Want to train 9 month old to drink from open cup on her own

[hasya]

I've never given her a bottle even of expressed milk. In the early days, when we had difficulty latching on and what not, she only got milk from a spoon to avoid nipple confusion. And now, I simply don't want to get her used to a bottle. I think we'll graduate directly to a sippy or better, open cup. As of now, I give water to her from an open cup. WIth my hands. She just thinks it is something to invert and get me to change her clothes. I don't put a bib on her because she thinks it is a chew toy. A plastic chew toy, yuck.

Did anyone try to train babe to drink water on her own (she doesn't get any other non-mommy-made beverage), preferably from an open cup? I really prefer an open cup so that there're no plastic involved. We live in a world of plastics but you can avoid what you can, right?

Thanks in advance!

[SunRise]

I offer my (now 11 month old) a cup. I put about an 1/2 ounce of water in it and give it to her. She knows to bring it up to her mouth and she tries to drink it. She gets a bit but lots spills out (hence the small amount that I put in it). She starts with putting her mouth on the cup in a regular way, but eventually she has her whole mouth in the cup, which makes it a bit difficult to drink. I have offered her a cup for several months now. 

She can use a cup, just as good as she can use a sippy cup (which, at this moment, ineffective :) )....both require learning... I prefer the cup.

The cup I use happens to be plastic...its much lighter then glass ... easier for her to hold.  

It is a very narrow, slim cup ... a bit rounder then quarter and about 2.5 inches tall, perfect for learning, I think. A shot glass might work for you, although that might be too short, they are usually thick glass and wont break as easily when dropped.

[hasya]

Thanks for your response, Sunrise. I use a stainless steel cup. I would never hand a glass anything to a baby!

I could start sitting her down with some water just before changing her.

[AuNaturaleMama]

When DS started solids, I started offering him a sip of water from a shot glass. It was the perfect size so he didn't have to tip his head too far and I could see through it and knew where the water was in relation to his mouth. Now he drinks from an open cup with no issues. Except one: he loves to pour water on things! So for now we only use an open cup when in a pinch becuase it would be a game of watering the house and mommy having to marry her mop!

We love our stainless sippies. We have the safe sippy 2 which converts from a straw to a regular style sippy. At about 8 months he could drink through the straw and just recently he decided he liked tipping his head back to get water so we converted them.

[Adaline'sMama]

I totally agree with your feelings of not wanting to start a bottle now. DD never really took one, because she didnt have many oppurtunities. She would take expressed milk from a sippy with a rubber nipple from 5 months on. We are on our last sippy cup, and Im not really planning on buying anymore because she gets more out of an open cup than she does a sippy. I use a 3oz glass (a beer sample glass...it came from a brewery) and fill it with about an ounce. She will drink it all (with me holding it) and smack her lips for more. At 10 months, she will hold the cup for about 8 seconds and then get distracted and take one hand off and drop it. When I hold it for her, she puts both hands on it and helps me. She looks down into the glass crosseyed to see when the water is about to hit her lips...its too funny :)

[octobermom]

My almost 11 month old can drink from an open cup but I still ahve to be right on top of her cause yes she will dump it out every time. Kinda like I can give her food on a plate but at some point she will try to turn it over and often with food still in it.

 We use straw type cups I actually use these http://www.google.com/imgres?imgurl=http://ecx.images-amazon.com/images/I/41NyZt8F7JL.jpg&imgrefurl=http://www.foodsavermachine.org/detail/rubbermaid-31170-litterless-juice-box-B002NXTU2G&usg=__4NgKelSCxir04LF5G46HVymA2pM=&h=500&w=500&sz=20&hl=en&start=4&zoom=1&um=1&itbs=1&tbnid=mWKifo-KuhoPjM:&tbnh=130&tbnw=130&prev=/images%3Fq%3Dlitterless%2Bjuice%2Bbox%26um%3D1%26hl%3Den%26sa%3DN%26tbs%3Disch:1&ei=F6pOTePCBo2gsQOk4smkCg which are super inexpensive (around $1 at walmart) and honestly work better than any fany thing I've tried. and it doesn't interfear with speech development. There were actually reccomended to me by my oldest speech therpist and I've had my baby (alos bottleless) using one since 6 months.

Deanna 

[hasya]

Oh wow! So I am not being too cruel, trying to train her or anything then. I'll give her a cup right after she finishes breakfast. Thanks for all the responses and links!

[Buzzer Beater]

 There's also the tilty cup and the nosey cup... we haven't had any luck finding them in our town so we'll have to order them online.

http://www.kcup.com/nosey.htm 

http://www.tiltycup.com/ 

[McGucks]

We have been working with our 10.5 m.o. on an open cup for a few weeks.  He has gotten the hang of (oftentimes) getting it to his mouth, tipping it up, and getting the very small amount of water (we have a really good filter) to his mouth.  He also sometimes tosses it on the floor, accidentally jerks his hand and gets the water in his eyebrows, etc.  Overall, we are glad we've taken this route and continue to keep up with it.  I guess when we get older and he is in the car we might use a sippy cup with water in it, but we (at this point) are committed to mostly skipping the juice route.  Good luck!

[Anastasiya]

We use glass shot glasses as well (nice to see the liquid) and Tilty Cups without the sipper lid.

[Blessed1]

Here is the glass cup we use.  http://www.amazon.com/EIO-Glass-Kids-Cup-Green/dp/B003U61EKG

No plastic here. :)

"The Kids Cup is a spout-free, valve-free cup made without BPA, Phthalates and PVC, and is designed to transition young children properly from bottles to real glass dinnerware. Sippy cup spouts and valves necessitate a bottle-like sucking motion, but EIO's unique cap promotes correct sipping, quickly and with less mess!

[Knitting Mama]

We use a shot glass as well over here.