Sippy Cup Help - Baltimore, MD

Dear S.,
This is totally normal. My son did the same thing. They are simply exploring how this works and cause and effect. "If I sip, will it stay in if I open my mouth?...etc". It will pass when they get over the amazement of this wet phenomenon. I would let her "practice" w/o a shirt on or in the tub. Hope that helped

S., My 9 month old started the same way. He still does it every now and again. I just kept giving it to him. I didn't tell him no or praise when he did it right. He just started one day. I notice that when he is really thirsty, he will drink from it. When he is just playing around, it ends up all over him. He likes to drink from it so, I keep a cup around all day long. I am no pediatrician, but remember the world will not end if she is not totally on the cup the day she turns one. Any way, long story short..... my suggestion, keep trying. T.

Hi S.,

It looks to me that she has understood that you are worried by her habit and she is enjoying provoking strong feelings in you. She must not be thirsty or she would drink. She has seen that you pay a lot of attention to her when she plays her little game and since she loves you, she loves when you are attentive. With my 4 kids I have learned to pay attention to the things they do that please me rather than spend too much time on what I don't like about their habits. Eventually they move on to something new and more positive!

i would question why your pediatrician wants your child weaned to a cup by a certain date. nobody ends up at college with a pacifier, bottle or mama's breast still in mouth...what's the rush? the tongue-thrusting/spitting behavior is a quite normal reflex in infants and small toddlers. it may simply indicate that she is not ready to give up sucking, and that she hasn't figured out how or why she should swallow from a cup. it's a different type of suck-and-swallow sequence from nursing. if you are keen to have her use a cup, and you have time for a bit of mess, you might try just giving her a regular small cup with no lid or sippy-device. my daughter never learned to get much out of a sippy cup (neither could i, when i tried it, frankly) but had no problems using a normal tumbler. just put water in a cup and let her go to town with it, always being attentive to prevent choking. this culture rushes kids through infancy, though---a 1-year old is still a baby, and will progress at her own pace if allowed to do so in an unhurried fashion.

Hi S.,

I agree with Sharry. Your pediatrician gives you advice, not orders. I wouldn't worry so much about the cup, but then again, my son was only starting to use a sippy cup around 1 year--he couldn't get the hang of sucking that hard so he was still using a bottle (gasp!!) on his first birthday and about 2 months after. Believe, it didn't stunt his growth, either physically or mentally!!

As for your daughter opening her mouth when it's full of liquid, again, I'd think nothing of it. She probably just enjoys the sensation of it oozing down her chin. I know, gross for us to think of but she's a baby and babies like gross stuff! lol If you don't like that, I'd stay away from a cup for a while--she'll probably stick her hand in it because it'll be cool, too!! lol

Hang in there and let your baby be a baby--it's all good!!!!

D.

S.,

First of all, our pediatricians can make suggestions on when we should wean our children from bottles, pacifier's , etc. But that final decision is up to you and your child. All children develop differently and your child is no exception. When bottle weaning, the key is to start slowly. Try introducing different types of sippy cups to her during the day until you figure out which one she does best with. The reason why she may be spitting her water out is because she doesn't like the cup or she doesn't like what's inside the cup. As your baby approaches her first birthday, concentrate on not letting her go to bed with a bottle or sippy cup, because the milk and juice that sits in sleeping child's mouth can ruin thier teeth. But don't be so quick to rush your child if she's not ready, just because your doctor said so. Good luck!

Maybe she just hasn't got it all down yet. To be totally on a sippy cup by 12 months is a little extreme. While some babies get it really quickly before a year, others don't. We didn't really start weaning to a sippy cup full force until he turned one, and he really seemed to master it at that point, although it is still a little messy. If you think she is doing it on purpose and it isn't a learning thing, try taking the cup away when she does it will get the hint accross. Good luck.

Sometimes children develop silly habits that are frustrating. My 3 year old still does that from time to time. I just encourage him to swallow and massage his throat as he starts to drink so that he will swallow. If she is anything like my son and she sees that it is frustrating to you, she will continue to do it more. Just try to be patient and ignore her and she will probably stop.

Although it may be frustrating it is nothing to worry about. She probably does not like water or it is too cold. Try mixing 3-4 oz of juice with 3-4 oz water, but only once a day. She may prefer this flavor and suck it down rather than spilling it out. I am sure she has the sucking and swallowing down if she is nursing, so it is probably not an issue with the swallowing. Although depending on the sippy cup it could be coming too fast for her to handle in her mouth. Like other parents have recommended you can try different cups to see what works best. Nubby is closest to bottle/breast yet is still considered a sippy cup. Personally it sounds more about the liquid than the cup. My daughter 17 months will still sometimes do that with water, but no other liquid. I am a pediatric occupational therapist and I think just trying a few different liquids (breast milk, formula, juice/water) might just solve the problem. Or temperature or the type of cup are the other things to play with. I would do these things before getting an eval, unless of course you have any other feeding concerns. As for timing of sippy cup, it does depend on the kid. Both my children were off by 13 months, but on their own. They just started to loose interest (especially after I weaned at 12 months). They just seemed to not need the comfort as much then and wanted the independence of a sippy cup. Feel free to reply if you have further questions.

S., your daughter's use of water brought a smile to my face. I guess she is experimenting on what happens when you open your mouth when it's full of water. At least all she gets is wet.

Pediatricians can be very calendar conscious, but kids progress at their own speed. If it takes until she is 13 months or 14 months to get totally on a cup, then it takes her that long. I wouldn't sweat it. Up to now, sucking is how you get something to drink, and water in the mouth is something to play with. She'll figure it out, but I don't think its bad behavior, I think it's more just kid behavior.

Kids are little scientists, they have to experiment over and over to make sure that their prior observations are correct. What if that toy fell UP the next time? Will the water stay in my mouth all by itself the next time? How far can I open my mouth before it falls out? These are questions that they need to learn, and they can only learn by testing it many times. After all, they are not born knowing the laws of physics, they learn them the same way we did, and we drove our mothers crazy in the process too.

So, as long as she is getting what she needs, and if you get an underpad to put under her chin when you give her the cup, eventually she will learn to use it. We all did, each in our own time. And tell your pediatrician that you are working on it, and she hasn't completed her experiments with fluid dynamics yet, lol.

I would suggest having a speech/language eval, sounds like it could be a physical issue. You can call Infants & Toddlers in your county and they should be able to do eval for free.