How to teach Baby to use Sippy Cup?

[babi77]

Dear Everyone,

My 1 year old boy, who has been exclusively breastfeeded, refused to suck from bottles. We're trying to teach him to use a sippy cup or even straw but seems he does not know what is that. Hence the only way to feed him liquid now is by spooning but as you can imagine it is real tiring.

My boy also weaned himself for 2 weeks already, he also decided not to breastfeed as well, but he has been sleeping well, healthy, playful and eat well, the key is just to feed him by spoon, but we want to teach him how to use a cup.

Please advise.

Regards
Babi

 

[spockey]

Hi. I got my little man to play with it. He's been playing with it since he was about 8 months and now he's pretty good at hanging on to the cup and drinking from it. I didn't add any water when we started.

He is quite happy to drink water from it but REFUSES to drink milk from it. So we use it only at lunch and dinner right now.

 

[JennyB]

Try a regular drinking cup. It needs supervision but at least he can see the liquid. You can try a very small cup like the cap of a baby's bottle to reduce the mess if it gets spilt. Only tilt it very slightly so he can dip his tongue or lips in it. My baby likes to lap the liquid like a cat!

Apparently breastfed babies are supposed to take to a straw more quickly than bottlefed babies, because the sucking action uses similar muscles to breastfeeding. My baby figured out how to suck from a straw at 6 months old, to my great surprise, and hers as well! You can get some great cups with fold-down straw spouts (from PNS, Wing On etc) that you can let your son play with; he will figure it out sooner or later. The surprised expression on his face when he gets liquid after sucking on the straw will be priceless!