Tips for Parents: Bottles and Sippy Cups

Limit Bottles and Sippy Cups to Mealtimes!

Your baby’s teeth are important from day one.  To protect your baby’s smile, avoid giving your baby or toddler unlimited access to bottles and sippy cups.  As harmless as it may seem, allowing your child to drink from a baby bottle for too long can expose them to baby bottle tooth decay.  Infants should finish their naptime or bedtime bottle before going to bed, as liquids can pool in the mouth when babies are allowed to fall asleep with a bottle.  Fruit juice, milk and formula all contain sugar and when teeth are exposed to these sugars for a long time, decay can begin.

 

Most children are ready to learn to drink from a cup by their first birthday.  While sippy cups are a useful tool in helping children transition to the cup, they should only be used temporarily.  "No spill" cups contain a valve that does not allow the child to sip, but instead they must suck on the cup like a baby bottle.  This can defeat the purpose as it prevents the child from learning to sip.  Toddlers should also not be allowed to carry the

training cup around, as there is a risk of injury to the mouth if the child falls while walking and drinking at the same time.  Once the child has learned how to sip, the switch

to a regular cup can be made. 

For more information, visit our website at www.hudsonvilledental.com