Advice on sipper cups

[AlsOne]

Hi there
My lo is 5.5 month and from what I have read, when I start my lo on solids in a few weeks time, i should also introduce a sipper cup at the same time. I have a couple of questions about this :

1) My dr told me that I don't need to give my baby water coz he gets enough from my breast milk - so what exactly do I put in the sipper cup? And how much?

2) I am not sure if we are allowed to mention brand names on this site, but I wanted some advice on which sort of cup to use. As with everything else baby there are so many different sorts out there. Should it be one like a teat, then transition to a spout then to a straw? or just a non spill spout?

Thanks in advance,
Alison

[Casseopea]

I didn't introduce a sippy cup to my son until he was a year old.  And then I just made the complete transition from bottles to sippy cups so I mainly put milk in it.  But I don't really think there is a problem with offering your lo water as long as he isn't drinking so much that he cuts back on the amount of milk he is drinking.  We went through almost all of the different types of sippy cups out there to determine what worked best for my lo.  Eventually it turned out that he did better with straw sippys than with the ones with spouts.  There are sippys out there that are non-spill in both spout and straw (though they still leak at least a little) as well as ones that allow more of a flow.  I would start with a non-spill style just because of the mess the others make.  And your best bet is just to get a style and try it out for a while and if it doesn't work then try another style.   

[Peek-a-boo]

There's really no reason that you need to introduce a sippy cup when you start solids.  I did.  As with all things related to starting solid foods, at first it's really just an activity, for experimentation and exposure to new things.  I put water in the cup and DS mostly chewed on it, lol.  He got very little water. 

If you decide to introduce a sippy cup, I would put water or expressed breast milk in the sippy cup.  You don't need to give a bf baby water, as breast milk provides all the hydration baby needs, but the little that he manages to get out of the sippy cup shouldn't interfere with anything--it will just facilitate the learning opportunity of the sippy cup. 

I personally really liked Gerber cups--they had a short one with handles that DS was able to manage well at a young age.  Best of all, they are the best for not leaking of all the cups I've tried.

I think, however, that you'll likely need to experiment with different cups to find one that best suits your LO. 

[AlsOne]

Hi thanks for replies.
I think i read on here somewhere that if you are breastfeeding and your lo has teeth then you shouldn't get a cup with a spout that needs to be checwed to release the liquid - is this right? has anyone had any experience with this?

[Jolamo]

Sorry to jump in but I have heard that straw cups tend to be best for BF babies - who makes these please?

Thanks

[~*~Little Miss Sunshine~*~]

Sorry to jump in but I have heard that straw cups tend to be best for BF babies - who makes these please?

Thanks

DS LOVES his straw cup!  I tried him on all sorts of sippys before I tried a straw cup.  He wanted nothing to do with sippys - but the straw cup was a big hit (he was bf'd for 13.5 months).  It was recommended to me by ds's ped to put water in the sippy.  It lets your LO get used to something other than milk and water is so very important in life!! 

These are the kind ds uses - the straw is a bit thinker than a normal straw so it was easier for ds to handle
http://www.amazon.com/Nuby-12-oz-Mega-Sipper/dp/B000LK6KOO/ref=pd_bbs_4?ie=UTF8&s=baby-products&qid=1218371191&sr=8-4

[Casseopea]

Those are the same straw sippys that we use- I found that they leaked the least.  I found that the hardest thing my lo had to learn about straw sippys was that unlike the bottle and a spout sippy he didn't need to tip the straw sippy to drink it.

We also use these cups at mealtime because they helped him learn how to drink from a cup with a straw that was not leakproof and they are very similiar to the cups used for kids at restaurants.   http://www.amazon.com/Sesame-Street-oz-Straw-3-pack/dp/B000IG0RAY/ref=sr_1_32?ie=UTF8&s=baby-products&qid=1218383003&sr=1-32  BTW...these cups also come in spout-form and they are great because they are cheap and you can take them with you and then you don't strss when you throw it out because they don't cost much.

[Shdef]

I didn't introduce a sippy cup to my son until he was a year old. 

Ditto. And then one with a soft spout (is that the right word?)

Like this one:

http://www.nuk.de/produkte/mahlzeit/esslern/fctrinklern/trink_und_esslernprogramm.html

It has got a learning spout on it, but is exchangable with the first baby teats. So from 6-12 months he had the learning bottle with handles but a baby teat. then the soft spout after 12 months.

Got rid of it a few weeks ago 

[Freya'sMum]

With sippies, it is best for new starters to be introduced to one without a valve so the the liquid is free-flowing from it, the bite to release liquid concept is really one concept too much for them to grasp I only offered it at mealtimes with some cooled boiled water because in our family it is 'normal' to have water with a meal, so I wanted the girls to have that same experience,

Ax