Weaning is not just about your baby moving on to solid foods. It’s about learning to drink from a cup too. The ideal time to start introducing a first cup is about 6 months. 

Learning to drink from a cup is a gradual process and can be quite messy at times.  Although it may be difficult and take some perseverence, you should aim to have your baby off the bottle by his first birthday.  Using a cup is much better for his teeth.

When choosing a first cup, remember that:

• A cup with handles is easier for your baby to grasp
• A see-through cup will help you see if your baby is drinking well
• A hard spout is recommended because it doesn’t encourage your baby to suck constantly.
  

The free-flowing Tommee Tippee First Cup, with its big handles, bright colours and smooth, rounded spout, is the ideal way to tempt your baby to make the transition from breast or bottle.

Stage 1

• A cup with a free-flowing hard spout and no valve.  This free-flowing spout means that baby will not need to suck to get the drink, ensuring health development of his teeth and jaw

Stage 2

• Once baby is happy drinking independently try and move him on to drinking from an open top cup.
• Using a sipper lid will encourage your baby to learn to drink from the rim of a cup.

Stage 3

• Remove the sipper lid so that your baby can start to drink from an open cup.

Sweet Enough

Young babies don’t know the difference between sweetened and unsweetened drinks. Don’t give your baby a ‘sweet tooth’ by offering sweetened versions. Water is the best drink you can give to your baby.

• If he is less than 6 months you should give cooled boiled water
• After 6 months he can have ordinary tap water
• Bottled water is best avoiced as it tends to be high in mineral salts, although there are some that are suitable for infant feeding.  Check the label.

If you must give your baby fruit juice, it is recommended that you do this at mealtimes only and especially not before bed time or during the night.  Use real fruit juice and dilute 1 part juice, to 10 parts water.  Our First Cup is marked with a juice line so you know how much juice and water to add.

All of these are different names for sugar which can decay your baby’s teeth:

Glucose          Glucose syrup
Fructose         Concentrated fruit syrup
Sucrose          Dextrose
Honey              Invert sugar
Maltose           Hydrolysed starch

Try not to worry about mess and spills. Water can be mopped up and it's rewarding when your child can eventually drink from a grown-up cup.

Healthy Oral Development

• Now your baby has started to eat solid food, it's important to begin to establish a teeth cleaning regime
• Get your baby used to the dentist - if your going, take him with you.
• If your baby is taking a bottle, you should try and make sure he's given it up by the time he's a year old.
• As your child learns to talk start to discourage use of his soother.

Last Updated: April 03, 2008