Ready to introduce straw cups to your baby? Here’s the easiest way to do it.
Are you ready to move on from bottles? Or maybe not ready to give up bottles entirely, but want to give your baby another daytime option?
Parents tend to choose a sippy cup once they’re ready to introduce water because it feels like the logical next step: drinking from a sippy cup requires the same sucking motion as a bottle, so the transition seems easier. And while yes, that’s all true, sippy cups keep babies oral development at the ‘baby’ level: by promoting the forward-tongue movement that bottles use and delaying the tongue-retraction and lip closure necessary for a mature swallow, and even clear speech.
Instead of giving your baby the traditional ‘sippy cup,’ consider a straw cup. Straw drinking encourages lip rounding, tongue retraction, and jaw stability, all skills that are super useful for speech and feeding development.
But still… sippy cups seem so much easier! And babies are babies!
What if I told you that you can teach your baby to use a straw cup in 5 minutes?
And by teaching them this skill now, you’ll be teaching them more mature tongue/lip patterns and promoting their oral development?
Meet the Honey Bear Cup. Fancy, it is not, but this squeezable bear works. Fill your Honey Bear Cup with water, and hand it to your baby (perfect design for tiny fingers!). Guide the straw to their lips, and gently squeeze the bottle. When you squeeze, the water rises up the straw, helping your baby understand what straw drinking feels like, even if they don’t know how to suck on their own yet. After they get over the initial shock of water popping out, your baby will want to try it again (and again and again).
Babies learn fast: they’ll quickly make a connection between straw and liquid coming out. The Honey Bear Cup straw is soft and flexible, making it easy for them to get it in their mouth. Their lips will close around the straw, and you’ll slowly squeeze the straw less and less. And just like that, your baby will learn to drink from a straw independently.
Learning to drink from a straw might not seem like a big milestone, but it’s one of those little skills that makes a big impact: promoting independence, supporting oral development, and laying the groundwork for strong feeding and speech skills. Try the Honey Bear Cup, then report back!
I have been trying this for so long, but my baby just chews on the straw. Any tips? We really want to drop bottles.
I actually do something a bit different. I take a pureed soup and dip the top of the straw in it. When the baby tastes it instantly, he will start to suck on the straw. If the straw is short enough, the liquid will come up pretty quickly and give him the same gratification to continue sucking.
The best tip I got, though, was to introduce straws at 6-7 months, while they are still in the major sucking “mode”. After that, if you miss the window, it’s much harder to teach them.
I agree ! My babies start with straws around 6 months. I squeeze a silicon cup so the straw forces some water out and they eventually realize to suck up the liquid.
Try the honey bear! Makes it so clear for babies.
That’s exactly what we’ve been doing. She just doesn’t suck it she chews on it and then ends up covered in water because it comes up the straw and dribbles out when she doesn’t suck.
My 16 month old loves his straw cup and water bottle, but still likes to curl up/lay on the floor with his milk… that’s what’s keeping me from switching to those Nuby cups completely. Can I fill a straw cup with warm milk or is that a concern for the soft palate/back of the mouth? And will it get rid of the “comfort” factor?
Cut a straw down to about 4″. Dip into water or milk or whatever your baby likes to drink and cap it with your index finger. Then put it in baby mouth. At first, baby will let it drool out but after a few tries she will start to suck.
An apple sauce pouch works the same way. And you can control how much goes into babies mouth. At first my baby would not suck so I would squeeze some into his mouth, then I would do less and less untill he started sucking it out on his own. Now he is 8 months and can control how much he sucks into his mouth. He is now able to finish an entire 3 oz pouch by sucking out of the straw.
Any tips on keeping the staw cups mold-free and grime-free? I find them so hard to clean properly….
Yes! Only spring water is key. The minute you put sugary drinks in them they become gross unfortunately.
The First Years Squeeze and Sip Toddler Straw Cup works just like the Honey Bear and is cheaper and easier to clean!
For all UK users out there, Munchkin has a weighted straw cup that doesn’t leak and the kid can suck even if picking up the cup because the straw is weighted. I’ve found it in any big Morrisons or Sainsbury’s. Highly recommend as an alternative to bottles, works really well, kids love it and it comes with a special small brush to clean the straw.
Yes! They have it in the US too
I think I missed the window and now my 16 month old won’t drink from a straw! He can do an applesauce pouch totally fine but he doesn’t know what to do with a straw cup and refuses the bear cup. Any ideas?
U can teach them using a drink box! I do it with all my kids, one drink box and they learn, u just squeeze it into their mouth