Something for the 12-week-old to sip?

June 14, 2009 4:47 AM

On training a three-month-old on drinking with a straw...firstly, is it even doable? And is (watered down) juice ok for that age?

My wife and I have a soon to be three-month-old, and my wife has been breastfeeding exclusively throughout that time--we've used no bottles, no formula, no breast pump.

We've read recently--from a few independent sources, I might add--that it's a good idea to teach an infant to drink from a straw rather from a sippy cup. We have something similar to this. We'd like to leapfrog over both sippy cups and bottles and have the kid drink with a straw, getting him off the wife's nipple. Not rushing things, but if it's possible we'll at least try it. Personally, I'd like it because then I'd be able to feed the kid myself.

What we've done so far, in the past two weeks or so, is tried to train him to suck some barley tea (for babies). It takes him a while, but he does eventually suck up and swallow in a way; half of it just spills on his bib but he does seem to be improving with this.

SO, here are my questions. Are we being naively optimistic about his ability to drink with a straw at this age? Should we just wait? I suspect he'll be more excited about sweeter drinks. Is (watered down?) fruit juice ok for him at three months? Or some other kind of drink? Formula is ok?

MeFi parents, tell me your straw training stories!

posted by zardoz to health & fitness (24 comments total)

Why in the world are you giving an infant that young anything other than breastmilk??? Their bodies are not capable of digesting barley tea, juice or anything else. The general rule is that juice is given after 6 months of age, and only after they are coordinated enough to drink it from a cup. The baby just needs breastmilk. What you are doing is dangerous; Filling a baby up with anything other than breastmilk will give him the sense that he's full, and it will make him feel like he doesn't need to nurse. Infants shouldn't have that much sugar, either.

For the love of god, back off the baby and just let him nurse. You can't train a 3-month old. I don't care if you want to feed him, you are not the mother, I assume you are not lactating, so you're not going to feed him. I'm going to be shaking my head all day at the thought of this post.
posted by Lullen at 5:15 AM on June 14 [11 favorites has favorites]

I never could get mine to do it until well over a year old. But, I never really tried until then. Honestly, the purpose of a sippy cup is so that your child won't spill/sling whatever he is drinking all over the place which he will do for years ahead. Don't be so quick to knock the sippy.

I'm not a DR but I am a mom of 2 and I wouldn't do anything but Breast milk/formula with a baby that young. He could fill his tiny tummy and then not want to take the nutritious stuff. Don't take a chance with his nutrition. My first went right from the breast to a sippy at about 14 months, never took a bottle and then it was whole milk and watered down white grape. By then, she was eating a large variety of foods and the proper balance wasn't such an issue.

If I would you, I would wait. Let him BF as long as he can and start slowly introducing new things well after 6 months of ages. I can't say that you are hurting him but is a straw really the best thing for him? Enjoy your little one! He'll be two in the blink of an eye and refusing anything but french fries and chocolate like my boy!
posted by pearlybob at 5:17 AM on June 14

On Preview, also what Lullen said.
posted by pearlybob at 5:18 AM on June 14

The earliest recommended time for anything other than breastmilk/formula is 4 months, and there's a growing body of evidence showing that anything before 6 months is correlated with increased rates of celiac's and allergies, largely because the baby's gut is still developing and cannot possibly process anything else. Our ped (and many others) also suggest delaying gluten-containing grains even further (barley, wheat, oats). At three months old, he needs breastmilk/formula, and never anything else unless specifically prescribed for a condition.
posted by Dr.Enormous at 5:28 AM on June 14

Oh nuts: you might link your sources, but I'd bet good money that the "train them to drink with a straw" recommendation is for 12 month olds or thereabouts.
posted by Dr.Enormous at 5:30 AM on June 14

We'd like to leapfrog over both sippy cups and bottles

That's cool; neither are necessary. I went straight to an open cup; there was some competency by 9mo. Try plastic shot glasses or baby mugs with handles -- the Steadycup is a good product. Don't kid yourself about sippies vs bottles and spill-proof cups with soft straws; they are all basically variations on the bottle, and if you want to avoid the bottle you can just wait, and then be in the pleasant position of having a child who can and will drink from a milk carton with a plastic straw jammed in, a juice box, a real glass, all the same things you drink from and can find anywhere, rather than only one brand of spouted-top whatever.

