Milk in sippy cup

[Sunshine124]

Hi all I would normally ask my health visitor this but as drop in clinics aren’t running I thought I would see if there was anyone here could help.
My DS is nearly 10 months old and has 4 formula feeds a day. I read that we should be trying to ditch the bottles around the age of 1 and encourage cups instead. He is managing well with water in his sippy cups so looking to start to transition off bottles for milk as well.
He uses the munchkin 360 cup and the Tommy tippee free flow basic cup (the cheap and cheerful one).
So two questions:

1. Am I starting too young?
2. Does anyone know about sterilising these cups or suggestions for sippy cups that you can sterilise? I’ve looked for information From the manufacturers but couldn’t find very much at all. Of course this won’t be an issue when he is on cows milk but what do people do before that?

Thank you.

Just to add we use Mam bottles currently and sterilise them in the microwave but do have Milton for other things.

You can use cups at any age. Some babies go from breast to cup never using a bottle.

And you don't need to sterilise from 6m. Just wash the cups in hot soapy water.

I was advised to sterilise bottles up until 12 months old- I don’t understand why it would be different for a sippy cup.

Hi OP,
I believe it’s because bottles and teats are harder to clean so need to be sterilised.
The article below seems to also suggest that

www.babycentre.co.uk/x554846/when-can-i-stop-sterilising-my-babys-bottles

[quote June628]Hi OP,
I believe it’s because bottles and teats are harder to clean so need to be sterilised.
The article below seems to also suggest that

www.babycentre.co.uk/x554846/when-can-i-stop-sterilising-my-babys-bottles[/quote]
Agree with this.

From weening age I wouldn't bother sterilising anything else, sippy cup included

Weaning* even!

Nhs says sterilise until 1 year old and it's fine to sterilise the TT cups. We used to have them in the Milton vats in the nursery but sure they'd be fine in a steamer too

www.nhs.uk/conditions/pregnancy-and-baby/sterilising-bottles/

Bottle sterilization advice is aimed at the lowest common denominator. Many people don’t or can’t wash bottles with hot water and soap after every use and so everyone is told to sterilize. I never sterilized the bottles DS used for expressed milk.

Sounds like you're doing great! Ditch the bottles as soon as you can is my view. As for sterilising, a hot dishwasher/sink wash will be fine. As others have said, its the shape of the teats that normally causes the issues

@PrayingandHoping thanks I’ll go with that to be safe. We have loads of Milton left from when I had to sterilise my pump when I was expressing so have it already.

I used a tommee tipee cup for dd until she was about 2 for her nighttime milk and they absolutely stink after a couple of days even with really thorough washing, so I would definitely sterilise them in Milton because I don't think it's possible to get all of the milk out of the spout part with just washing. I'm not precious about germs etc but the stench was stomach turning so God knows how many bacteria are in there

I did this at about 11 months. She had one milk feed in a sippy cup and the rest in bottles. Eventually she just dropped the bottles. Sterilising wise I just washed them in hot soapy water but sometimes if I had left the milk in the cup for a few hours I used milton to give it a proper clean. At this point I was giving her water from the tap as it was summer time so I figured not sterilising the cup was ok (but i always stabilised the bottles)

I also weaned onto sippy cups around 9/10 months, initally just the day time bottles, I then removed the bottles entirely for the bedtime feeds too when DS was just turned 1. I found it worked well this way.

Just a suggestion- babies shake their cups and spray stuff everywhere. I would keep the stinky milk in the bottle, have water in the cup until he's a lot older!

If you want to cut down on bottles, add formula to his food.

You need to sterilise for as long as the baby is on formula, due to the bacteria that can be in it. Once the baby is on cows milk then you don't need to sterilise any more

You don't need to sterilise water cups or bowls/cutlery etc though

@picklemewalnuts

I wouldn't say that's the best advice.

Bottles should be gone by 1, so 10 months is a great age to start weaning off.

Formula in food?! Or just the simple vitamins...

I have to say, my DD was on formula til about 15 months. When I started weaning her off it at 1ish she really didnt do well; tired, didnt seem to be learning much, quite run down. I was so surprised as she has a fantastic diet (much better than me). The minute I put her back on the formula she was much better. I slowly weaned her off it from about 15 months. Some kids take longer to come off it, so just do it in your own babys time. 1 isnt a rule, the same as a baby being ready for weaning bang on 6 months, or crawling by a year, or walking by 18 months, isnt a rule.

[quote 2155User]@picklemewalnuts

I wouldn't say that's the best advice.

Bottles should be gone by 1, so 10 months is a great age to start weaning off.

Formula in food?! Or just the simple vitamins...[/quote]
I had babies and toddlers that couldn’t take the volume of milk, so was encouraged to add the extra scoops into mashed fruit, potato etc. Tots with food intolerances (the milk was disgusting). Baby with a cleft palate, weaned early.
Foster carer, looked after a fair few, had to try various different ways.

Thanks everyone. Think I will sterilise the Tommy tippee ones with Milton just to be on the safer side.
I know there is a risk of him up ending the milk everywhere but I do want to encourage him off the bottles for his teeth and development as suggested. I don’t want to reduce the amount of milk as he is having as he is having what they suggest as a guideline.
I don’t sterilise his other stuff- just his bottles now and preciously just my pumping stuff which was a pain (expressing every feed as he couldn’t latch despite lots of reviews.) Thanks again.

@Findahouse21

I used a tommee tipee cup for dd until she was about 2 for her nighttime milk and they absolutely stink after a couple of days even with really thorough washing, so I would definitely sterilise them in Milton because I don't think it's possible to get all of the milk out of the spout part with just washing. I'm not precious about germs etc but the stench was stomach turning so God knows how many bacteria are in there

The small Munchkin brushes designed to clean sippy cups sorts my sons out (he currently drinks a little breastmilk from his).

And thanks for the tip of starting with switching out one feed at a time. Was going to start with his afternoon one as he takes the least then anyway and it is close to dinner.

@picklemewalnuts

Christ, I never even knew you could do that! I thought because of the fact it needs to be sterilised in boiling water it wouldn't be allowed. How silly of me!

Stirred into scalding food, I guess. Mind you, the sterilising the powder business is new. Last time I made a bottle, we could carry the powder in a mini pot to add to the cooled bottle immediately before feeding. And in the states they made it with water straight from the tap (providing the tap water was good quality) 😱

If your going to put milk in the sippy cups you can get little pipe cleaner brushes from Amazon that clean through the holes I found that milk built up really easily in the cups and because it's milk I would still
Sterilise until they are 12. Good luck - I spent a fortune finding the right cup for him 😂