Sippy Cups! - Lakewood,OH

I think it's still a little bit early. At that age it takes a lot of practice for them to learn things that involve fine motor skills. Just keep putting it where she can give it a try now and then; and sooner or later she'll get the hang of it!

Hello A.,
I only get on here from time to time so I son't go back and read everyone's respose.
I am wondering who gave you the impression a 9m should be drinking from a sippy on there own?????????
Every child is diffrent and 9m is still YOUNG. Sippy's are very diffrent than a bottle. Mine didn't manage a sippy sucessesful til almost 11m. Try her on a Nuby brand one vs a hard spout one. This worked for us.
Remember they will do things on there OWN pace dont sweat the small stuff.
Good Luck :)

Maybe she's not ready!!!!

Hi A.,

If it makes you feel any better my youngest daughter is almost 13 months old and won't hold her own sippy. She CAN hold it, but 99% of the time she chooses not to. I think she enjoys our snuggle sessions when I hold it for her. My doctor said not to worry about it so at the moment I am not.

A.,

You're kidding, right? Nine months old and you expect her to feed herself? Babies are supposed to be nurtured, not tossed in a corner to fend for themselves. There's this little thing called bonding that is supposed to occur while babies are held and fed. Infants need to be cuddled, held, and given to understand that the adult in their life will take care of them. There is plenty of time later for her to hold her own cup, etc.

Read www.askdrsears.com if you have other baby questions, because he and his wife have excellent advice about raising children.

Let your baby be a baby while she can.

Best wishes,
K.

Hello A.. I am recently new to this mom's group and I get very discouraged when I read responses where other mom's browbash other mothers. In my opinion, what you do out of love you can't do wrong. Alwyas remember that, if nothing else.
With my six month old daughter I will let her have her cup when she is in her exer-saucer. It is the cup I received from the visiting nurse at the Health Department, it is like a sippy cup but if you turn it upside down the water drips out. When she is thristy I hold it for her, but when she is playing I let her have the cup and she gets it up to her mouth but for only a second. I would try getting a cup that drips water out without having to suck on it and help her when she is thirsty, but give it to her when she isn't thirsty. I think it might be easier for her to get the hang of it when she isn't so thirsty. Best of luck!

My daughter did the same thing. I just kept trying every other day, and after awhile she finally picked it up. She was between 11 and 12 months when this happened. Just give yourself time, and believe me, you are not doing anything wrong. One of these days she will come around and just decide to start using it. My daughter is 15 months old now and has no problems at all. Good luck!!

Both my son and daughter had problems with sippy cups. I mean we tried everything. I couldn't get them interested in a cup. They had been nursed but I didn't want dependence on a bottle.

We found these Munchkin cups. They have straws. Not hard ones but a soft ones. it is great no crushed straws. Our daughter 17 months, she loves to pull on the straw with her teeth. The straw has a cover that comes over it. The straw is in two pieces. A heavy one for in the cup and a bendy like one on the top. It has handles on the side of the cup. They are wonderful.

I gave both of my kids forks, spoons, and cups starting at five months, just to play with and get used to. The First Years brand make cups with no plunger and two handles on each side. They look like just plastic and they have a different colored lid with just a slit in the sippy part. It is VERY easy to get drinks out of! Start with that. The more she practices, the easier it will be to drink out of the more spill-resistant sippy cups. Also, have you thought about trying the kind with straws. Those are fun and easy to drink from also. Just a thought. Good luck! You are right though...don't give in to her. She can do it!!!

Don't worry My son just started holding his own and he is 13 months. He wouldn't even take a sippy until 10 months and by 10 1/2 months he was off the bottle and loved sippys. He loves the Gerber kind that looks like bottles. They also have a cap on them like bottles. I bought them at walmart. Some have handles some don't. Good Luck

She just fine..... My youngest wouldn't even sit on her own until she was almost 9 mos.... So, don't rush her... If she's your 1st (and even if not) take advantage of every moment you have to do something for them/with them.... They grow so quickly, and before you know it she won't want/need you doing anything for her and you'll miss it all!!!!!

Enjoy your sweet baby girl while she still relies so heavily on you for comfort, food, and sleep. Enjoy every moment of holding her while nursing/bottle/sippy feeding! Those days disappear so incredibly quickly and you wonder how your little girl suddenly seems so big and grown up... :)

So my advice? Slow down. Your daughter is still a little baby - she's only 9 months old, right? Very, very few babies that age can or (even should be, on a regular basis) holding her own bottle or sippy cup. Also "bottle propping" is never recommended (where your baby can't hold it, but something other than a human hand is used to prop the bottle up into her mouth).

Please don't feel rushed into your daughter holding her own sippy or bottle. You're her mom - it's the parents' job (dad's too!) to nurture her while feeding, holding the bottle, cuddling her, taking the time to just BE with her. That's where they learn trust the most - the more times you repeat it with them (being there for them, helping them when they truly, developmentally need help with it!) in these first years, the better!

Also, to the speech therapist who lumped bottle & sippy cup feeding in with breast feeding when it comes to complex sucking actions - getting milk from the breast and drinking from a cup BOTH require more complex muscle coordination than sippy or bottle feeding. Preemies are often encouraged to cup-feed until they're strong enough to breast feed because the muscles developed are so similar. So if any breastfeeding moms are reading this, don't worry about your child's speech!!! In fact, rest assured that there is only evidence that speech is *positively* affected by breast feeding, not negatively, regardless of how long your baby or toddler nurses:

Breastfeeding and Speech Development
http://www.kellymom.com/bf/normal/speech-development.html

Hi-
I found sippy cups from Gerber that were a little smaller than the standard and angled at the top I think they are called sipsters I have had a little bit of a hard time finding them but Walmart does have them when they are in stock, my son is 1 and still prefers them and has a little trouble with the normal sized ones with the straight top. Good luck.

