Strange advice from Tommee Tippee

[StealthPolarBear]

I've just bought a new cup and had a look at the leaflet you get with it (as obviously they are very complicated )

"Health professionals say babies should give up their bottles by the age of one while some even recommend a baby goes straight from the breast to a cup at the age of four or five months."

I'll leave out the rest of the scaremongering about your baby never learning to drink from a cup or getting any coordination unless he has one at the age of four months and just focus on the message about feeding.

Is this worthy of complaint?

It's ridiculous. I was just discussing this with a friend the other day. My daughter (10 months) only has a cup for her water at meals. When we're out I have her water in a bottle and I was feeling guilty about this because of all this scaremongering!!

Then I pulled myself together and said, you know what, she is only a baby once and I'm going to enjoy her. She has great co-ordination. At 10 months is almost ready to walk and is fantastic at finger feeding.....blah blah blah, I won't go on and list all her skills .

So really, I don't care if she likes her botty. I like it too because that's when we have lovely cuddles

You mean it's implying that people should stop breastfeeding at 4-5 months? It reads oddly, certainly. dd and now ds did go straight to cups at 6 mo - for water with meals, alongside continued bf-ing. It should probably be clarified, and the time changed to 6 mo at least.

well yes, both really, there;s the guilt factor - I know some babies are cup fed but surely not many can be completely cup fed at 4 months! Am also very at the whole "give up the bottle by 12 months" thing. On the other hand they're selling cups, so this sort of thing isn't surprising I suppose. Although they sell bottles too, don;t they?
But it is mainly the suggestion that some health professionals say go from breast to cup at 4 months. Yes, OK, you could express but I don't see any reason to recommend that and for them to imply it's good practice is very naughty.

bold was in original, should have said

It's very unclear, so I think it does warrant a complaint SPB. There's enough confusion over weaning/4 months/5 months/bf til 6 months etc as it is.

Christ mine is still on a bottle at 17m. He can drink perfectly well from an open cup - I just prefer not to spend my time mopping...

Anyway - you should complain about them appearing to recommend giving up bf at 4 months.

Which "health professionals"? How vague. And bottle feeding to 12 months is fine but stop bf by 4 months or your child won't be able to drink from a cup? Crazy.

I think Tommy Tippee know as well as the next baby bottle manufacturer that WHO guidelines recommend bf exclusively to 6 months.

Shame on them. I think it's worthy of a complaint.

Yes I would agree it does appear to imply moving on from bfing at 4-5mo.

Tommee Tippee are as well aware of the code as are all the babyfood manufacturers who still persist on putting "from 4 months" on their baby food containers, despite the fact the WHO recommends exclusive breastfeeding for 6 months!

DD has no bottles and is 1 today. She was ebf until 6 months, had 2 bottles of formula per day (with the rest bf) until about 9 or 10 months, and then we began to move her away from the bottles. She does, however, still have a short breastfeed before bed, she has a cup with a silicone spout for cow's milk during the day (was formula) and a freeflow beaker with water at meals.

She was also 3 months premature, so is developmentally like a 9 month old.