First off, I have to start by saying that I am a big water drinker myself. I carry water where ever I go. I almost obsess about making sure that I drink enough water everyday. So, I thought it was a great idea when the pediatrician recently told us that the girls need to be drinking more water.
Then I ran into a problem. How do you get babies to drink water? Can you have your baby drink water from a bottle? Tried that. Didn’t work. I even went so far as to do the unthinkable- I put a little juice in with a bottle of water (gasp!). They still didn’t like it.
I tried this sippy.
And that sippy.
The girls didn’t want to have anything to do with them. I couldn’t get the babies to drink water at all. It seems to me that, with all of the solid food the girls were eating, wouldn’t they need more water in order to keep from being dehydrated?
While I was looking for answers, I came across some information on sippy cups that I’d like to pass on.
PSSST! It’s ok, you can keep reading even if you don’t have a baby at home. You might learn something .
Or, just peruse over to something a little ridiculous, like my stupid, fat rabbit (It’s a love/hate relationship).
- Did you know that prolonged sippy cup usage can lead to speech delays in your child? It’s true. Something about the way that the spout pushes against the roof of your mouth, it misplaces teeth in a way that is similar to thumb-sucking. However, my older kiddo used sippy cups and his speech developed normally. I think the key is to make sure you’re not allowing your little one to lie back and slurp on that sippy cup as if it were a bottle.
- From what most moms say (and I am NOT a pediatrician, mind you), cold-turkey is the best way to go when it comes to switching from sippy to bottle. And if you’re worried about dehydration, like I was, maybe offering lots of watery fruits could help your baby get some extra fluids until he/she is more adjusted to the cup.
- Straw-style cups are much better for kids because there is less of a chance of them having development issues as there would be if you were using a sippy cup.
- Ideally, speech and occupational therapists’ first choice is to use an open cup. I know, they’re a pain. We found these cute pink ones by BABYBJORN
that the girls actually like (they come in other colors too). My mom always said, “Only pour as much as you want to clean up.” These cups hold no more than 4 oz., so they’re great for beginners.
One thing that seems to be recurring among the advice to moms of sippy cup newbies is this: Be patient. Your baby won’t be drinking from a bottle forever. If you’re persistent and make the change a positive one, your baby will eventually accept a cup.
I hope that this post was at least somewhat informative, or maybe even a bit helpful. We’re still on the sippy /open cup journey, but our girls are just tiny things so I’m not worried. I’d love to hear how the transition to cups went for you, so share in the comments please!