can get conflicting results, and it’s not easy to know whether you are finding evidence-based, high quality recommendations. That’s part of our job here at Kodiak KINDNESS; we are here to support your informed decisions about infant feeding through your baby’s first year. We’ve done some background work, and to the best of our knowledge, this post reflects current best practices. However, the information contained in this post and any links contained herein is for your informational use only; it is not a substitute for professional advice, diagnosis, or treatment. Furthermore, Kodiak KINDNESS is not responsible for the accuracy of any information contained in this post or links contained herein; it is for you to review at your own risk and discuss, as needed, with your health care professional in order to make a plan that suits your individual circumstances.