Does she hold her own bottle yet? I didn't start my son on sippy cups till he was close to a year old. And he still wasn't sure of them. Don't push the issue, she's still young yet. She will do it when she's ready.

Hi A.....
Both of my children were the same way. We purchased a cup with handles and immediatly they BOTH grabbed right ahold. That lasted about a week and then they figured out the cups without handles.

No worries! :-)

M.

I wouldn't worry about it A., my daughter is 11 months and she didn't hold her own bottle till she was 10 months. I'm trying to get her to move to a sippy cup, she holds it but hasn't been able to figure out how to get drink out of it. My sister has a 2 year old and told me she didn't figure out a sippy cup till 14 months. So just keep trying but she'll figure it out in her own time.

S.

I would take him to the store and let him pick out his own sippy cup, when he does make a big deal about it. Tell him how great the cup is. When he wants something to drink say hey lets get that cool cup, make another big deal about it. When you go away say hey let take that cup. Just make that cup the greatest thing in the world.

My son wouldn't hold his own for about 11 months. One day he just did. My brother was for ever handing it to him and then would let it frop if he didn't hold it. He did this EVERYTIME they were together. We would also put his hands on it when we were holding it so he could "Feel" how to do it. He is 15 months old now and he still refuses to tip his head back when he drinks so the liquid will move forward. Nuby has a great cup that we got at Walmart. It is a no spill and has a "straw". (FOr when she does decide to hold it). Sounds like you just have a little booger like me!!! :)

Most kids that age do not hold a sippy or bottle, mine didn't either until I got these pepsi and 7up bottles that were just right for them tiny hands.
I posted here 2 weeks ago in hopes of finding these bottles and a couple here found some on ebay auctions.
So I bought them and gave them to my neice and within 15 minutes her daughter of 8 months took charge and for the first time held her bottle and fed herself.
You see, them sippy cups and baby bottles are just to darned heavy and bulky for kids under the age of 13 months or so.
If you can find the bottles I am referring to then you will be in luck.
I wrote the company who had them and they don't make or stock them any more.
I told them they should.
Someone could make a small fortune if they were to start a line of such a bottle.
At least in my opinion they could seeing so many can't hold them at their age.
The company who made them was here:
http://munchkin.com/

Maybe more requests to them may be a plus to get them to make them again.
The ebay auction I won to look at these bottles is here
http://cgi.ebay.com/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&rd=1&am...

They were for bubbles here in the listing, so I removed the bubbles thing and they like the ones I had originally.

I just found this deal on ebay for you if you shop ebay
2 days 18 hours left when i posted this
http://cgi.ebay.com/SODA-BABY-BOTTLES-PEPSI-DIET-DR-PEPPE...
R.

A.,
First of all congrats on your engagement! About the sippy, your daughter is still young, this is a learning phase for her. She is very used to having everything done for her. Be patient and persistant and it will come, I promise. If her sippy cups have the hard spout you may want to try one with a soft spout until she gets used to it. Its just a little more like a bottle or nipple. I have 3 and sometimes I still get frustrated with that stuff. good Luck and enjoy every minute your daughter wants you to do things for her because before you know it she will be 4 or 5 and want to do EVERYTHING by herself.
D.

Hi A.,
I have a couple pieces of advice for you. I am a speech-language pathologist and we work with babies and children to improve feeding, and speech and language development. Something a lot of parents don't know is that it is best if babies drink liquids while either sitting up or with their heads elevated. The reason is that we all have a tube in the back of our throats that leads to space in our ears. The anatomy of this tube in infants and young children is different than in adults in that it runs horizontally, rather than sloping downward. Because of this, bottle-feeding and/or drinking should be performed with the infants’ head elevated as opposed to lying on their backs, in order to reduce the risk of liquids entering the middle ear space. This prevents ear infections from occuring.

Also, recent research has found that the use of sippy cups MAY cause children to have speech problems, especially with the "s", "th", and "sh" sounds. The reason for this is when children drink from a bottle, breast, or sippy cup they perform something speech therapists refer to as a suckle-swallow. The tongue lays flat and moves mostly in a back-and-forth pattern. Drinking from a REGULAR cup requires a more complex and mature swallow. The cheeks and lips suck the liquid onto the tongue, then the tongue squeezes, lifts and propels the water down the throat. That action helps build the muscles required for proper speech.

From what I've read and learned never let your baby drink anything while laying on her back and try to avoid using sippy cups. A better alternative are the cups with straws that have coverings over the straw tops. Straws help strengthen the tongue for both eating, drinking, and speech.

Don't stress so much!! Every child is different! you say she's doing great on everything except this, right!? I've never seen a teenager w/ her mom holding her cup for her, so I think she'll get it sooner or later! She sounds very impatient to me. Getting frustrated quickly, so maybe she really neds to work on patience not co-ordination! Honestly, there are really so many other things to stress about, so try to relax and enjoy your blessing!! Keep an eye on her and try to help it along, but don't stress too much!

Hi A.,
I would suggest to take it easy on yourself. All babies progress at different rates, Savannah will hold her sippy cup when she is ready. Please don't stress about missing something in her life, just focus on enjoying what she is doing now.

BTW Savannah and I share the same bday. Except I'm 40 years older. And I love your name....lol... I have a 20 year old daughter named A. and she has a beautiful son who is 6 months old.

Take care and enjoy that little one.

S.