- Did you know that the first cup
you should be introducing to your baby
at six months of age is actually an open cup?
So it's a cup without a lid, not a sippy cup.
I know you might be thinking
but there's gonna be so much mess
and what about the constant clothes changing,
but stay tuned as we talk about
why the open cup or a straw cup
is a preferred cup in comparison to the sippy cup
and also what features you need to look out for
when you're choosing a cup for your little one.
But before we do make sure you click on that
free PDF document in the description box below,
which covers the developmental milestones
you can be expecting for your little one
in their first year of life.
This will give you an invaluable peace of mind
as you'll know what to be expecting
and when to be concerned.
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So when should you introduce your baby to a cup,
if that is an open cup, a straw cup or a sippy cup?
You should be doing that at six months of age
when you are first introducing solids.
The aim of this first six months,
so from six months to 12 months of age,
is for your baby to develop the skill to drink from a cup.
It isn't to replace bottle or breastfeeding.
The reason you would start at six months of age
is that your baby becomes proficient in this skill
so that at 12 months of age, when you stop bottle feeding,
they are gonna be able to drink from a cup really well.
Now that we know the age that we can introduce cups,
let's cover the three different cups
that you can use with babies.
So that is the open cup, the straw cups or a sippy cup.
So open cups are the preferred cups to use with the baby
and that is because it aids in the development
of a mature swallow.
So when using your open cup your baby's tongue is elevated
and it's the tip of the tongue is touching the roof
of the mouth just behind the teeth.
What that does is when the liquid enters their mouth
it encourages the tongue to do a wave-like motion
to move the liquid from the front of the mouth
to the back, which would then result in a swallow.
Now what's amazing is when babies are introduced
to the open cup at around six months of age,
generally most babies can handle open cups well
with minimum spillage from nine to 12 months of age.
Now when choosing an open cup for your baby
the very first thing is you want to look
at cups that are small.
So you can see that this is a standard kind of cup
for children compared to a shot glass for my out
my coffee machine.
Basically the shot glass is the ideal size to use
with the baby because it is a smaller rim,
so they're going to be able to put that to their mouth
and swallow the liquid really easily,
compared to a larger cup where the rim is so large
that they're not gonna have great lip seal
and the water's gonna run around their mouth.
It's like holding a bucket up to your mouth as an adult
and expecting us to swallow it really well.
So do try and get a small cup.
The benefit of a small cup is a baby's hands
can easily wrap around it so they're able to hold it
without handles and they can bring it up to their mouth.
Another benefit of having a small cup
is the amount of liquid you could put in the cup
is really reduced so there isn't gonna be a lot of spillage.
And then the baby doesn't need to tilt the cup
significantly to get that liquid into their mouth.
So it's a lot easier for them to manage and control.
In addition to the size of the cup,
you also wanna look at what the cup is made from.
Having cups which have a softer rim,
so made from silicon, might be more beneficial
for your little one, particularly with these
kind of glass ones, 'cause when your baby brings it up
to their mouth if they rush that movement,
it might hit their gum and it might cause a little pain,
particularly if they're teething and the silicon cups
are quite easy for them to put to their mouth
and not cause that pain
and also munch on if they are teething.
Now, if you are keen to get an open cup for your baby
there are commercially available baby feeding cups
such as the EZPZ Tiny Cup.
I'll link it in the cryption box below.
But basically this is a silicon cup
that's really small in size.
It was made by a pediatric feeding specialist
and it's something that your baby will be able to
easily lift and bring to their mouth
and control the water and fluid intake.
If you're not quite ready for your baby
to drink from an open cup then you can get training cups,
which mimic drinking from an open cup,
but are spill resistant.
So these include the Munchkin Miracle 360 Cup,
which you can use from six months of age.
Or you've got the Phillips Advent Grown-up Cup,
which you can use from 12 months of age.
So what these cups do is basically
there's a valve that is released
when your baby puts their mouth
on the edge of the bottle, so on the rim.
It basically pushes that valve open
and then the liquid will come out.
And when they remove their lips from it
the liquid will stop coming out of the cup.
What is fantastic is that it doesn't matter
where your baby tries to activate the cup,
it's going to open that valve
and the water or the liquid is going to come out.
So it's reinforcing your baby's use of this cup
because they are actually getting some form of liquid
whenever they're using it.
Now, straw cups are also a preferred option
in comparison to sippy cups and that is again
because they encourage that mature swallow.
And that's because when your baby puts their lips
around the straw you'll see firstly
that they close their lips, so they get that lip seal,
but their tongue goes to the top of their mouth
so that it's the tip of it's just resting behind the teeth,
and then they use a wave-like motion
to move the liquid from the front of the mouth
to the back of their mouth, which is that mature swallowing.
The other benefit of straw cups
is that they are spill resistant
so parents do tend to really enjoy these cups.
So when choosing a straw cup for your little one
what you wanna do is ensure that the straw
is really flexible and soft and that means that
when your baby uses it their tongue is able to
still touch the tip of their, the roof of their mouth.
Whereas if it was a really firm straw
they wouldn't be able to do that.
It would kind of press the tongue down in their mouth
when they're trying to use it.
The other really great thing for these straw cups
is ensuring that there is a weighted straw at the bottom.
So see the bottom here, there's a weight
at the end of the straw.
And that just ensures that no matter where
your baby tilts the bottle, there's still that weight
is still gonna be in the water and they're still
gonna be able to get some water out of that bottle.
So I really enjoyed using this straw cup with my son.
It's the Munchkin Click Lock Weighted Straw Cup
but there are lots of other varieties,
which I will include in the description box below.
And lastly, you have the sippy cups.
So the sippy cup is traditionally a plastic cup,
which had a screwed on lid or a plastic lid
and a firm spout.
The reason these are not the preferred cups to use
with babies is because they encourage your baby
to continue to use that sucking motion,
to get the liquid out of the cup.
And that's because the firm spout stops your baby's tongue
from being able to reach the roof of their mouth
and use that wave-like motion to draw the liquid
back and swallow.
What they need to do is they hit it with their tongue
but because they can't put their tongue
on the roof of their mouth,
they continue to kind of use a sucking motion
to withdraw the liquid.
It is because of this that the general recommendation
is that parents skip using a sippy cup altogether
and go straight to using an open cup or a straw cup.
However, if you are wanting to use a sippy cup
what you wanna look for is ensure that your sippy cup
has a soft spout, but not like this, which is really hard.
You want it to be soft so that your baby's tongue
may be able to kind of squeeze it
and kinda get close to the roof of their mouth
when they're trying to suck the liquid out of it.
So those are the reasons why an open cup
is a preferred cup to use with your little one
or a straw cup and just avoid that sippy cup completely.
But if you do have one already, don't worry about it.
You can continue to use it.
Just try and think about introducing a open cup
or a straw cup during meal times
with the view that you will fade out that sippy cup
and move to the open cup or the straw cup.
Or you can just take the lid off your sippy cup
if it's one like this, and you'll be able to use this cup
as an open cup with your little one.
Make sure you click on that free PDF document
in the description box below and hopefully
I'll see you next week where I'll share
more parenting tips and tricks.
(upbeat music)