To think that 360 (Miracle) cups aren’t bad for baby?

[ToneDeath]

I have 3 kids and I think they’ve all used these cups but tbh my memory of which cups which child has liked is (understandably) fuzzy. Because they’re just f*ing cups.

Anyway, had my 1y check with my youngest yesterday and was asked all about weaning / cups / bottles etc.

Baby is 1yo in 3 weeks and is now taking zero bottles, only cups, although she still has formula twice a day.

(To avoid the drip-feed when the criticism comes rolling in… I am an advocate of breastfeeding and ebf my first 2. Sadly my third was born by crash and we were separated for a long time. I pumped and she was fed my milk by tiny cups and then bottles. I quit pumping at 6 weeks, because it was destroying me.)

Back to the present: HV at the appointment asked about the type of cup. I explained 360 but that she can also drink from open cup (a godsend because I forget her cup at least once a week when we go somewhere)
She can’t drink from a straw. God knows I’ve tried. My other kids nailed the straw pretty early so obvs. it is a bit frustrating but I’ve never met an adult that can’t use a straw, so I’m not worried.

HV then talked about cups for ages. Probably 4-5 minutes of a 20 minute appointment. It was pretty over the top, imo. 360s are bad for teeth and jaws and “children have been known to choke on them”

Um. What?

The gist was - always use an open cup. If you’re worried about spills, use a weighted straw. 360s are devil spawn.

I nodded along politely and promised I would try harder with the straw. (Actually thinking about quitting my job so that I can devote myself fully to it) and left but, basically, I don’t think it’s unreasonable to use a 360 cup. I think they’re fine. What do you think?

IABU: burn the cups
IANBU: 360 cups are fine

I hate these threads. How many fathers guilt each other over what kind of cup their child uses? I’m hazarding a guess at not many. Making sure you do every single thing relating to your child in an absolutely optimal manner (along with nailing parenting your other children, work and keeping a home running, and maybe if you’re lucky having a sliver of life to yourself) seems to only be something that’s expected of mothers.

Also as the parent of a kid who had major withholding issues as a result of constipation, ensuring they are able to drink enough (including independently) absolutely tops cup choice in my book.

That's crazy. My 4 year old still uses his sometimes. He's absolutely fine. I also have lots of friends who use(d) them and their kids are all fine. I'd love to know how the research was carried out. I cannot imagine the mess if we'd used an open cup!

Also as the parent of a kid who had major withholding issues as a result of constipation, ensuring they are able to drink enough (including independently) absolutely tops cup choice in my book.

Yes, that’s what I was wondering. When DS was small he had a drink on the go all the time. I was wondering if there was a greater chance of them getting dehydrated if they were totally dependent on an adult to provide and supervise drinks.

Just goes to show how often the advice changes. Eldest is only 5 and the advice when she was that age was that you should use a free flow sippy cup, absolutely never anything with a valve.

And as long as mothers are forward facing and weaning early and not practicing safe sleep then they are not doing the best by their child. Considering how prevalent all these are you cannot say we are all trying hard here.

Except that...

Most people don't forward face until the age, height and weight indicated by their car seat. Many do so because of travel sickness, and because driving with a screaming child in the back ain't that safe either.

Weaning at six months may be better for gut health, but is likely a cause of higher rates of allergies. There's every chance that by the time our children are weaning their babies, they'll be rolling their eyes at us suggesting they wait to six months.

Safe sleep recommendations vary from country to country - isn't there now some thought that babies do as well or better in their own rooms from birth?

Very very little of this stuff is absolute. Embrace the shades of grey.

With this particular child, as per my opening post, I have had an inordinate amount of difficulty getting her to drink from a straw.

How dare you tell me that I don’t want the best for my child?

And, to @Wenfy for deliberately misquoting me AND saying that 360 cups are for babies that haven’t developed the “jaw muscles” of (an insinuated superior) breastfed baby. How dare you too?

Of course, it’s okay to disagree with the majority of users re: cup types. But the mum-shaming is just awful.

I know that you want us all to think that you’re picture perfect. And some of the less experienced and less confident mothers that read this will believe your line of nonsense. But don’t tell me you’ve never made a mistake. Never slept through a cry. Never let them just have fruit for lunch. Never forgotten to update their reading record. Never let CBeebies take over so that you can catch a fucking breath.

And, what’s more… it’s a 360 cup. It’s hardly the same as forwarding facing a 9 month old baby and then having a car crash. C’mon. Get some fucking perspective.

Never forgotten to update their reading record.

IME, those who are judgy about things like sippy cups have rarely gotten as far as a reading record.

Are they still giving out those little plastic shot glasses to give your kids to drink out of instead? A mum I knew binned it there and then in front of the HV, I waited until mine left.

