> Actually, its been my experience working for WIC, that many infants starting > on a cup do not do well with spillproof cups initially. They don't *get* it, > and it takes quite a strong negative pressure to get the liquid out. I > advise my mothers to take out the plastic thingie that makes it spill proof > and save it for when the child is a little older. This was my experience too with my one case (my daughter). She didn't "get" that milk or anything could come out of anywhere but mom. ;-) In the few cases where someone has cared for her when I've been absent (it's happened a handful of times, never more than 4 hours, never more than 2 before she ate anything solid!), when she was younger I always left a soft silicone spout sippy cup with my milk in it for her (1-3 oz usually depending on how long I'd be gone). When she was 8 mos and eating some solids, we started showing her how to use a sippy cup on her own, but not the kind that are no-spill...just a regular cheap one that dribbled when turned upside down. She always had the option of having it with her solid foods, with a bit of water in it (not too hard to clean up when spilled!). Around 11 months she finally understood after I made sucking noises and showed her a few times, how to drink with the sippy cup that was no-spill. It took 2 tries and she had it figured. Now I leave a no-spill sippy cup with water in it all the time on the edge of the table (she often lays it on the floor when done, of course!) and she can help herself when she's thirsty (she's 17 months almost). Water is all she ever gets besides "me" anyhow...but if she wants lots of water I let her have it (usually only on hot hot days). Fio. *********************************************** The LACTNET mailing list is powered by L-Soft's renowned LISTSERV(R) list management software together with L-Soft's LSMTP(TM) mailer for lightning fast mail delivery. For more information, go to: http://www.lsoft.com/LISTSERV-powered.html