Sippy Cup Question

kristynachicago

Question about sippy cups - my LO will be 6 months old next week - we EBF on demand when together and she gets my pumped milk in bottles while I'm at work everyday.  I know that sippy cups are supposed to be introduced at some point soon, so here's the question, does the sippy replace bottles?  Once I intro the sippy, does my care giver then give her my milk in the cup instead of the bottles with the slowest flow nipple?  TIA! 

vvvvvfee

you can actually start your LO with a straw cup pretty much when they start solids- they figure it out surprisingly quickly. i liked the take and toss brand straw cups (cheap and widely available at wal-mart and grocery stores). they were relatively leak-proof. straw cups are better for their oral development (more info: https://www.webmd.com/children/news/20080212/so-long-sippy-cups-hello-straws).

we started DS with small amounts of water in a straw cup when we started solids at 6 months. he continued to drink from bottles at daycare (with the lowest flow nipple) until he was about 14 months. (he would always drink water out of the straw cup, but would not drink BM out of it for some reason). when i stopped pumping at 14 months, he was okay with drinking WCM out of the straw cup.

you could send BM in something other than a bottle, but your LO may be resistant, and depending on the vessel, it may not be totally spill-proof. you may want to wait a few more months before you switch.

mommatotwo2

theresat858 said:

We introduced water in a sippy, bc a lot was wasted at first. I didnt want to waste liquid gold. If your lo drinks out of a sippy without a problem, you could replace bottles, but most people I've talked to dont do that until closer to 1.
A couple of ounces of water a day is ok after 6 months. (Not necessary but won't hurt).

This is what we did. Only water in sippies and by a year she was really good at them and that's how she got her milk. We stopped bottles entirely at a year. It was a seamless transition, absolutely no issues, unlike my first baby, who had a couple bottles a day until almost 2, that was much more challenging.

kristynachicago

Thanks so much for the advice, I really appreciate it!