But don't do this at the expense of nursing. "I'd like it because then I'd be able to feed the kid myself" is selfish. Fathers do no favours by trying to run interference with breastfeeding. Formula is not "ok" to use unnecessarily; exclusive breastfeeding offers health benefits that mixed feeding does not. This page on Why delay solids? is a useful read.

Wait a few more months and then start letting bub mooch out of your own open cups and straws. I did no "training" save just offering. Around 10mo I shared a drink of my own with a straw and discovered the kid could use a straw; no sugary incentives needed.
posted by kmennie at 5:48 AM on June 14 [1 favorite has favorites]

Thanks for the prompt answers. I forgot to mention that my wife has expressed milk a few times into the cup and the boy's sipped that through a straw. I'd like to be able to feed him myself for contingencies, if nothing else. We're going to be traveling with the tyke for a few weeks this summer, and though we're of course going to take it slow and easy, there may be a situation in which my wife might have difficulty feeding at a given time, so it would be good if he could use a straw cup. Expressed breast milk would be best, of course, and formula if necessary. And for what it's worth: the barley tea we bought from the baby store, and says "from 2 months" on the package. But we'll just focus on milk for now in any event.

Thanks all!
posted by zardoz at 5:59 AM on June 14

If there's any reason that she may be unable to nurse while you guys are away, then she should be pumping *now* so that there's an alternative. It's always a good idea to have a small stash of milk available for any unexpected occasions. Some exclusively breastfed kids may not take formula because, frankly, it's gross and doesn't taste like their usual milk (my son was like this--I was in the hospital unexpectedly and he refused the formula; Luckily I was able to have him come nurse). Definitely don't give juice in lieu of breastmilk. It's not a meal, it's just sugar.
posted by Lullen at 6:05 AM on June 14

We're going to be traveling with the tyke for a few weeks this summer, and though we're of course going to take it slow and easy, there may be a situation in which my wife might have difficulty feeding at a given time, so it would be good if he could use a straw cup.

In my experience (two breastfed babies, plenty of travelling while they were infants) away from home breastfeeding was actually much easier than any alternative could've been - no mess, no need to find a place to heat up bottles, no worries of (expressed) milk going bad or the waiter returning the bottle/sippy cup scalding hot, etc. I recommend the combination of good nursing clothing and a large scarf to span from the mother's shoulder to cover the baby. On quite a few occasions people nearby actually burst into laughter when I lifted the baby for the post-mealtime burp: they hadn't noticed I had a baby in there at all, let alone a feeding one. As far as I'm concerned, that should be discreet enough for most situations.

For the rest, I'm Nthing everything already said here about tea or juice, straws and sippy cups. But I also wanted to add that according to some breastfeeding acquaintances of mine, you could also try a spoon as an alternative for a cup or straw. Some babies learn to slurp the liquid from it quite neatly and efficiently. We occasionally tried the sipping method with our eldest mainly out of curiosity, using a soft rubber bottle cap first and later just a normal cup. She was a neat, careful baby so it worked, more or less (wouldn't want to rely on it in a pinch though), but with a fussier kid it might be a different story altogether.

Also, if you're using any alternative the baby isn't used to and comfortable with already, do NOT wait until he is already desperately hungry. The wee ones tend to lose all their sense of humour then.
posted by sively at 7:01 AM on June 14

Even if you are able to exclusively breast feed your child, it's not a bad idea to expose your baby to drinking expressed milk from a source other than a nipple a few times. I would try this towards the end of the feed, when your child has had a good feed and isn't feeing hungry, trying something strange when you child is hungry might stress them out.

the reason i think this is a good idea to try, is that you may need to feed your baby at some point, and if they have encountered a bottle (or straw) before, and have figured out its a font of milk, it will be a less stressful for them.


But I would not feed your child juice or tea.
And I would be concerned about the straw cutting or scratching the skin on the roof of your child's mouth, but I'm sure you'll figure it all out.
posted by compound eye at 7:02 AM on June 14

I suspect he'll be more excited about sweeter drinks.

This is a very, very dangerous road to go down.

The sooner you get him hooked on sugary foods, the more difficulty you'll have in feeding him stuff that isn't sweet later on. Saving yourself a couple weeks of effort now, at the expense of having to go through years of "eat your vegetables!" later, isn't a good tradeoff.

