6 month old DD & sippy cups

[katiegolightly]

I've got a couple of sippy cups, one with a soft rubbery sucky bit and one with hard plastic sucky bit. We've tried with water for about a month, and I know she is still young but she just hasn't got it yet. I'm concerned because she is on 3 meals a day now and is increasingly showing disinterest in breastfeeding through the day. morning and night feeds are not so bad but all feeds are much much shorter now - maybe only 5 minutes if we are lucky.

I've also tried helping her with a regular cup but she just sticks her tongue in it and laps at the water.

Does anyone have any cup / beaker recommendations particularly for young ones? She used to have the odd bottle of expressed milk but otherwise is only used to the breast.

I swear by the Tommee Tippee sippy cups. They aren't too expensive - about £2 (?). Well, they were the only ones which my two DDs would take. The "non spill" ones were awful - it seemed like they couldn't get anything out.

DD didn't 'get' the cup thing for ages.

DS (6mo) likes to tip his water over the table.

Don't worry, we're using a Tommee Tippee lidded beaker as we did with DD. We tried a doidy cup but that was a disaster!

He will get it in the end!

Thanks everyone. I tried taking the valve thing out of one of them (even I thought the suck action was quite hard) but as she still can't figure out how to hold it and tip her head back to drink (after all, she doesn't have to with the boob). So I tipped it back for her and soaked her through :/

Will go have a look for the Tommee Tippee one, thanks!

My DD didn't seem to get the idea of a sippy cup so I just took the lid off a Tommee Tippee one. Like you said, they just lap at the water like a cat initially (this is fine, they are still taking some in) but they do then learn how to sip. My 10 month DD is an expert with an open cup now. Obviously I do have to hold it steady for her.

I guess I'm just comparing to how much milk she has been getting - and now with the water she'll barely be able to drink an ounce, bit worried about her getting dehydrated.

If your DD is bf, especially EBF, then free flow cups are the way to go. It's very hard for them to understand that water comes out if she sucks on a soft plastic thing. All the bf mums I know swears by the tommee tippee flip top one
www.tommeetippee.co.uk/product/first_cup_4_months_/

After you got one of these free flow cups, just offer it every meal and let them work of out. For my DD she started with tipping the water out and blowing bubbles inside before actually drinking any decen amount from it. I think it is about 10mo before she will pick up the cup herself and sip a largish amout of water. At 12mo I started giving her cows milk in the same beaker and she could drink 70-100ml from it in one go.

Just persevere and it will happen.

The link, properly this time
www.tommeetippee.co.uk/product/first_cup_4_months_/

Good tip OneLittleToddlingTerror - the Tommee Tippee one is now on order and we will keep practicing! Now she's just picking which meals to refuse... and so it continues

My dd only 'got' the Tommy Tippee sippy cup today. For the last two weeks I have given her sips from an Evian bottle (poncey but true) as for some reason she was really happy with it. Then tonight I poured water from the TT and something just 'clicked' in her head.

Try a freeflow cup? Messier but she lover the idea more quickly

dd loves the tommy tippie soft spout cup. i think its called a tip and sip. we use that for water and the doidy/ free flow cups for her milk. trial and error i found!

I liked the Tommee Tippee basic cup but don't get to hung up on dc drinking from a cup, health visitors sometimes put undue pressure on parents to do this. My son started drinking out of glasses and cups on his own aged about 14 months.

Now my son is older I like the kids on the go by Tommee Tippe with the screw top as you ca control it rather than letting them spill all over the pra and get cold when you are out.

Al these valves are just fiddly to wash.

Please don't delete this as I'm really pleased with my Babycup www.babycup.co.uk

My daughter loves her little cup. She enjoys drinking her milk and water out of it. A great idea. Perfect for her little hands. I'm really impressed with her fine motor skills and drinking.