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Cup feeding 4 month old baby


Cup Feeding - La Leche League International

Categories: News From LLLI


We are delighted to co-publish this new poster about cup feeding.
The poster is intended to help healthcare professionals and organizations working in emergencies and families themselves.
It is also intended to be a useful resource for anyone who needs to feed their own expressed milk or a supplement to a baby.

The poster can be downloaded and printed for use in your communities, or shared on social media.

We are in the process of translating the poster into multiple languages.

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COLOR POSTERS TO DOWNLOAD
BLACK AND WHITE POSTERS TO DOWNLOAD
COLOR POSTERS FOR USE ON SOCIAL MEDIA
BLACK AND WHITE POSTERS FOR USE ON SOCIAL MEDIA

 A BABY NOT FED AT THE BREAST CAN BE FED WITHOUT A BOTTLE

Cup feeding can be used from birth. It is suitable for both expressed breastmilk and infant formula. You can use any clean, open cup with a smooth surface.

Cup feeding has no notable difference to bottles for average time per feed.

Cups are safer than bottles. Bottle teats and screw tops trap germs that can get into the milk and make babies ill. Cups are easily cleaned with washing in hot soapy water, and do not need sterilizing like bottles.

In emergencies, use disposable cups.

Feeding time is bonding time – lots of cuddles, eye-contact, talking, smiling, humming and singing.

CUP FEEDING IS AS EASY AS 1-2-3!

color posters to download

English pdf
Spanish pdf
German pdf
Greek pdf
Lithuanian pdf
Turkish pdf
French pdf
Russian pdf
Swahili pdf
Traditional Chinese pdf
Simplified Chinese pdf
Arabic pdf
Vietnamese pdf
Romanian pdf 
Polish pdf
Ukranian pdf

Black and White posters to download

English pdf
Spanish pdf 
German pdf
Greek pdf
Lithuanian pdf
Turkish pdf
French pdf
Russian pdf
Swahili pdf
Simplified Chinese pdf
Traditional Chinese pdf
Arabic pdf
Vietnamese pdf
Polish pdf
Ukranian pdf

COLOR POSTERS FOR USE ON SOCIAL MEDIA

Right click on a desktop, or hold and tap on a mobile device to bring up your options to copy or save the image.

English

Spanish

German

Greek

Lithuanian

Turkish

French

Swahili

Russian

Traditional Chinese
Simplified Chinese

Arabic

Vietnamese
Romanian

Polish

Ukrainian

BLACK AND WHITE POSTERS FOR USE ON SOCIAL MEDIA

Right click on a desktop, or hold and tap on a mobile device to bring up your options to copy or save the image.

English

Spanish

German

Greek

Lithuanian

Turkish

French

Swahili

Russian

Simplified Chinese

Traditional Chinese

Arabic

Vietnamese

Polish

Ukrainian

Adapted from The World Health Organization – Infant Feeding in Emergencies: A Guide for Mothers and UNICEF/WHO 20-hour Baby Friendly Hospital Initiative Course by Magdalena Whoolery (PhD Health Studies, BSc Nursing, Dip HE Nursing) and Julie Fogarty (BFA, GradDipTchg), January 2020 (updated April 2020).

Poster endorsed by the following: International Baby Food Action Network (IBFAN, defending breastfeeding), Safely Fed Canada, Breastfeeding Advocacy Australia, La Leche League International (LLLI).

 

Weaning Your Baby: Cup Feeding

Nationwide Children’s Hospital

Weaning is when your baby learns to drink from a cup instead of a breast or bottle. They should be drinking liquids from a cup by age 1. The longer you wait, the harder it can be for your child to give up the bottle. Drinking from a bottle for a long time after teeth have come in, can lead to tooth decay (cavities). If a baby drinks from a bottle while lying down for a long time, it can cause ear infections.

