Choosing a Cup

How did you transition your toddler to drinking from a cup?

Our Mommy MD Guide’s reply: I had a lot of difficulty transitioning my daughters to a cup because they were both born prematurely. They had a lot of trouble sucking.

My best advice is don’t go out and buy six of one type of sippy cup and hope for the best! I had to try a bunch of different styles until finally I found one my daughters could use. My daughters did better with cups that didn’t have valves. You can take the valve out of most cups, but then they make a mess. I found the best type was the Take & Toss cups because they don’t have valves but the holes are so small they don’t make a mess either.

Once you find a cup your toddler likes, don’t be sure your other kids will like it too. My girls both preferred different types of cups!

—Kristie McNealy, MD, a mom of nine- and six-year-old daughters and four-year-old and 22-month-old sons and a blogger at www.KristieMcNealy.com, in Denver, CO