Advice doesn’t change on a whim. It changes as new research and evidence comes out.

There’s lots you can do to ease travel sickness; it is not a reason to FF.

After an infant carrier is outgrown (usually not until 18 months), to keep your child as safe as possible an ERF seat should be purchased, so your little one can RF until 6/7. Most parents do not do this.

Of course the advice will change by the time our children have their own children, as it should because we will continue to do research on what is best and safest.

No, there isn’t. Babies cannot regulate their own breathing, temperature or heart rate and need to be in the same room as you for at least the first six months to reduce the chance of SIDS.

There is no shade of grey when it comes to the safety of my child. When we know better, we should do better.

But don’t tell me you’ve never made a mistake. Never slept through a cry. Never let them just have fruit for lunch. Never forgotten to update their reading record. Never let CBeebies take over so that you can catch a fucking breath.

There is a huge difference between making a mistake and learning from it, or not realising something you were doing wasn’t the best you could and changing it accordingly, and knowing that X is better but continuing to do Y out of laziness or convenience.

When you know better, you should do better.

(Sorry, that first part was supposed to be bold as it’s a quote from OP).

@SunnySaturdayMorning 😂😂😂 Honestly. It’s cute how amazing you think you are.

Eh I don't think it's possible to always do your best, no matter how much you think you do, and tbh some stuff is so negligible in terms of benefit that 'best' is not really much gain over 'not best' either. Cups fall into that category for me. I don't find the evidence about their use particularly persuasive or feel that it poses any kind of real risk to my children so I don't really care about it. I've employed my critical thinking skills to say that drinking from an open cup or not for a healthy baby is unlikely to make any difference to outcomes and it is not a safety issue. On the other hand my DDs are both ERFing, older DD is 4.5 and still rearfacing, because I do find the evidence compelling. But then I coslept because I don't believe any of the evidence about increased risk of SIDs was relevant to our circumstances either.

I think you can drive yourself mad over stuff that is inconsequential. No one does the best all the time, because we are human beings. We prioritise the important stuff and compromise on some other stuff.

I’ve decided I’m going to do better. My kids deserve better. Tomorrow I’m going to give my daughter a straw cup, and leave her with it while I go to work. I’m going to tell the childminder that under NO CIRCUMSTANCES should she drink from anything else.

If she dies, she dies. Better to be dehydrated and right than drink from a 360 and risk me putting her forward facing on the way home.

Thanks, Sunny! 😂

Sunny, is it okay to use a childminder?

@SunnySaturdayMorning , having a mother who isn't driving herself, the child and everyone else totally batshit chasing the latest version of "best" probably is the best thing for the child.

How did this thread about cups of all things become such a bin fire?!

Both mine used 360 cups (which I was actually under the impression was better than a straw cup because I thought it was closer to an open cup). They are both fine. Obviously. They both learnt to drink from an open cup and do so appropriately when required. Obviously.

Having a mother who takes joy in making other people feel bad for small perceived transgressions is clearly a lot, lot more damaging to a child than any form of cup could be.

@SunnySaturdayMorning needs to use them to keep her lip-pursing muscles in top form.

Nope, a free-flow one (without a valve) is best. Only pointing it out because you’re so keen to tell other mums what they’re doing wrong.

From a Speech and Language therapist (FeedEatSpeak):

1. Choose one that doesn’t have a valve (is free-flowing) as valves change how a baby sucks the fluid, either changing their tongue position and/or involving lips and gums. These are abnormal sucking and drinking patters which can be avoided with a valve free straw.

Source: https://www.srnutrition.co.uk/2021/06/what-are-the-best-cups-for-babies-and-toddlers/

Also here https://www.nct.org.uk/baby-toddler/feeding/introducing-solids/choosing-cups-for-babies-and-toddlers

For anyone who is looking for a good weighted straw cup that is free flow, the TumTum tots ones are good - the straws can also be taken apart and come with a little brush for cleaning.

But I really don’t think using a 360 is the end of the world either! As I said previously, I got weirdly obsessive over cups (and many other things) when DD was small -lingering postnatal anxiety I think. Ultimately though we settled for what she was prepared to drink from, the straw one for water and a hard spout (but free flow!) sippy cup for milk.

@AliasGrape You're right 😊 The tumtum cups are the ones we use, have each design except the new glow in the dark polar bear but I think we’ll get that next as my daughter will love it 😅

This is such an obviously flawed argument. So if adults drank from 360 cups they'd be fine? I actually don't ever drink through one because I dislike it (maybe I was given the wrong cup as a baby and it's stunted me terribly?) and have found no downside to this in adult life.