If you wean your baby from breastfeeding before 1 year of age, give them formula. They do not need other drinks for a healthy diet. You can offer a little water with food starting at 6 months to 1 year of age but give no more than ½ to 1 cup (4 to 8 ounces) a day. They should not drink cow’s milk or juice before age 1 (Picture 1). Breastfeeding can continue past that age.

When to Start
  • The age of weaning is different for each baby.
  • Most babies are ready to start learning to use a cup at 6 to 9 months of age. This is the same time they start to eat solid food.
  • They need to be able to sit up without support in order to drink from a cup.
  • Other signs of when your baby may be ready are when they:
    • Shorten their breastfeeding time
    • Are easily distracted while being held for a feeding
    • Want to hold the bottle on their own

How to Begin
  • At about 6 months of age, give your baby an empty, open sippy or 360° cup with handles to hold (Picture 2). Have them practice holding the cup when sitting at a table for a meal. Choose the same meal every day. It does not matter which one.
  • Show your baby how you drink from your own cup. Ask them to copy you using theirs. Do not share your cup with them to prevent passing on your germs.
  • Wean gradually. By 9 months, start to put a little bit of breastmilk or formula in their cup. You might need to help them hold the cup. They may resist drinking from the cup the first few times. It will take time for your baby to learn. They might make a mess.
  • Do not offer them the bottle during or right after the meal when using the cup. When your child can drink from the cup, replace a second breastfeeding or bottle feeding with a cup feeding. This may take a few days or weeks for some children.
  • Keep replacing breastfeeding or bottle feedings until your baby is no longer feeding from the bottle or breast.
  • Let your child use a sippy cup only while sitting. A sippy cup should not be carried around by your child in their mouth. This can cause injury to the mouth if they fall.
  • Switch to a cup with a lid, but no spout, as soon as possible. This will prevent possible problems in how their teeth grow. Aim for 18 months of age.
  • Shift to a cup without any lid between age 2 and 3. By age 3 your child should be weaned from a sippy cup. While sippy cups help to avoid messy spills, drinking from them for too long can become a hard habit to give up.

Other Tips
  • Avoid giving your baby a bottle or use breastfeeding to comfort them when crying or to help them fall asleep. This will make it harder for them to switch to only using a cup. Also, drinking just before sleeping can cause tooth decay.
  • Offer only water between meals.

Weaning in One Step

The longer a child uses a bottle, the harder it may be for them to give it up. If your child can already drink from a cup but refuses to do so or refuses to give up the bottle, you might have to take away all bottles completely at one time. This method applies to children 15 to 18 months and older who use the bottle for comfort or habit and not for food. 

To use this method:

  • Remove all bottles from the home.
  • Be firm and consistent about giving milk from a cup, not a bottle.

If you have any questions, be sure to ask your child’s dentist or health care provider.

Weaning Your Baby: Cup Feeding (PDF), Arabic (PDF), Nepali (PDF), Somali (PDF), Spanish (PDF)

HH-IV-19 6/87, Revised 2/22 Copyright 1987- 2022, Nationwide Children's Hospital

How to teach a child to drink from a cup

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When learning a new skill, break it down into several stages - this will greatly simplify the process. That's exactly what we did when we developed a solution that will help your baby move from a bottle to a non-spill cup. Use this guide to learn about the four stages of learning to drink from a cup and which cup is best for a child at a given developmental stage. nine0027

At what age should you start teaching your child to drink from a cup?

On average, it takes about 15 months for babies from 4 months to go from a bottle to a cup. We have labeled our non-spill cups by age, but remember that every child is different and develops at their own pace.

Take it slow

To learn to drink like adults, your baby needs to learn more complex oral motor skills and be able to coordinate movements. nine0003

We've broken down the process into steps to help you learn.

Step 1. Learn to drink by holding the handles

First of all, teach your baby to hold a non-spill cup. You can make the process easier by starting training while your baby is bottle-feeding with our training set: your baby will hold the bottle by the soft, comfortable handles and drink through the familiar nipple.

