# When do toddlers typically start drinking from a cup?



## Adamsmama (Oct 24, 2003)

I mean instead of a sippy--using a regular cup. Does anyone know when that usually begins? Thanks!


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## lizabird (Jan 19, 2004)

I think we started offering DS a regular cup around 18 mos... I can't remember exactly. We'd just give him a little tiny bit of water in the cup. At first, he just liked to dump it out and ask for more. If he dumped it, that was it. But if he drank it (or tried to) and wanted more, we'd give him a little more.


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## alegna (Jan 14, 2003)

My dd has used a regular cup at meal times since about 7 or 8 months. I give her a sippy cup around the house usually and a soft straw cup in the car and on the go, but she uses an open cup just fine.

-Angela


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## Adamsmama (Oct 24, 2003)

My oldest son is 3y4m and just started drinking from a cup at all meals. He still gets a sippy in the car. He is develop. delayed (globally) so we hadn't pushed him to do this. He is very good at it, though! I asked because I'm wondering about my 18 month old--if he would be ready. I guess we could just try and see! (He likes to try to keep up with his big brother.







)


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## broodymama (May 3, 2004)

My 21 month old drinks out of an open cup, though I don't put in too much at a time. No more than I feel like mopping up with a kitchen towel! 







The first week he started drinking from an open cup was rather messy but he only drinks water (and nurses, of course) so it wasn't anything that stained.

We only started about a month ago. He was ready earlier but I wasn't, until he started boycotting sippy cups.

He still gets water in a sippy when we are in the car or when he goes to sleep at night.


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## LuvMyLittles (Jul 22, 2005)

I just started my 11 mo this week. He would throw his sippy cup on the floor and grab my glass, so I'm trying to listen to what he's telling me. I'm using a shot glass shaped like a beer mug and only filling it halfway so I fill it a lot and his clothes get pretty wet, but he is very pleased with himself. I also offer him his own towel to "help" me wipe up messes. He likes that too.


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## reezley (May 27, 2006)

My 19-month-old ds can use a cup - I give him a teeny bit of water in it, he drinks a little and usually dumps the rest out... So we're sort of still working on it... but the coordination is definitely there!
He started being able to use a cup a few months ago, I think


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## Lazyhead (Mar 27, 2006)

My 2.5 yo uses a cup. Sometimes she still enjoys the novelty of the sippy.


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## crazyeight (Mar 29, 2006)

ds is 20 months and doesn't use one yet. a parent "coach" person told me that i should let him use a cup b/c he needs to learn that. OK....he won't drink water and i am NOT wasting tons of milk (read: cleaning up tons of milk) when he isn't asking for it. he has drank out of my cups and is understanding the concept pretty well (except he puts his tounge over the lip!!!







) so we are going to start there with his hands around mine. i'm not ready to just give him a cup and let him dump it everywhere. i can hardly bend over to clean up all his toys...lets not add to it...


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## pianojazzgirl (Apr 6, 2006)

My 21 month old dd always uses an open cup now. I started giving one to her about half the time since she was maybe 16 months (?). Once she got to the point where she rarely spilled (around 19 months) I started giving her one all the time.


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## LynnS6 (Mar 30, 2005)

Our daughter has since about 18 months. If she's at the table with us, she'll get an open cup. If she's around the house, it's usually covered unless it's water.

Our daycare uses only open cups, even with children as young as 10-12 months. Yes, they have a few spills as children learn, but in my daughter's class, everyone had mastered it within a few weeks. (And these kids were between 12 and 18 months when they started.)

Developmentally, it's better for the mouth muscles to use an open cup. Even if your child won't drink water, it doesn't hurt to give them a tiny bit in an open cup to experiment with. Just give them only as much as you want to wipe up!


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## Tonia80 (Jun 10, 2006)

I went to a cup when we introd EBM and juice to our son at about 6 months as I did not want to get him hooked on a bottle or sippy. He spills some **** but at 13 montsh ahs it pretty well mastered.


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## Rivka5 (Jul 13, 2005)

My 14-month-old isn't really into sippy cups. I was going crazy trying to get her to drink more water, given how hot our summers are - she'd take one or two sips from her sippy cup and then throw it down. She loved drinking out of my glass, though.

So I bought a couple of little plastic juice glasses at the dollar store - they hold 6oz total. I usually give her 2-3oz of water at a time. If she spills it, no big deal - but she only spills when she's goofing off. She does a great job of taking a drink and putting it back down again.


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## royaloakmi (Mar 2, 2005)

My twins never took a bottle, so I think we started with cups around 8-10 months old (assisted, obviously).

