Are sippy cups ok?

Question

I just gave my 6 month old a sippy cup. My co-worker who has a daughter that same age as mine heard it was bad to give a sippy cup. Anyone else hear anything like that?

Answer 1

You are supposed to limit non-breastmilk/formula intake to less than 2oz per day at that age. There is a possibility that a baby will take too much water or juice from a sippy cup and it will interfere with getting adequate nutrition which should largely be from breastmilk/formula.

However I try not to freak out over the whole thing and let my baby regulate the amount of water he gets (I do not give anything but water in a sippy cup, personal choice). I just monitor his feedings. So long as he is breastfeeding enough I leave him be.

Other than that there are no problems. Afterall they cup (Not sippy just a small cup) feed newborns in the hospital (I cup fed mine). Generally cupfeeding is preferred over bottles in breastfed babies.

So keeping in mind that too much water or juice is bad for a baby feel free to offer a sippy cup. In fact a small amount of water (or an unlimited amount of breastmilk/formula) offered with solids may help prevent constipation.

Answer 2

The general advice is that a sippy cup should be transitional, if used at all. Babies can learn to drink from a regular cup, but the actions/skills are different from a sippy cup. Usually, it's best to teach a baby to drink from a regular cup first (with your help, of course), and to let them use a sippy cup once they can do this. I'm not a fanatic; I agree sippy cups have their place (ie. if they're drinking in, say, the car or something), but, in general, babies should be taught to drink from a regular cup, and sippy cup use should be restricted to designated meal/snack times, and, even then, it's "better" to use a regular cup.
However, the "bad" thing is when a kid drinks anything other than water from a sippy cup all day long. It has the same effect as bottles...tooth decay. When a kid uses a sippy cup, the top six teeth are covered with whatever fluid is in the cup. If it's something that has sugar (just about anything except water...even milk has sugar in it), it can speed/cause tooth decay.
The other issue is that it may be one of the factors in the rising number of obese children; parents are often unaware of exactly how much juice/milk their children are drinking in a day when they just keep refilling the sippy cup. If you can keep track of what's going in, and when, then it's probably not too much of a problem, outside of the tooth decay.

Answer 3

I'm not a mother myself, but I've been working with kids for a while now and there's nothing wrong with sippy cups. My only advice is to make sure the sippy cup has a stopper in it (they're removeable and don't come in the throw-away versions) so that your baby doesn't accidentally swallow too much liquid at a time. Not all infants will even take a sippy cup at that age, so if your baby wants to I think that's wonderful.

Answer 4

You're supposed to be teaching them how to drink from a cup, I used sippy cups from about 8 months because I was breastfeeding and my girls had no interest in a bottle (except to put the nipple in their mouth and laugh and laugh - I still don't know why that's funny). I always took out the no-spill valves though, if they have to suck on the cup to get anything they're not learning about drinking from a cup, they're drinking from a modified bottle. I also mixed the sippy cup with a regular cup so they would learn faster. I still use sippy cups occasionally with my 3 year old so that she doesn't spill apple juice on the carpet or in the car. But she can drink out of a cup (or stemware for that matter).

Answer 5

My sister started giving her son a sippy cup at 9 months. Don't worry sippy cups are not bad...its a part of a transitional phase. They go from a bottle to a sippy cup to cups with straws. It only matters if you think its bad and decide you don't want to give your child a sippy cup. Don't worry your doing fine!

Answer 6

Sippy cups are the next step from bottles, so i don't see why they would be bad. I started introducing them to my kids around 8 months old, after they had tipping skills and could manage to tip them up for drinks. I don't see anything wrong with a sippy if your child can handle drinking from one. All the easier to ditch the bottles when the time comes!

Answer 7

I gave my daughter a sippy cup at 4 months and her pedictrician thought it was great! The earlier the better.

Answer 8

Sippy cups are great...for a while.
The time you give a real cup depends on the child and the time of day.

My oldest daughter was always very prissy and neat about her food and drink. Her cups were always upright and sitting on the coffee table if she wasn't drinking from them. I gave her a real, plastic cup at meal times at about 18 months of age. All other waking times, she had a sippy with water available to her, until about 2 1/2. It was more of a parent convenience to not have to deal with spills all the time (and it still is with my youngest!).

My youngest daughter (now 19 months) is very tomboyish, I guess. She doesn't really care if her cup is upright or upside-down at the table. I don't know when she'll be big enough to handle a "big-girl" cup, but I'm not even close to being concerned about it yet. I'm more concerned about leading as example. She will pick it up in time.

The problem occurs with sippys (and it usually starts with bottles), in the bed with the child. Water occasionally for a teething or fussy baby is ok, but constant milk (or juice) in the bed can lead to tooth decay and gum disease. The liquid sits in the mouth all nap or nighttime and just grows.

Sippy cups at this age are great at mealtimes. I'm sure your 6 month old is still on baby-food, and it helps to teach them use a real cup. I have heard from other parents that they just helped them drink out of a real cup at meal times, and that's okay too.

But a constant supply of water in between meals is a very good thing for a child And anything that gets the job done without me having to wipe up water in between scrubbing toilets is a good thing for me!

Answer 9

It's fine. My kid's Dr said to start them on sippy cups about 6 months, but remember, at that age they're not getting much out of a cup, they still need to nurse or get bottles. This age it's about learning how to use them.

Answer 10

I am a mother of 2, and a grandmother of 2. I have never heard anything bad about sippy cups. You'd just have to make sure that the amount of liquid coming out won't be too much for one swallow, or that, well, it wouldn't happen yet, but you have to watch to make sure the child doesn't pull the top off.