Matching non-spill cup: Bottle to Cup Training Set

Perfect solution for babies from 4 months who have learned to sit upright with support

Step 2. Learn to drink through the special spout

As your baby transitions to solid foods, you can teach him the new skill of drinking through the special spout. Here the baby will need a little more skill than when feeding from a pacifier. This skill will also help your baby develop the suction needed to drink from a cup, which a baby usually starts learning around 6 months of age. To help you at this stage, we have created a soft and flexible spout that does not damage the gums. When the child begins to chew food with his teeth, you can switch to a denser, bite-resistant nose. nine0003

Matching non-spill cup: cup with spout

Ideal solution for babies from 6 months old who have learned to sit on a high chair

Step 3. Learn to drink through a straw

When the next baby learns to drink naturally through a spout step is to learn to drink through a straw. This is a more complex oral motility, which will help develop a full-fledged skill, like an adult.

Suitable non-spill cup: cup with straw

Ideal solution for babies from 9 months old who have learned to crawl

Step 4. Learn to drink from a cup

Finally, you can move on to the main thing - drinking from a cup over the edge, like real adults do. Don't worry, this step won't cause you much inconvenience: our "adult" cup is equipped with a leak-proof valve that only opens when it comes into contact with a child's lips.

Suitable non-spill cup: "Adult" cup

Ideal solution for babies from 9 months old who have learned to crawl

Choosing the best non-spill cup to help your baby develop properly

First of all, look at the age marking to find the right cup for your child at this stage of development. However, remember that there are no clear and hard rules here: perhaps the baby has not yet learned how to sit on his own or he needs a little more time to figure out how to hold the cup. It is important to choose a cup that will help the child develop correctly and move on to the next stage of learning. nine0003

A handy solution

But don't rush to think: "How many cups should I have with me!". Most Philips Avent non-spill cups, spouts and lids are interchangeable. This means that you can use the same spout with different cups or put it on a bottle. Convenient, right?

We recommend changing the spouts and caps of baby bottles and non-spill cups every three months.

Would you like to know more about our children's non-spill cups? nine0109 Click here to view the range.

Learn more about this topic

  • Baby cups

    Learn to drink on your own

    Learn more

You are leaving the Philips Healthcare official website. Any links to third party websites that may be included on this site are provided solely as a convenience to you. Philips makes no warranties regarding any third party websites or the information they contain. nine0003

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You are about to visit the Philips USA website. I understand. Starting breastfeeding., Lifestyle and breastfeeding, Pumping, The amazing benefits of breast milk, What to do if ... nine0002 01/16/2021

A baby who does not breastfeed can be fed from a cup

Cup feeding can be used from birth. This method is suitable for both breast milk and formula. You can use any clean cup with a smooth surface.

Cup feeding does not have a noticeable difference with bottles in average feeding time.

Cups are safer than bottles. Bottle nipples and screw caps keep germs out that can get into milk and cause illness in babies. The cups are easy to clean with soapy water and do not need to be sterilized like bottles. nine0003

In an emergency, use disposable cups.

Feeding time is a time of togetherness: lots of hugs, eye contact, talking, smiling, humming and singing.

1-2-3 Cup Feeding

  1. Place your baby on your knees and support their back and neck. With young children, loose swaddling can help to keep their hands from rattling on the cup.
  2. Take a small cup of milk and press the rim lightly against the child's lower lip. Then tilt the cup so that the milk stays on the edge of the cup, but so that it reaches the baby's lips. The baby must be awake in order to be able to open its mouth on its own. nine0006
  3. Continue slowly. DO NOT pour milk into baby's mouth. Always let your baby lead the pace of sips and pauses. Continue to keep milk only on the edge of the cup. When the baby is full, he will close his mouth and will no longer continue feeding

Babies will suck or drink milk, or may use their tongue to lap it, as in the picture.

Cup feeding gives babies the freedom to move their tongue in a way that is closer to the “sucking” reflex used in breastfeeding.

Learn more