Accustomed to using a bottle, many babies resist using a cup to drink water/milk. Therefore, some babies who are over a year old still use a bottle to drink water/milk, which is not acceptable! You need to correct it, you can't just indulge the baby and let him do it.
Why teach babies how to use water bottles?
1. The reason why babies need to transition from drinking water/milk from bottles to using cups is that long-term use of bottles may lead to dental caries. When the sugar in milk, juice, and other beverages reacts with bacteria in the mouth, it is easy to form acid that corrodes teeth. For babies who are starting to walk, holding a bottle all day is also prone to tooth decay. It is important to teach them how to drink water from a cup as soon as possible.
2. The change of a baby from sucking with a bottle to drinking from a cup indicates that he has developed from relying on the oral pump to drink milk to using his lips to drink milk. This change greatly promotes the development of his oral function, especially the ability of his lips. If he is not allowed to learn to use a cup for a long time, it will hinder the development of this process.
3. The biggest benefit of letting the baby abandon the bottle and switch to a cup for drinking is that it marks that the baby has transformed from a small baby to a big one, no longer a little baby lying in the mother's arms holding a bottle. This signal can make the baby realize that he is slowly growing up, which is beneficial for the baby to gradually move towards independence.
4. Teaching babies to drink water from cups can train their small hand muscles, promote coordinated development of limbs, hands, eyes, brain, etc., and play a key role in improving their physical and cognitive abilities, which is very important for their growth and development.
How to transition from a drinking cup to a cup?
Even if the baby is over a year old, there still needs to be a transition for him to learn how to drink water from a cup, otherwise he may resist. So how should he transition?
1. Starting with the drinking cup. Making babies switch directly from sucking to drinking is a big challenge, and during the transition, it is necessary to learn how to drink cups. This can not only cultivate the habit of independent water drinking for babies, but also help them overcome their dependence on bottles.
2. Give the baby a cup they like. When your baby is able to use the learning cup well, you can consider buying him a cup. Don't expect him to like it immediately. At first, he may just use it as a toy, but as he gradually becomes familiar with it, you can start teaching him how to use a cup to drink water. Even if he doesn't use it well, he should persist and gradually learn how to use it.
