Teaching how to use a straw/sippy cup

DBecker84

Hi all!  My DD just turned 1 last week.  She was EBB until she started eating table food about 2-3 months ago (she wanted no part of baby food).  My DH and I have been trying to introduce different sippy cups in order to give her water and milk.  (She will drink water out of a regular cup with our assistance.)  However, since she was BB and never took to a bottle, how can we teach her how to use a sippy cup/ a sippy cup with a straw??  We try to show her, but she only kinds of gets it and instead blows raspberries lol.  TIA!

DBecker84

Sorry, that should be EBF and she is still BF.

SportyChic24

I tried just showing my kids and they just looked at me puzzled. We used a juice box to squeeze so it would come out of the straw and kind of show them. With my son it took a little bit but he got it, we were at a fair and I had lemonade and tried to give him some when he finally got some he was so excited. So I would say maybe try a juice box and go from there, or put something "yummy" in there.

ebp913

I think if you just let her have the straw cup for a week, she will figure it out.  You could try juice if you want but I'm sure she will get it.  It just takes a little time.  We never did the sippy cups, we just did straw cups.  

maryxc1

My LO never took a bottle either so I was in the same boat. We went straight to the straw cup because then he just had to learn to suck and not turning it over and sucking. Platex makes a straw cup that you can squeeze to help them get the idea. We just squeezed it into his mouth then gradually did less and less squeezing as he learned to suck. We started at about nine months I think and it took several months for him to get the hang of it. Since your LO is older it probably won't take as long.

DBecker84

Okay, great to know.  Thanks all!

DBecker84

And I just checked, oddly enough, that's the exact straw cup we got!!  I tried it and it does squeeze, thanks for the advice!

MsLs

I agree with others we just kept giving the straw cup to DS at meals and throughout the day and he eventually got the hang of it. Don't force it, she'll get the hang of it!

aboynamedbarry

What I did was I dipped the straw in yogurt and she figured it out quite quickly as she was sucking to try and get all the yogurt

DBecker84

Thanks for all of the great ideas and tips, we'll definitely be trying them out! :-)

cassidy.watson

I was in the same boat as you and worried for weeks about this. We just continued offering different kinds of sippy cups and she eventually took to it all on her own. It did take some time - like several months - but she is now 13 mo and totally gets it. A LOT of it winds up down her front but when she's really thirsty, she downs it.

unaveragejane

DS didn't understand sippy cups for a while. He thought it was just something fun to chew on. It helped to take the valve out so the liquid flowed freely. Once he figured out there was liquid in it, we could put the valves back in so they weren't as prone to spill.