Introducing a Sippy or Open Cup

Most guidance suggests introducing a cup from around six months, alongside solids. Early attempts are about learning, not about how much goes in.

Ask your paediatrician about what suits your baby, especially about when and whether to offer water.

Soft-spout cups are the gentlest step from a bottle. Hard-spout cups follow. Straw cups build a different, useful mouth action. Open cups are the end goal and the messiest starting point.

Many speech and dental professionals suggest moving on from spouted cups reasonably promptly rather than settling there for years. Straw and open cups are generally preferred for longer-term use.

Early sessions are chewing, tipping and dropping. That is learning. Offer the cup at one predictable meal each day rather than pushing it at every feed.

A tiny amount of water in the bottom means less mess and less frustration for everyone.

A weighted-base cup, a wipeable mat under the chair and a long-sleeved bib save a lot of cleaning. Offer the cup at the high chair rather than on the sofa while they are learning.

Free-flow cups without a valve teach sipping better than valved ones, at the cost of more spillage. Both approaches are fine.

Cups with valves, straws and spouts have parts where milk and juice hide. Take them fully apart and clean with a small brush.

If a part is cracked, discolours or cannot be cleaned properly, replace it rather than keep it in use.