Learning to drink from a cup: why it’s important

For babies and toddlers, learning to drink from a cup is part of learning to feed themselves.

Learning to drink from a cup is about more than drinking. It also:

• strengthens your child’s finger and hand muscles, which is important for holding things, using spoons and forks, and drawing
• strengthens muscles in your child’s mouth, tongue and jaw, which is important for drinking and learning to eat and speak
• helps your child learn about mealtime behaviour
• helps your child develop independence
• prepares your child for weaning off the bottle, if your baby bottle-feeds.

These are all important skills for life.

From around 6 months, you can help your baby learn to drink from a cup.

How to help babies learn to drink from a cup

Here’s how to get your baby started:

• Give your baby a small, non-breakable cup that’s easy to grip and hold.
• Let your baby play with the cup first so that they get used to the way it feels.
• The first few times your baby uses the cup, help them bring the cup to their mouth. Tip the cup gently so your baby can feel the liquid on their lips.
• Put only a small amount of liquid in the cup at first.
• Increase the amount of liquid as your baby gets better at drinking.
• At family meals, use a cup yourself to show your baby how it’s done. Your baby will love to copy what you do.

When your baby starts sipping from a cup, they’ll probably spill most of it. You could put a bib on your baby to catch some of the spills. It’s also important to be patient – learning to drink from a cup takes time and practice.

Different types of cups

You can give your baby different types of cups to see which your baby prefers:

• Small open cups like medicine cups – these are good for holding a small amount of liquid, but they can be harder to hold with 2 hands.
• Open training cups – these are open cups with 2 handles, which makes them easier to hold.
• Closed cups like feeding cups, sippy cups or straw cups, and bottles with push-and-pull caps (like most sports bottles and water bottles) – these are good for when you need to prevent spills. Your baby will probably need your help at the start to open these caps.

It’s a good idea for your baby to practise using open cups as early as possible.

Babies aged 6-12 months should drink only cooled, boiled tap water, breastmilk or infant formula. After 12 months, children can have full-fat cow’s milk. Sweet drinks like fruit juice, soft drinks and flavoured milks aren’t recommended for babies and children. They have too much sugar and increase the risk of tooth decay.