They are now 2.5 yo and use cups (when I am in a good mood) and sippers of various types (when I feel that I will lose my mind if I have to clean up one more spill.)


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## Mama2Kayla (Feb 12, 2005)

I think dd started to get into the cup around 12-14 months. Now, at 20 months, she drinks like a pro. I give her a regular cup if she is sitting in her highchair, anywhere else, she gets a sippy.


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## bunsmom (Feb 25, 2005)

Our DD has drank out of a regular cup for awhile now (21 months), and a straw before that. She does pretty good holding the glass, but sometimes will still spit water all over. I can't drink anything that she doesn't try and grab the glass and take a drink (coffee, wine..she doesn't care), and if is something I don't want her to have (WINE), I have to pry her little fingers off the glass. She never used a bottle or a sippy cup, but does have an insulated cup with a soft straw that I bring when we are out and about.


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## mommy68 (Mar 13, 2006)

My daughter was forced to start using one around 18 mos-2 yrs old at daycare. I could have cared less about it that early. We still give her a sippy cup at home NOW if she carries it around the house because I don't want it spilled on the floors and she is 4.







However, she has a real cup of milk/water at the table along with her meals.


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## AmyC (Jul 3, 2005)

I introduced water at around 6.5 months and I used an open cup. But I was holding it for her. She experimented with holding it herself (and sometimes dumping) in the months after that, and I also started using sippies with her. I always give her smoothies in an open cup, though. They tend to be thick, and the fruit and seeds (raspberry seeds, etc.) get caught in sippy spouts and I've run out of straws...so to avoid frustration, she just drinks them from an open cup. She seldom spills a smoothie!

She's 27 months, now.


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## Happygrl6 (May 3, 2005)

DD began drinking out of an open cup around 7 or 8 months. They were an occasional thing until around 15 months. She used one at meal times for about a month and then wanted to go back to her straw cups for regular use. We just re-introduced an open cup at meal times and she's doing great so far. I only fill it up with an ounce or two of water at a time (she won't drink much more than that at a meal anyway) and keep a towel handy!!


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## USAmma (Nov 29, 2001)

I used to write up feeding therapy reports as a p/t job. According to the charts, 9 mos is considered the age in which a normally developing child should be able to drink from an open cup. Now, that being said, my dd1 was about 2 when she finally mastered it. My dd2 is 28 mos and just learned how last week but she has some major feeding issues. So glad to get rid of the sippies! I will probably still use them for juice/milk when we are out because they are spill proof. But around the house with water she can just use an open cup. Yeah!


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## Sierra (Nov 19, 2001)

Like Adamsmama's child, ds is globally delayed, but we actually started him on cups earlier. ds doesn't do sippy cups, in large part because his speech therapist feels that it can interfere with proper mouth/jaw development especially for kids like ds who are vulnerable to issues. We tried the occassional open cup from about 6 or 7 months, but not often. At 10 months, ds' speech therapist started working on cup drinking with him. Now at 14 months he drinks regularly from an open cup. He also uses a straw cup on occassion.


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## veganf (Dec 12, 2005)

My older son started by age 2. My second son is almost 2 1/2 and still spills even under supervision. I think 3 is a reasonable age to have mastered cup drinking. (At least when I taught preschool that's when all of the kids had finally figured it out)


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## Sierra (Nov 19, 2001)

Oh, well, if we're talking about drinking without spilling at all...my answer would be much different.


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## loraxc (Aug 14, 2003)

Uh...DD is 2.5 and the only time we really let her have an open cup is when she's in the tub or we're about to take her clothes off. This is because she still spills/dribbles, and if she gets her clothes wet she demands to have them changed, and, well, I do enough laundry.







:


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## tatermom (Jun 11, 2005)

DS started drinking water from our glasses at about 9-10 months and just started drinking from an open cup by himself (small amounts, picking it up and putting it down by himself) a few weeks ago (around 15 mos). He now uses an open cup regularly when sitting with us for meals, but a sippy when walking around in the house and in the car.


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## BusyMommy (Nov 20, 2001)

Eek, my kids never had sippy cups or bottles. So, I'd say give it a try whenever you feel ready. We found that those tiny jam/jelly jars were great. They're tiny for tiny hands and really heavy for falls.


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## straighthaircurly (Dec 17, 2005)

Started using a cup for water at meals at around 10 months. He was using it really well by about 14 months.


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## newmommy (Sep 15, 2003)

DS drinks from a cup now. They should be *able* to by 2.5.


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