How old was your DC when they mastered a cup?

[PastaandCheese]

DS is 4 months and now flat out refusing a bottle.

I have a 2 year old DD and I really miss taking her swimming so want to try and deal with this issue without having to obsessively clock watch.

This morning DS grabbed DD's cup with a drop of cow's milk in it. He was looking at the milk, shaking it and put it to his mouth (flap was down).

I'm going to but him a cup to try later but what are the chances of him mastering this so young? Obviously he is copying DD who took a long time to really master a cup.

I know they say from 4 months but interested to know how people have got on in reality.

[Artandco]

Yes get a doidy cup. They are an open cup with one side higher than the other so patent can see how much liquid is going into babies mouth.

We used a cup from birth with both. First the medela newborn cup from in hospital then the doidy cup from about 3 ish months. They only take a small amount when tiny not a full feed but enough you can keep offering also.

At 4 months he can prob drink from it well, I think mine could hold and pour the doidy themselves at around 7 months so never used a beaker

[Imeg]

I also have a 4 month old who is now reluctant to take a bottle despite having one fairly regularly. I tried expressed milk in a small open 'cup' (actually one of those formula powder dispenser pots that came with the steriliser) and although it was messy and I had to hold it for him he definitely got the idea and was lifting his head towards the cup.

[PastaandCheese]

This is a free flow Tommy Tippee cup. He has seen DD using an open cup and Doidy at the table but she has her morning and evening milk upstairs so we use a lid.

I think he realises she is having milk from this cup where I think he has no concept of what a bottle is for iyswim?

DD didn't take to a cup untll she was weaned but I don't think she knew what to do with it where judging from his game this morning he really seems to have got the idea of it. It was quite purposeful how he gripped the handles and tipped the lid to his mouth.

I'm very intrigued to see what he does with some expressed milk in one of these now.

[Artandco]

I would try the doidy still tbh, as with the tommee tippee he still needs to suck a bit to get a mouthful plus you can't see how much hes getting so easy to give him too much and cause him to choke. With the doidy you can see and regulate his intact easily

[leedy]

DS2 got the hang of the Doidy pretty quickly at around 4.5 months, I was pleasantly surprised! He moved on to a sippy soon after.

[PastaandCheese]

Well happily it won't be my job. I'll leave this one to DH!

We have a Doidy so I'll give that a try. He is intrigued by the Tommee Tippee but I take your point about choking.

[Kikaninchen]

DD was definitely using a Tommy Tippee freeflow cup from 5 months, as I started weaning then, and gave her water in it. She was fine with it, though never drank that much. She struggled more with the doidy cup, used to tip it over herself and gasp in surprise, whereas she could regulate the Tommee Tippee one fine.

I breastfed and so she never used a bottle. But from reading the other replies, it seems I should maybe have held the cup for her at first instead of just handing it to her and letting her get on with it herself. Oops

[leedy]

Yeah, you definitely need to help them with the Doidy!

[HeyN0nny]

Do you mean a sippy cup or an open cup without a lid?

Both mine drank from sippy cups by 4m, I assumed (with DC1) that they were meant to, as it had ”4m+” on the label. DC2 had severe tongue tie, never took a bottle, but managed fine with a sippy cup. Strangely enough, he had mastered the straw (as in, picked up his sister's smoothie carton and downed it in one...) at about 5.5m, so that made life a lot easier.

Open cup, DD about 2ish (reliably, not spilling), DS about 14m. Again, he got practice by stealing his sister's drinks. Doidy cups were a disaster here. They slowed DD right down, DS went straight to a proper beaker.

[HeyN0nny]

Amazed by the number of posters who have children who let them help with drinks!!

[sebsmummy1]

My son mastered his Doidy cup when he was about 12 months I think. He doesn't know what on earth to do with a zippy cup unfortunately so we have jumped passed them onto a cup. Would recommend.

[sebsmummy1]

*sippy

[mrsmugoo]

17 week old bottle refuser here too.

I tried him with a doidy cup yesterday. He just kept turning his head away and most of it went down his front.

I'll try again in a couple of weeks. I REALLY want him to be able to take milk from some other source than me!!

[PastaandCheese]

I'm restocking the freezer with expressed milk and I think I'm just going to give the tommy tippee cup a go as he seems keen to copy DD.

If it makes him cough then I'll just put it away until he weans.

mrsmugoo I'm sorry to say DD didn't crack it until she was weaned.

[CityDweller]

DH got DD drinking out of doidy cup when she was 4 months old. I kept out of it, but he would take her downstairs each morning, at the same time, and turned it into a little game. She picked it up within about 5 days. CM had her drinking out of a regular sippy cup by about 6.5 months.

[mrsmellow]

My little one drank from a doidy and a tommee tippee at that age (4 months). But only water. He was a bottle and formula refuser. Monkey.
He was 9 months before he would reliably take a bottle and even then it was with a beaker teat. Now at nearly a year he drinks from anything and like all these things I can't believe I worried so much about it. I went back to work at 8 months - he breast fed before nursery and when I picked him up. He ate really well and drank 1-2oz formula a couple of times a day when pressed. He always drank plenty of water from his cup though!