What’s the Deal with Sippy Cups?

Feeling overwhelmed by all the toddler cup options? You’re not alone! Parents often ask:

“What cup is best?”
The answer? There’s no one perfect cup.
Research doesn’t show that one type of cup affects speech, swallowing, or eating more than another.

So don’t stress — the goal is progress, not perfection!

🧃 Sippy Cup Styles at a Glance

✅ Therapist Tips for Smart Sippy Cup Use

• 🚫 Avoid sugary drinks. Stick with water or milk. No soda, and limit juice!
• ⏱ Teach short sips. Encourage drinking for a few seconds, then putting the cup down.
• 🥄 Try open or straw cups by age 1. Great for oral development!
• 🛁 Practice in the bath. Learning with water means no stress over spills.

📆 When to Introduce

• Start between 6–9 months.
  Your baby should be sitting independently and starting solids.
• Wean off bottles by 12–18 months.
  The American Academy of Pediatrics recommends saying goodbye to bottles to reduce the risk of dental issues.

🚫 When to Ditch the Sippy Cup

• By age 2, transition to:
  • Open cups
  • Straw cups
  • 360 cups

These support healthy oral motor development and set the stage for lifelong drinking habits.

💬 Final Thoughts

Sippy cups are tools — not a permanent solution.
Use them to support your child’s independence, but start practicing open and straw cup skills early on.

With a little patience, you’ll help your child develop confident, healthy drinking habits!

Need more help with feeding or cup transitions?
Talk to your pediatrician or a feeding therapist for personalized guidance.

Soon you'll be reading all kinds of awesome posts from us. Everything from amazing resources available to you to tips and tricks to do at home! Looking forward to hearing your feedback!

Sensory bins are plastic bins that are filled with various items. Typically, they include dried beans, dried rice, packing peanuts, sand, or water beads. Ideally if you can find a plastic bin with a lid on it, it will make clean up, storage, and transportation of the sensory bin that much easier.

Sensory bins provide sensory input to a child’s hand and upper extremities. In addition, items can be added to the sensory bins to work on specific goals.

For example,

• To work on Sensory Play with a sensory bin hide items inside the bin (puzzle pieces, small toys, small figurines, Lego pieces, etc.) Next have your child close their eyes and feel around in the sensory bin until they find the hidden items. While doing this, children are receiving lots of sensory input to their hands and upper extremities while having to be aware of what they are touching and notice differences in the items in texture, shape, size, etc.
• Fine motor skills are another area that can be addressed while playing in a sensory bin. To work on fine motor skills with a sensory bin, try the following:
  • Practice using a pincer grasp (thumb and index finger) to pick up items in the sensory bin as opposed to use a scooping fist grasp. By picking up different items with a pincer grasp, children are able to develop their fine motor coordination. Picking up item like dried beans, dried rice, and packing peanuts with a pincer grasp provide a good challenge. For an extra challenge, try picking up water beads with a pincer grasp as water beads are slippery and smooth and tend to easily slip out of our hands as we try to pick them up.
  • Practice scooping items up with a spoon. Practice using a spoon to scoop up the contents of the sensory bin and then practice spoon control by either slowly turning the spoon over to pour out the contents back into the sensory bin or by transferring the contents of the spoon to another container. Working on these skills with a spoon in a fun play setting will help the child when they are feeding themselves with a spoon.
• Add an extra challenge to puzzles by hiding puzzle pieces inside the sensory bin. Now your child will get to practice the visual motor skills of putting together a puzzle, in addition to locating the pieces hidden inside the sensory bin.
• To work on visual tracking and visual scanning hide some items in the sensory bin but leave part of them exposed and practice playing “I spy with my little eye.” This will help your child with their visual tracking and scanning as they need to visually scan the entire contents of the sensory bin to try and find the desired item.

The possibilities are truly endless with sensory bins. Give them a try and if you have any questions, don’t hesitate to ask your therapist.

Mike Jankowski, MS, OTR/L

Occupational Therapy Director