Introducing Sippy Cup

[Anonymous]

I have been trying to give DS, who is 11 months, a sippy cup off and on for a couple of months and he has absolutely no interest in drinking from it. At first he would take a sip or 2 when I held it to his mouth, but he won't even do that any more. He just likes to gnaw on the bottom or the handles and drop it on the floor. I usually just offer water, which he will drink from a bottle, but have tried formula too. I have also tried several different cups. Is he just not ready? Any tips to get him to drink from the cup? Our ped says to practice now so they are ready to use a cup by 1 year when they transition off formula, and we are nowhere close!

[Anonymous]

Have you tried just a regular cup with no lid? We don't use a sippy cup at the table with my 12 month old. He loves drinking water out of a regular cup - but we have never offered water in a bottle. I would stop the bottled water and only offer milk in a bottle.

We hold the cup for him when it has more than a splash of water, and he's very good at using it. He usually pries it from our hands so that he can practice, which makes a huge mess.

He can use the sippy cups with a straw, which he likes because his big sister uses them. And the i-play brand is BPA free, so those are the only sippy cups in our house.

[Anonymous]

Try a different type of sippy cup. My son also had no interest in drinking from one until I tried a different type, then he picked it up and started sipping away. In the early days, my son preferred sippys with a softer more flexible spout (Gerber and Avent both have cups like this).

[Anonymous]

Try filling the sippy with some fresh juice. We took the little piece that prevents liquid fron spilling from the cup to make it easier (we would hold the cup for her). Then we added the piece back and she wanted the juice so bad, she figured out she had to sip harder. Then we would put her hands on the handle and eventually she figured that part out although she still hasn't realized she needs to tilt her head back or lift the cup higher to get more juice.

She is almost one year old now and we started when she turned about 11 mos.

[Anonymous]

never used them. started them on cups with straws at 8 months. still uses them 3 yrs later.

[sunnyskies]

We started DS on them at around 5 or 6 months? We offer sips with his meals. We have two - the fancy, two-handled cup with the screw off lid and a valve and the *"disposable" thin plastic cups that came in a pack of 6 with the lids that pop on. He does best with the cheapo ones.

* we do not "dispose" these. I hate when they call these things disposable - seems so wasteful.