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Behaviour/development

Talk to others about child development and behaviour stages here. You can find more information on our development calendar.

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Original poster

bibs and sippy lids - when to stop using them

25 replies

fruitful · 11/05/2005 21:34

When do they stop wearing bibs to eat? Dd is 3 this month and would need a change of top after every meal if she didn't wear a bib. But perhaps she doesn't bother to eat tidily 'cos she can scoop it out of her bib later. Should I push it, or do I just wait?

And she still has a sippy lid on her cup. She can drink out of an open cup, and does at mealtimes at the table. But the rest of the time - I can't be bothered to mop up spills. And at bedtime she has milk in a lidded cup - don't want milk in the bed. Should I push this one too, or doesn't it matter?

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Mum2girls · 11/05/2005 21:47

I ditched the bibs with DD2 at around 2yo, and at first it was a nightmare, but very quickly she became a cleaner eater, so your theory could be right.

Personally I think as long as she has some drinks out of an open cup, no harm done with continuing a lidded cup.

Wallace · 11/05/2005 21:47

Ds and dd (almost 6 and 4) still have cups with lids (sports cup sort of thing) for water. These are available to them all day, and we take them out. They also use open cups at meal times. The reallt embarrassing thing is they both have sippy cups (non-spill)for their nighttime drinks of water. It is easier for them to have something that doesn't spill in the middle of the night.

I don't know about bibs, but I don't think the cup thing matters

Bozza · 11/05/2005 21:52

Would say that you are going the right way with the cups. I do the sports bottle thing for DS (4) for in the car and even DD has one (she's 1 on Sunday) but other than that he's had open cup at mealtimes for ages. Can't remember when we stopped the bib - it was prompted by me laying it on the hob when the gas had only just been turned off and it melting - not worth buying another, maybe 2.5. We dress him after breakfast and don't worry about a bit of weetabix on the pjs and so its only really lunch time thats an issue because after tea its only an hour until bed if he is a bit messed up.

Hulababy · 11/05/2005 22:05

DD has just turned three.

I can't remember last time we used a bib with her - well before she was 2 though.

DD uses open cups at home during the day. But at night and when we are out she uses a sports top type of bottle. I do tend to only put water in that though, as I find juice or milk makes them go a bit funny inside after a while.

swedishmum · 11/05/2005 22:09

Dd has water in sports bottle or sippy cup when we're out, but has plastic "glass" with meals and if at the table. Don't really do bibs - so much washing anyway so what's the point? If she ever has one she takes great delight in pouring water in it. She's 15 months.

Sugarmag · 12/05/2005 09:46

DD is 4 and uses an open cup at mealtimes but I still give her a cup with a lid or a sport's bottle for other times. In fact before bed she still gets warm milk in a cup with a lid - she's just never learned to drink cold milk!

She doesn't use a bib regularly but if she's eating something particularly messy (soup, bolognese?) she'll still use a bib. I don't think there's anything wrong with it personally. Frankly there are times when I should probably wear a bib myself! And who wants to have to either change her shirt half an hour after she's dressed or send her to nursery in dirty clothes.

Sugarmag · 12/05/2005 09:48

By the way, DS is 2 so if I let DD carry an open cup around the house with her, chances are he would spill it.

lima · 12/05/2005 10:12

my 2 are 6 and 3 - they have open cups at the table, and lidded/sports bottles on the sofa and at bedtime.

Bozza · 12/05/2005 13:09

You've reminded me - DS wears his apron for tomato soup. We were at a fete and I spotted a hand-made child's apron for him which he uses for when we are baking.

Dingle · 12/05/2005 13:22

DD is 3.5 now, and she has SN(Downs) so feeding is still delayed in a lot of ways. Struggling to get decent sized bibs for her was a nightmare, and not only that I didn't want to treat her as a baby. We now a little supply of PVC coated aprons.
DS(5) wears one occasionally too, if we are painting, baking...I like it that way as DD doesn't feel so alone IYSWIM.

DD uses an open cup at the table, but has a great habit of trying to dunk everything into her drink!
But for the rest of the time I encourage her to drink from the Heinz 3-in-1 trainer cup, which is like drinking from an open cup but has a lid sunken into the beaker. It isn't leakproof, but I can still help her speech by encouraging with an "open cup" and not get into such a mess!

Original poster

fruitful · 12/05/2005 21:03

Hmm, maybe I'll bite the bullet and ditch the bibs then. The laundry can't get much worse at the moment anyway (ds has a new babygro at every nappy change, practically).

