Sippies...When do They Really Get Them?

The girls started using sippies when they were about 4 months...not everyday, but just to play around with. Now, they know how to drink from them, but only when they are lying down and they have juice in them. They absolutely will not drink formula from a sippy. When do they really start to get the concept of the sippy? If they are sitting in their high chairs they have to be reclined...they just don't understand how to tip the cup or their heads yet. They know how to hold their bottles but only when lying down...is this a problem? I feel like they should know this stuff already.

 

My older two really understood the concept between 9 and 12 months old, i think you LO are right on track, i remember mine doing the same things at 8 months too, they thought of them more as toys than actaul cups

 

My boys are just now getting the concept that they have to tip the sippy up in order to get a drink. I didn't think they would ever get it and thought we were doomed to use bottles forever We ended up having to find a sippy that worked for them. We use Nuby brand. They have rubber spouts that are similar to a bottle and have handles. Any other kind that just didn't seem to get the suck motion down. My neice has been able to drink from hers for a few weeks and she's about 5 weeks younger than my boys. I think it's just when they get it, they get it type of thing. Just keep offering it to them and showing them how to tip it up. Hope this helps!

 

I first gave them sippies with water in them at 9 months and they had the hang of them around 10 months.

 

I started giving them water in sippies around 9 months and they didn't use them w/out recline until almost a year. I never put formula in them, just waited for milk. They then associated the cups with something new and it was really easy to get rid of bottles.

 

I started giving water in sippies around 6 months (pedi suggestion) and it took two months for my two to really get their purpose. I did not put formula in sippies because I did not want it to go waste. I just kept offering the sippies and would show them how to drink from it. They do eventually get it, hang in there!

 

this makes me feel a lot better. they know that bottles mean formula, so drinking formula from a sippy for them is out of the question. we have the nuby sippies and the take and toss kind. they end up chewing on them more than drinking from them, but i continue to give them one each day during their snack time.

 

I also started offering them around 6 months, but they really didn't get the hang of it until 9 months. By 10 months, bottles were history!

 

I think my two were pretty good with sippies by 10 months or so. Before then, they just really didn't seem to get what they were for & didn't really care. ardon:

 

We have been offering sippies at meal times for several months and my boys have yet to really 'get it' They would rather gnaw on the spouts than suck on them.

 

Mine really didn't get them until there were no more bottles--at 11 1/2 months. One piece of advise that I got from a friend was not to give them juice in a sippy until they would drink milk from the sippy. The reasoning is that milk is thicker than juice, so they have to work harder for it. And if they know they can get juice easily from the sippy, they won't work for the milk.

 

they get juice to keep them regular as they get constipated easily. this was advice from their doctor. they don't get it everyday...maybe just once a week and it's very watered down. other days they get water in their sippies.

 

I wasn't saying it as a "juice is bad" comment--more as a method a friend told me for getting them used to sippies. Sorry if I came across that way. Also, I used the tupperware cups with the sippy lids to get them used to tipping and drinking--only in their highchairs since they don't have a valve. I still use the cups, just not the lids, so it was well worth the investment.

 

I also wanted to add, that my twins learned on straw sippies. They don't have to tip them, so I think it helped.

 

I tried the straw sippies, but they were no different. I guess I could give them another try.

 

I think your girls are right on track. Natalie has just figured out the sippie cup in the last few days - she can suck it down now. But Alyse still just uses hers as something to chew on! Grant had it down pat by 7 months, but I just had one baby and could work with him much more on it (plus, he refused a bottle and I was scared if for some reason I had to be away for more than 2 1/2 hours, he'd not be able to get any expressed breast milk!). Keep at it and they'll get it. I give my girls very diluted juice in a sippy in the high chairs while my son and I eat lunch (they get cheerios and sippies and some other finger foods).

 

I will keep trying. Yesterday seemed to go better. After eating handfuls of puffs I guess they were really thirsty because they drank all of their water, but I had to hold the girls while they did it. :/

 

to make you all feel better... ours just barely started getting the hang of it w/o dripping everything out of their mouth closer to 16 months old! they are still mainly breastfed so they didn't get the opportunity as much and I was getting frustrated. the straw sippies that I have have a valve in the straw so they don't spill, and that's even more complicated in my opinion... I think mine are just getting that!

good luck.

 

I also did straw sippies. We were out one day when DS was 6 months old and we kept showing him how to drink from a regular straw. He accidently got it one time and got exited when the water hit him. So we kept practicing and then when to the sippie straw cups that he had to work harder for. He got those within a few days of learning from a regular straw. He knew how to do a nuby sippie cup at 4 1/2 months so I'm sure already knowing that helped. I then reintroduced the regular sippie cups when he was 15 months old and got the tipping right away. But then we couldn't do the straw ones because he would tip them.