Q&A:
Will using a sippy cup impair my 8 1/2-month-old's speech?

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Answered by Linda Jonides R.N., C.P.N.P.

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"I have worked as a pediatric nurse practitioner (P.N.P.) for over 30 years," says Linda Jonides. "I continue to thoroughly enjoy forming new relationships with parents and newborns and working with them through infancy, childhood, and adolescence."

Linda Jonides is a pediatric nurse practitioner in a private pediatric practice in Ann Arbor, Michigan. She received her Diploma in Nursing and Certificate as a Pediatric Nurse Practitioner from The Johns Hopkins Hospital. She is a past recipient of the Michigan PNP of the Year Award. She has a B.S. in Nursing from Eastern Michigan University. She has published articles and lectured on childhood obesity, infant colic, role of the P.N.P., growth and development issues, and infectious diseases. She was an author of "Clinical Insights Column," published biannually in the Journal of Pediatric Health Care for nine years. Jonides is past president of NAPNAP. Currently, she is a steering group work member of NAPNAP's HEAT (healthy eating and activity together) project. One outcome of this group's work is the clinical practice guideline, "Identifying and Preventing Overweight in Childhood," that was published as a supplement to the March/April '06 issue of the Journal of Pediatric Health Care.

Ms. Jonides has been married to John, a university professor, since 1971.

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Question

Will using a sippy cup impair my 8 1/2-month-old's speech?

Answer

That was just fine to start the cup as you did to have your daughter practice drinking from the cup. There is some evidence, however, that overuse of sippy cups may have similar effects to those associated with overuse, or longterm use, of bottles and pacifiers: It may cause problems with oral development, teeth alignment, and possibly speech.

The biggest concern is how much time a baby spends with that cup, bottle nipple, pacifier, or thumb in her mouth. As a baby approaches 9 to 12 months, ideally parents should try to limit the amount of time the child has any of those things in her mouth. So you want to avoid having your daughter cruising around the house with the sippy cup or bottle in her mouth. But certainly offering drinks from the cup at meals or snacks is very appropriate and will not cause problems. Try to wean her from bottles by 1 year or soon after, again for the same reasons to limit how much time she's sucking on those nipples. Also, by that age she should be getting more of her nutrition intake from solid foods and less from breast milk or formula.