Is it okay for a 3-year-old to drink from a bottle

Why guide a child from a bottle to a cup?

Learning to drink from a cup is the first step to giving up the bottle. The longer a child uses the bottle, the easier it is to resist leaving the bottle. Long-term use of Baby Bottles may bring a series of problems.

The first is dental health.
Milk and fruit juices, which are rich in natural sugars, are fermentable carbohydrates that can be digested by oral bacteria into acids, leading to enamel breakdown and eventual tooth decay. Children used to sleep with a bottle and drink all drinks with a bottle, which will let the small teeth soak in "unable to extricate themselves", and oral bacteria enjoy being a demon, increasing the risk of tooth decay.

There is also a risk of crooked teeth. A 2015 study in Beijing examined the lacusal characteristics of 734 children aged 3-6 years and found that children who were bottle-fed for more than 18 months had a 1.43-1.45 times higher risk of developing occlusal and tooth misalignment problems [1]. Whether it is small tooth decay, small black teeth, or irregular teeth, it may have a small impact on the level of the child's appearance.

The second problem is speech delay. Long-term sucking with a bottle is not conducive to the child's development of mature swallowing patterns, and the flexibility of the tongue and the oral movement ability are not enough exercise, which may not be conducive to the development of the child's speaking ability. Although children learn to speak fluently sooner or later, parents are inevitably anxious.

There is also the impact on dietary nutrient intake. Children often use a bottle to suck milk and juice during the day, and it is likely that they are not hungry and are not willing to eat at dinner, which is easy to cause anxiety among parents; And if the child can eat normally, then it uses the bottle to eat outside the meal becomes an extra intake of super standard calories, which may lead to obesity in young children.

Finally, there may always be other issues to worry about, such as a higher risk of otitis media while lying in a bottle (as opposed to breastfeeding), developing a habit of milk sleeping, etc.

In general, guiding children from the bottle to the cup is not only for the purpose of letting children learn a skill, but also involves some practical and health considerations.

When can a child learn to use a cup?

The Centers for Disease Control recommends that children begin learning to use an open cup at 9 months of age and can hold a cup with two hands by age 1.
The new edition of "Child Development Milestones" released by the American Academy of Pediatrics in 2022 also mentions that children can drink water from an open cup you hold at about 1 year old, and can drink water from an open cup by themselves (sometimes it may spill) at 1 and a half years old.
According to the American Academy of Pediatrics, it is healthiest for children to drink from an open cup around the age of 2

Different children learn to use cups earlier and later, but most are at the age of one or two. As mentioned earlier, the child can gradually transition to the use of cups at the age of 6 months, and it is not that the child can learn to use the open cup after six months (of course, if the direct transition is also good), most children need a gradual process to transition to the open cup.

This is when the sippy cup, sippy cup, and sippy cup can be introduced.

According to the American Academy of Pediatrics, start giving your child a cup as soon as they start eating solid foods (usually around 6 months of age), using a sipping cup or sippy cup as a transition between the bottle and the open cup. From the point of view of the difficulty of using the cup, usually the sippy cup < sippy cup < sippy cup < open cup.

Duckmouth cup: soft and flat suction mouth, sucking principle and bottle similar, easy to adapt but can not better exercise oral movement ability.
Sippy cup: Narrow suction mouth, exercise lips, cheeks and tongue related muscle groups, children can adapt to the timely introduction of sipping cups or open cups.
Sip cup: Children can sip along the rim of the cup, and it is not easy to spill when drinking due to a leak-proof design similar to the lid.

Parents can choose the transition cup type according to the child's situation, not necessarily in order, some children directly transition from the bottle to the open cup, and some children's bottle to change the sippy cup and then change the open cup, are normal; There is no need to stipulate how long the child uses each kind of cup, let nature take its course, adapt to a timely start to try the next kind.

In any case, the ultimate goal of the child is to learn to use the open cup, and can always learn, parents do not need to be too anxious.

How to guide children to adapt to the use of cups as soon as possible?

The child is used to using a bottle or direct breast milk, suddenly replaced by a strange, hard cup, will inevitably not adapt or even resist. While there's nothing wrong with taking it slow, proper guidance can help make the transition more natural.

A "Time" principle can be followed here:

T, "transition slowly."
Do not have children "today with a bottle, tomorrow can use a cup" expectations, that is unrealistic, and each child has their own pace of adaptation; Do not compare with other people's children, it is meaningless, and the anxiety inadvertently revealed will make the child more nervous.

"I", "interact", "interact".

Do not treat the cup as a tool for drinking water, but let the cup enter the child's vision as a "toy", and let the child play with it, explore the new cup, and "interact" with it. This will help reduce the child's resistance to the new cup and may be more willing to drink from it later.

However, it should be noted that the use of cups is mainly provided during meals. If the child holds the cup to drink milk all day long, he may accidentally drink too much and change the diaper more frequently. If your child is thirsty, give him a drink of water and set the cup aside, telling him that he will use the cup at dinner.

"M", model, do a good role model.
Children will naturally imitate some of the actions of their parents, parents can first show their children how to drink water with a cup, and then the cup mouth to feed the child, try to let them imitate you drink water, you can also let the child hold the cup to feed you water. Although the water will overflow but do not rush, the child will be more and more stable.

"E", encouaging, more encouragement.
When your child successfully takes his first sip of water, don't forget to applaud his achievement. The method will encourage the child to drink more actively with the cup, which greatly increases the child's enthusiasm. We can also put the child's own cup next to the water dispenser or kettle, encourage the child to drink water when he or she wants to drink (but be careful not to burn the hot water), so there are more opportunities to praise the child.

In addition, we can also note some small points:
1. Provide a plastic cup that is easy to grip
2, the first few times the child learns to use the cup, parents should hold the cup from the side guide
3, at first only put a small amount of liquid in the cup to reduce overflow, as the child becomes more skilled, then increase the amount of liquid
4. Try to avoid drinks with added sugar, especially carbonated drinks.

In the end

Sometimes the child has learned to use the cup, but suddenly love the bottle used in the past. The reasons need to be observed, and may be related to some recent life changes, such as a child who is sick or not feeling well, the birth of a younger sibling, and so on. These are normal, and usually temporary, don't worry, just wait for your child to adapt.

And sometimes, the child is how do not accept the cup, it doesn't matter, temporarily put the cup away, and so on which day the child wants to use the natural will also use, if it is worried about tooth decay, as far as possible to do oral cleaning, there will always be a way, do not be too anxious, do not feel that because the child does not use the cup is his fault.

Every child has their own pace of growth, do what we can do, the child will grow up well.
Finally, choose a cute pattern of high appearance level water cup, more help children fall in love with the use of cups oh.