I agree with everyone else above that you're starting this way way too early, and for all the wrong reasons. If you'd like to feed the baby yourself, invest in a breast pump or switch to formula. (At least 6 months to a year of breast milk seems to be the current rule of thumb, but at least with formula he'd be getting proper nutrition -- not so with juice or tea.)
posted by ook at 7:55 AM on June 14 [5 favorites has favorites]

...So you want to use a straw because you want to have something that you can feed him with yourself when your wife isn't around.

forgive the obvious question, what's wrong with just using a baby bottle? That wouldn't require any "teaching him how to use it," and....that's kind of the purpose baby bottles were made for.
posted by EmpressCallipygos at 9:11 AM on June 14 [6 favorites has favorites]

I can't favorite ook's comment enough.

We introduced juice to our children when they were toddlers. In retrospect, this was a very stupid thing to have done. Juice is a nutritional zero and just amps them up with unneeded sugar. Our kids, thankfully, do eat vegetables and non-sweet foods, but the juice just doesn't contribute to their health in any positive way, at all.

Breast milk is nutritionally adequate at this age. I'd delay introducing juice, even if it is watered down, as long as you possibly can.
posted by cheapskatebay at 10:08 AM on June 14 [4 favorites has favorites]

The world has gotten so safe and forgiving that people actually stress out about this?

Have you people ever tried breast milk? It's liquid candy. Pretending that even coca-cola is going to get the kid hooked on sugar is nuts: breast milk is already one of the sweetest things you'll taste. It's way, way closer to soda than to cow's milk or spinach.

I wouldn't worry too much about the straw vs. cup vs. nipple thing. You're not going to create some sort of cup-drinking maniac by occasionally giving a baby something other than mom-juice. If breastfeeding is working, you'll have a hard enough time calling it quits as it is.

Stay on the breast milk as the primary (by far) source of food and gradually work in whatever else you want. Formula or milk or whatever the hell else seems healthy.

It's not rocket science. It's just a damn baby and they're a LOT harder to screw up than you think. Nature has given us a lot to work with. IMO, when a kid starts showing interest in Real Person Food, go ahead and slowly work it in.

FWIW, there are lots of studies you can reference, but if you know how research works you know that it's awfully hard to do legit studies on infants. Your average university IRB isn't exactly going to approve a study with a breast-milk-fed control group and a nothing-but-sprite experimental group.

There's a lot more culturally-biased crap science on babies than good science on babies.
posted by paanta at 1:30 PM on June 14 [2 favorites has favorites]

Please don't listen to paanta. Anyone who is comparing breastmilk to coke has absolutely nothing positive to contribute to this and has very little knowledge of infant nutritional needs.

Oh, and I didn't do a bottle or sippy cup with my son. He was drinking out of a cup (while I held it) at around 9 months. At that point, he was just taking tiny sips of water because it was fun for him (not to mention a bit of a relief in 90-degree heat). I didn't introduce a straw until a bit later because he would gag himself with it.
posted by Lullen at 2:12 PM on June 14 [1 favorite has favorites]

My little guy learned to drink from a straw at about six months. We didn't actively "teach" him how to do it; we just kinda stuck a straw in his mouth and he figured it out. It *is* handy when your kid doesn't need a fancy cup or bottle, although I will say that sometimes sippy cups are just plain convenient, too. We made sure that he was comfortable with a straw, then drinking out of an open cup, then let him use a sippy cup sometimes. (We use sippy cups without leak-proof valves to try to teach some responsibility.) Nuby makes some great straw cups with two handles for whenever your kid is ready to drink more.

(And, paanta is right--a lot of this "don't ever..." stuff is cultural.)
posted by wallaby at 3:50 PM on June 14

And for what it's worth: the barley tea we bought from the baby store, and says "from 2 months" on the package. But we'll just focus on milk for now in any event.

IIRC, barley tea for babies is used almost exclusively by scientologists, at the advice of L. Ron Hubbard. I'd be skeptical of its ability to replace breast milk, or even commercial formulas (but then, I'm generally skeptical ofpediactric advice given by sci-fi writers).
posted by PhoBWanKenobi at 5:46 PM on June 14

Just to clarify a bit more: my question was about leapfrogging bottles if possible. Seems a bit too much to ask, and I was wondering if someone out there had tried what we're trying. My wife actually seems reluctant to use bottles, as she's read about some women who switch from breastfeeding to bottles and some babies don't want to return to the breast. So you're then obliged to feed with formula from a bottle from that point. I tell her it's unlikely for that to happen but she's still hesitant. And besides, breast milk is, of course, better, so it's only a "problem" in instances when she needs to be away from the baby for long periods. So it's not a problem yet, and likely won't be, but I just want to cover my bases. If I can do so without using a bottle, great. And the straw cup we have has a very soft plastic straw, so there's no danger there.

