Weaning Your Baby: Sippy Cups

When my son was about five months old we decided it was time to introduce him to the world of fruit juice. He had an amazing appetite and drank plenty of milk everyday so we decided that juice would be a great treat for him to have while we were having the occasional dessert. We knew that most pediatricians don't recommend letting babies drink juice out of a bottle, so we went out in search of a sippy cup.

We bought Elliott several cups before we finally found one that we liked. We started by getting him various soft spout sippy cups. They are supposed to be close to a bottle nipple so that it's easier for babies to transition. Well, my baby never liked them. He could get the liquid out, but usually just made a big mess with it and then threw the cup on the floor and started crying. We had the same experience when we tried the harder spouts, too.

By the time Elliott turned six months old, we had finally decided to just put the sippy cups away. We agreed to wait until he was about nine months old and then try again. We thought that maybe Elliott just wasn't as ready for the sippy cup as we had thought.

Then one day my husband was drinking juice through a straw. Elliott started acting like he wanted a drink. My husband offered him the straw, and to our surprise, he actually took a drink. He made a mess since he sucked up so much at once but he didn't start crying. He just kept trying. We knew we had found something that worked so could give our baby juice.

We decided to get our son one of those sippy cups that we had seen with the straws built in. The reason we hadn't tried them before was because the ones that included an age guideline, all said that they were for babies two years old or older. We didn't think we would be using them for at least another year. But at six months, we bought Elliott one.

The first one we bought for him was one of the Nuby ones from Wal-Mart. They are only about $2.00 each so we decided that at least if he didn't like it, we would not have wasted much money on it. We liked the design, too. The straw folds into the lid so we knew that they would be easy to use on the go. They are also shaped with grips in the middle of the cup, where the cup is skinnier, so that babies can hold them easily.

We got the cup home and sent it through the dishwasher. The next day we gave it to Elliott, full of juice. He didn't have any problems at all using it. He absolutely loved it. In fact, when I offered him his milk later that day, he refused the bottle. I put it in the cup and he drank it all. We had done the impossible and weaned our baby in one day! He's 13 months old now and has not had a bottle for at least six months.

We bought him several more cups just like that one. We've tried several other brands with the straw included and he likes them all. He has a Go Diego Go cup (from the Nick Jr cartoon) that he is particularly fond of now. At first it seemed like it was a little harder for him to drink out of, it is one that says 2 years plus on it, but he adjusted to it quickly.

The one drawback of using the straw cups is that they are very hard to clean. We soak ours in hot soapy water and then run them through the dishwasher. We just put the straw over one the things that you put a cup over on the top rack. It works well. I've heard that pipe cleaners work if you don't have a dishwasher, or just need to clean one in a pinch.

If you've got a baby that seems to be stuck on bottles, you might want to try one of the sippy cups with straws included. Babies pick up so many habits from watching parents, and most parents drink out of straws sometimes, so babies will naturally want to try it. It also allows the baby to look around more while they are drinking, and I know my son loved to look around while he was eating from an early age. If you have a toddler you are trying to wean, I would definitely recommend trying a cup with a straw.