OP posts:

Orinoco · 12/05/2005 21:06

Message withdrawn

youngmama · 12/05/2005 22:35

I have tried to keep bibs as long as pos in this house! ds (5) stopped when he started fulltime school at 4,dd1 (3) still wears hers for messy things like sauces,spagetti,yogurt etc but we don't insist when she's eating cheese etc,though she quite often puts it on anyway.dd2 is 15 months so she wears it for everything.

sippy cups,i hate the things. I don't know why,but i hate seeing kids going round with one of the cups hanging from mouth.I have given ippy cups to all my kids,but at around 18 months i start giving open cups in the house (they are made to sit down,and my kids have never taken drinks to bed so that was no problem.) so we would just use sippy cup out of the house. At 2 years I get rid of all sippy cups,move to sport cups which we use on long car rides only.

milge · 12/05/2005 22:45

I could do with a pelican bib at age 30+, never mind 3! My ds still asks for his bib, but if it is "dry" food, he doesn't notice. He doesn't like messing up his clothes, and as he generally eats porridge for breakfast, soup for lunch, and our dinner for tea, he wears bibs pretty much at all meals. Again, open cups at the table, sports caps for out of the house, watered down fruit juice, mainly.

wysiwyg · 12/05/2005 23:36

I really hate those sports bottles - Orinoco - interesting thought that they may be bad for teeth - I think so but don't know of any proof . DD has open cup - restricted to kitchen with easy to wipe floor - and for outdoors drinks water from ordinary bottle with screw top lid.
Sometimes she asks for a beaker with a lid for bedtime milk - definitely a comfort thing for her.
Still wears a bib occasionally for spaghetti bolognese and messy food like that.
She is 5. Don't see any rush to get rid of either of these things - they make OUR life easier after all. Plus adults use napkins and drinks from sports bottles so maybe we never stop ....

sparklymieow · 12/05/2005 23:48

embarrassed to say that Ds still has a lidded cup at night for his milky drink and he is 7 though in my defence I will add that he has CP and would drop it all over him and the bed if he had a open cup, all 3 of mine have open cups at the table and Ds will have a mug of milk as long as he is sat at the table.

bobbybob · 12/05/2005 23:58

Ds won't eat a meal without putting his bib on when at home, but will quite happily eat in a cafe with no bib on. At his grandparents he uses a napkin tucked in at the neck like a gourmand. He is neater without the bib.

As with everything else that makes my life easier I will let him continue until he wants to stop.

Chandra · 13/05/2005 00:01

DS stopped using bibs when he was aprox 18m old (he started taking them off by himself). He still gets dirty from time to time but he is horrified when that happens (why he is I will never know). I'm still using sipy cups when out and about as the liquids ar easier to transport but he drinks from a glass at home and in nursery.

If there's any consolation my sister still uses her favourite sipy cup (well, actually one with an integrated straw). I think there's some comfort issue behind it as we have tried everything and she refuses to bin it. She only uses it at home, not very often and never in front of her friends (thanks god!). She is 31 yrs old

fruitfulinotherways · 27/02/2008 21:27

ROFL. I was searching for threads on "drinking from an open cup" because ds1 is 3 now and refuses to drink unless there is a lid on his cup. I found this thread - and lo, I started it 3 years ago for dd .

fruitfulinotherways · 27/02/2008 21:33

So, the question remains!

Ds1 was 3 this month. He won't drink from an open cup. And actually, he can't - he tried a few sips today, juice went everywhere and he got upset (he does not do "mess" - dunno where he gets that from, def not from me!). Does it matter? I'm reluctant to wait until he decides to do it, because my experience is that he never decides to do anything new. I'd rather force the issue now than in a year's time. But I took the lids away and he is just not drinking anything. Sigh.

And dd (5.5) still has a lidded beaker for milk at bedtime - because ds1 bounces over her bed. Is that bad?

fruitfulinotherways · 28/02/2008 13:47

Anyone?

BroccoliSpears · 28/02/2008 19:47

I think there's nothing to be gained from pressuring him before he's ready. He'll get there in the end. It's really no biggie if he can't do it yet.

hana · 28/02/2008 19:53

just put a very small amount in and see how he gets on with that

BroccoliSpears · 28/02/2008 20:09

Does he sip from your cup ever?

fruitfulinotherways · 28/02/2008 20:51

He doesn't drink from anything apart from one of the 3 sorts of lidded beaker that we have at home. If we go out and forget to take one, he doesn't drink. Won't even use a different brand/colour of beaker at a friends house. He won't drink a carton with a straw either. Its a nuisance! He is a creature of habit and stubborn with it. Oh well. I'm sure he'll be able to do it by the time he leaves home...

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