Sippy cup....please advise!!

Jordan - posted on 06/13/2010

A straw is a great idea...my daughter is 14 months old and has been straw drinking since she was 12 months...she quickly learned how to hold the cup and drink. The straw cups are great and have really helped us. He will be frustrated at first but he'll get it just encourage him. And straws are fine for kids under 18 months..my pediatrician actually encourages it. Good luck!

Rachel - posted on 06/12/2010

Thanks for all the comments. After several discouraging attempts with a straw sippy cup I've just gone back to his nuby soft spout. He's actually not making that much of a mess now. Maybe I'll try again in a few months with the straw.

Connie - posted on 06/11/2010

Using a straw is perfectly fine. Our Ped, thinks they are better than sippy cups, so don't be discouraged about using a straw now, instead of when your child is 18 months. Straws prevent liquids from sitting on your child's teeth.

If you don't mind giving your child Caprisun, they have skinny straws and the pouches allow you to squeeze a little juice into the straw. This is how we got our son to master the straw.

Michelle - posted on 06/10/2010

My husband got my daughter to learn drinking from a straw at just over a year. All he did was give her a taste of success, pulling a little into the straw himself, pinching it to keep it in the straw, and then... hey presto! She figured it out. Same strategy worked for my friend and her daughter.

However, be warned, this doesn't solve the head tipping back problem. My daughter now tries to tip her head back with the cups with straws which means nothing comes out and then she gets mad.

Try a sippy cup with a no-spill valve - the Avenos are great and easy to clean - or one of the soft-spout ones where they have to use their lips to squeeze the milk out. First Years Soothie has a good one and Pampers just brought out a similar one that my daughter loves.

Crystal - posted on 06/09/2010

I have found two sippy cups that I just love.
The first one is one that I used to break my daughter off of the bottle with. I used the NUK bottles, and found that they would leak (but they were the only ones that she would use). Recently Nuk came out with a cuppy that looks just like the bottle, only it has a spill proof soft sippy spout. She never noticed the difference. I usually use this one at night.
The second one is from NUBBY I think and it is a straw sippy cup. It is short and the straw is fat at the end so it is easy for Ithem to suck on it. This is a great one to teach them to drink from a straw, she started at six months. I usually use this one during the day.

Aimee-Grace - posted on 06/09/2010

A child doesn't need to use straw cups until 18 months when sippy cups could start being bad for their teeth and mouth. If you want to go ahead and try them, here is my suggestion: buy some straws and put them into applesauce or yogurt (better yet buy some Strawlutions), sip the product up to the top of the straw (so, the child realizes something is there), and he should automatically start to suck. After several times of this, he'll associate sucking with straws and you can move onto liquid.
Ok, back to straw-lution straws - they are straws created by a mom that can be put into any foil top container (applesauce, yogurt, baby food, etc.) that can't be pulled out because they have prongs on them. They are good to use in restaurants too, put them into the kids cup and they won't be able to pull it out and throw it on the floor. My daughter used them only 3 thimes with me having to suck the food up to the top and now she can use any straw to drink or eat without my help. These straws are great for road trips, a lot easier to feed a child through a straw then with a spoon when in a car. Check out their website: www.strawlution.com you won't regret buying these for your child. I hope this post has helped you. Good Luck!

Kara - posted on 06/08/2010

Try some of the spill-proof sippy cups. They have always served their purpose for me.They are plastic, so they are not as soft as the ones you are using, but they work just as well and my kids never seemed to mind that it was bit harder anyways. Hope it works well for you.