Sippy Cups and Straws

I gave my boys sippy cups about a month ago. They still have not figured them out. I tried straws, but they don't suck out of them...

How do you teach a baby to suck out of a straw?

And what did you do to get them familiar with sippy cups?

One of mine won't even hold his own bottle yet, so maybe it's too early.

Love to hear what you have to say about it.

 

I didn't really 'teach' them how to use straws, they just seemed to do better with them (though expect some mess at first). I tried them on several different sippy cups first and they couldn't seem to get the hang of them. I tried using regular straws first, but that didn't work. For some reason, straw cups did better, maybe because the straw is more rigid and fixed into the lid. I started with straightforward straw cups - take&toss - but now mostly use Munchkin straw cups because they have a valve so they don't make as much of a mess.

 

We went pretty much cold turkey on sippies at one year. They had used them before, but were not very good at them (especially Nate). When we switched from bottles, we just put their milk in the sippies and gave it to them at meals. We had to help them tip them back enough to get milk out of them for a few days, but they caught on really quickly.

We only introduced straw sippies fairly recently so it was pretty easy; we just showed them how to do it and let them practice for a bit. I have heard other mamas who teach their children to use straws by putting the straw in the liquid, capping the straw with their finger to trap some liquid, then putting it in the child's mouth and letting them suck it out.

Good luck!

 

We went to a restaurant to eat when the girls were about 15 months old and I forgot their sippies. I got a glass of milk and a straw and taught them just as the PP mentioned, by trapping the milk in the straw and then holding it to their mouth and letting it run out. The caught on very quickly and started sucking it themselves.

I tried some straw sippies early on but I must have bought the wrong ones because it was extremely hard to get the liquid out with the kind of valve they had in the straw. I just bought some Playtex straw sippies and my girls use them well. They still tip them back, so we're trying to teach them not to tip them like a regular sippie!

We started working with sippies at about 6 months old and mine were quite good with them around 11 months. Mine never held their own bottles. We went cold turkey to sippies at 12.5 months and it took three days for them to start drinking a decent amount of milk out of them. The transition didn't affect their sleep.

We now use a variety of sippies and offer water in them all day and they get milk with snacks and meals.

Good luck!

 

We went cold turkey with the bottles at 12 months and that was the only way mine would finally take a sippy. However the straw ones did take some time for my ds and it just took practice. He kept chewing on it. Good luck!

 

I got the boys the Nuby sippy cups that have a soft spout and they seemed to take to those really well. We haven't quite totally given up the bottle, but my boys just turned 1 last week. LOL.

 

I started with the small juice boxes so i could squeeze the liquid in. They got the idea very quickly and now they can use the more difficult solid straw cups.

 

My boys did ok with regular sippies, but just couldn't get it down. We tried quite a few and they just didn't like it. WE went straight to straw cups and I did what the PPs said. Sucked up some in the straw and then put it in their mouth. The juice worked best first, b/c they liked the taste of it and wnated it. It really did'nt take long at all. WE did cut one of the straws the first time--just cut it under the valve and so it wasn't as hard to suck on. Only did that for a short while though b/c leaks. I also recommend the munchkins straws. We found the nuby ones much harder to suck out.

 

Thank you ladies! Sounds like I just need to be persistent.

Anyone have any straw sippie cups or sippie cups they recommend? I tried the Playtex soft spout, but if you ask me, that's so close to a bottle. And it's hard to get the liquid out. even I tried and was like, hey, no fair.

 

My guys did really well with the Gerber Fun Grips Starter sippies. They use the same valves as the other Gerber sippy cups so you interchange them if you buy other Gerber cups.

Recently I bought the Playtex insulated straw sippies to get the guys used to drinking out of straw and they work pretty well.

Be prepared to try a few types before you find one that works for you. I have a "sippy graveyard" in my cupboard of types that we tried and rejected!

 

We love the Munckin straw cups you can buy at Wal-Mart or Target. I now have 10 of them and can put 8 at a time in my dishwasher using those baskets. Like any straw cup, they will leak out the straw when pressure builds up, but all you have to do is twist the lid and pinch the valve and you're back in business.

Good luck!

 

Regular sippy cups, I used soft spout sippy's (I prefer the munchkin ones, the spout is a little sturdier than the nuby ones, which the kids chewed up fast), and they figured out the sucking motion very fast since it felt like their bottle nipples. It only took helping them tip it up for a few days. When we transitioned from bottles it took about a week for their milk intake to get back to normal.

Now we use playtex sippy cups with the hard spout so they can't chew it to pieces. I'm a playtex snob, I hate most other valve's in cups We'll also buy the playtex straw cups to use so that all my cups/lids are interchangeable and I don't have to search for the right combo! (I actually don't like the twist and click, the original playtex from 8yrs ago leaked far less, but they are harder to find, and their lids aren't quit compatible with the twist/click stuff! So, twist and click it is!)

And we taught the straws like others mentioned, trapping liquid in the straw then lifting out and letting them suck it out, my dd has it figured out and can drink from a straw now, my ds is still trying to figure it out! :lol:

 

I didnt read all the responses, but my EI speech therapist nurse had recommended using small juice boxes w/straws, holding them to their lips and squeezing the juice boxes so they get the concept of something coming thru the straws and sucking it out at the same time. I only had to show them once and they got it, so now I give them straw sippies all the time as well as regular sippy cups..GL.