PhoBWan, I don't know if you're joking about the Scientology thing, but I can assure you it's not the case with me. It's a Japanese thing, where barley tea (with no caffeine) is drunk regularly by babies and adults alike.
posted by zardoz at 6:05 PM on June 14

PhoBWan, I don't know if you're joking about the Scientology thing, but I can assure you it's not the case with me. It's a Japanese thing, where barley tea (with no caffeine) is drunk regularly by babies and adults alike.

Apologies for my cultural ignorance! I wasn't joking about Scientology (though it's pretty hard to find reliable internet sources on Scientology practices)--here's a discussion of it. Apologies again, though, as I was clearly jumping the gun.
posted by PhoBWanKenobi at 6:50 PM on June 14

Put your finger over the end of the straw to trap liquid in it. Then place the other end in your kid's mouth, and release your finger.

Very quickly, the baby will equate straw with an exciting opportunity to make a wet sloppy mess and will suck on it, and your work will be done.

However, there is no physiological reason to start this until the baby starts solids, unless you guys think there will be too many times when your wife will not be available to feed the baby herself between now and then.

I truly think her fears about nipple confusion are unfounded--I have never personally known anyone for whom this is a problem. I'm not saying it doesn't exist, I'm saying it's overstated to the point where it scares some women out of allowing themselves to be open to flexibility and scares others out of breastfeeding for more than a short time, if at all, out of fear that they will be chained to the kid with no respite.

(for what it's worth: I had one baby who would drink anything from any source, didn't care at all who it came from, and breastfed for 15 months, and another baby who never had a bottle in her life and weaned herself at 18 months. I've looked at life from both sides, now).
posted by padraigin at 6:52 PM on June 14

Once the child is 3 months, nipple confusion is generally not an issue. Major concerns arise when breastfeeding has not yet been established and a bottle is introduced. At 3 months, giving a bottle shouldn't cause any nipple confusion. You just need to make sure that you're not giving the bottle so frequently that she's losing her supply. That would be my biggest concern, but if it's really just for you to experience a feeding or to give her a break, then it shouldn't really be an issue. Padraigin's suggestion of putting your finger over the straw and letting your son suck it out the other end is a great one (once the child is a few months older.)

Sorry to keep posting, I promise to stop. I just can't stay away when I see breastfeeding myths! Good luck.

/LLL nut; sue me
posted by Lullen at 8:17 PM on June 14

zardoz: "So you're then obliged to feed with formula from a bottle from that point."

No you're not... you can express breast milk and pour it into bottles and feed breastmilk from bottles. A lady I babysat for who had twins did this.
posted by IndigoRain at 9:08 PM on June 14

Just trying to get this straight - I agree with Lullen that it seems you are concerned that your baby will have nipple confusion between breast and bottle so you are skipping to a straw at 3 mos? If that is the case please look into a session with a lactation consultant. Since you guys are very pro-breastfeeding it can only help to relax some of these fears and help guide you to do what works best for you AND the baby.
I am not a lactation consultant but have a fair amount of experience and knowledge in feeding babies of this age. There is no reason to be so worried about nipple confusion at this point, although occasionally older babies won't take the bottle so if you want to co-feed expressed breast milk you should theoretically introduce a tiny bit earlier with pump/bottle feeds. Still, it really should be fine.
Have her pump, then leave the room. You alone should feed the baby with the bottle. Believe me the baby will want to go back to the comfort of the breast when possible so that shouldn't be a factor.
posted by bhkart at 11:07 PM on June 14

Data point: My little guy started drinking from a straw at about 6 months, which was the first time we tried. He never used a sippy cup, mainly because it was easier for him to drink from a straw. Friends of ours have said that by 1 year old, their babies still couldn't figure out how to drink from a straw. So each baby is different, and yours may or may not figure it out.

But 3 months seems a little early to be trying with a straw.
posted by Simon Barclay at 6:43 AM on June 15