My not-quite-6-month old son wants to drink from a normal cup--If I am holding him and drinking something, he will reach for the cup, put his mouth on the rim, etc. He also tries to drink out of the container I use to rinse him at bath time.
It is OK to give him a training/sippy cup every now and then? And what's best to put in it--water or formula?
He is partially breastfed, but mostly has bottles. I would continue with breast and bottle for meals, but was thinking that he might enjoy having the cup at other times. Just so he can practice. Would introducing a cup mess up his bottle and/or breast feeding?
Anonymous2010-05-17T11:39:58Z
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That is actually good that he is trying to drink from that already. It won't hurt at all to put water or diluted juice in a sippy cup for him every now and then. I wouldn't put formula in there though. It might be harder to ween him off the formula later if he is used to it in the sippy cup.
Some parents do choose to introduce a sippy cup at this age. It is recommended by a year of age your baby is off bottles completley and on a sippy cup. Your baby will likely just play with the cup at first, because the only reason he wants your cup is because he sees you using it.
I would put formula in the sippy cup. At this age water can still be tricky as an excess of water can lead to a dangerous electrolye imbalance and it's not always easy to tell what is an excess of water for you baby. And for that reason I'd hold off on the juice until 8 months. Because if you offer juice it is best to dilute it 1/4 juice to 3/4 water.
But talk to your baby's doctor about offering water and juice at this stage before you do, just to be safe.
Perfectly fine. My daughter will be 6 months old tomorrow and I just gave her her first sippy cup yesterday b/c she is constantly grabbing my water. I put water in it. She's getting more than enough breast milk so I'm not concerned w/ her having some water here and there. My youngest son was doing the same thing at 5 months old and that's when I started giving him water in a cup also.
I breastfeed and that is great that your baby wants to use a big boy cup. I gave one to my daughter and just put a little water in it, just so she could see the cause and effect of drinking out of cup. If you want to use juice use 100% juices and add water to dilute it, anything the baby is already drinking is fine to put in a big boy cup. Babies don't really need much water and too much could do more harm than good. They get most of their water intake from breastfeeding or formula. When introducing more solid foods (which around 6 months is a good time to start with baby foods) babies might need more liquids so they don't get constipated. My daughter was fully breastfed and I gave her 1/2 juice 1/2 water in about the amount of 2 ounces and gave it to her with her afternoon snacks. Sometimes she didn't drink even an ounce, but if the baby is thirsty you will know. Good Luck!
at the beginning sippy cups fairly do no longer supply plenty earnings over bottles. they're appropriate with speech issues and dental issues, and would fairly be worse than bottles because of fact a minimum of a few attempt has long previous into making bottle nipples a shape it is way less possibly to reason stress on the jaw. Sippy cups are purely meant to be a stepping stone between bottle and cup, and that they are actually not even that great of a stepping stone because of fact you will desire to tip (maximum) of them up like a bottle, doing that with a cup would not artwork. Now I do use sippy cups, i'm no longer ideal. My son likes to toss his cups and that i'm no longer cleansing up a multitude a million circumstances an afternoon. yet he does use genuine cups at nutrients. try a real cup, its plenty much less problematical for some toddlers. of course a smaller cup, it is easy, in all probability with handles. Or try the type of sippy cup with a straw. or you will get grownup cups that have a complicated plastic "straw" that comes up from the backside of the cup, no longer spill info yet in specific circumstances greater handy to bathe. If using a sippy cup with a valve evaluate eliminating it on the commencing as much as make it greater handy to get liquid. the reality that its slipping from between his the teeth sounds to me like he's biting it, which you would be able to try a complicated spouted sippy cup rather. additionally try a typical activities bottle with a spout.