Every milestone in your child’s life is cause for celebration, but some habits are harder to break than others. Sippy cups are often used to help wean a child from the bottle, which can result in a passionate attachment to the sippy cup. But sippy cups can be just as damaging to teeth as the bottle. Fortunately, with a little patience and a plan, you can wean your child from sippy cups with a minimum of fuss.
All children should be weaned from the bottle by 12 to 14 months of age, according to experts at Columbia University. By the age of 18 months, your child should be using a cup with no lid. This may mean more messes for you to clean up, but it is necessary to protect the health of your child’s baby teeth.
Sippy cups allow liquids to pool behind your child’s front teeth in much the same way that a bottle does. This can lead to tooth decay if you allow your child to sleep with a sippy cup in her mouth. Walking around with a sippy cup is unsafe because even though the spouts are rounded, the hard plastic can injure lips, gums, teeth or your child’s palate if she falls while drinking and sipping. Giving sippy cups only at mealtimes is one way to avoid this. It also helps keep your toddler from using sippy cups for self-soothing, which can make it much harder to wean her from them.
Do not put anything other than water in a sippy cup if your child has already developed the habit of walking around with one. Offer juice and milk at the table in a regular cup. Cut down on the number of times per day that you allow the sippy cup to leave the table. Allow the sippy cup before bed, but brush or wipe down your child’s teeth and leave the sippy cup behind while you read in bed so that your child will learn to sleep without it. This is easier said than done with a strong-willed child, but if you are patient and consistent, he will learn to fall asleep without it.
Little kids get attached to things as a way of feeling in control of their environment. Weaning your child from drinking out of a sippy cup does not mean that you have to make the cups vanish from her life. Toss the lids away and let her play with the cups in the bathtub or the sandbox. Fill them with dry cereal or other kid-safe snacks rather than liquids. Line clean sippy cups up on the dresser or bookshelf and sit small stuffed animals in them.
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