Cup Drinking
Why does my baby need to learn to drink from a cup? Infants under the age of 12 months get their nutrition by suckling from a breast and/or bottle. They need to learn other oral motor patterns to be able to eat solid foods, to talk and, yes, to drink. Around the age of 12-15 months, we recommend weaning your baby from the bottle (if she takes one) to support oral development and overall health. So she needs to learn to drink from a cup!
When should I introduce a cup? Around the time you start your baby on solid foods (including purees), you can start offering a cup with as much water as your baby wants to drink. Some parents choose to offer their babies juice. We just recommend that it be diluted and offered only in small amounts.
What kind of cup is best? It’s important to give your baby practice drinking from an open cup. Practice with straw cups is great, too. "Spill proof sippy cups are convenient, but they don’t actually teach mature cup drinking skills and are tied to delayed speech skills. We recommend limiting (or avoiding altogether) the use of such cups.
How do I introduce a cup? You can start by offering water in a cup whenever you offer solid foods to your baby. If your baby is interested in what you are drinking (if it’s appropriate), hold the cup to their lips and gently tilt it so baby can take some sips.
It may be easiest to start with an almost-full cup, because you won’t have to tip it back very much and may find it easier to keep the flow slow. Some parents give their baby a cup to play with in the bath so spills don’t matter (although it can be tricky to keep the bath water separate from the drinking water). Be ready for a mess—it’s part of the learning process.
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.