Around 6 months, your baby can begin learning to drink from a cup alongside starting solids. Before this age, babies generally don’t need extra fluids beyond breast milk or formula. From around 6 months, you can offer small sips of cooled boiled water in a cup at mealtimes while they practise, with breast milk or formula still remaining their main source of hydration through the first year.
And just to set expectations early: it will be messy.
Not “a little dribble and a dainty sip” messy. More “why is the tray wet, the bib wet, the floor wet, and somehow the dog involved?” messy.
That’s normal.
Cup drinking is a learned skill. Babies are gradually developing the oral-motor and postural skills needed to manage liquid safely and efficiently — things like jaw stability, lip closure around the rim or straw, grading how much liquid comes into the mouth, and coordinating swallowing. These skills don’t arrive fully formed at 6 months. They develop with practice, repetition, and plenty of low-stakes opportunities to try.
Why introduce a cup from around 6 months?
Because this is when many babies are developmentally ready to begin practising alongside solids.
Not to replace breastfeeds or bottles overnight. Not to prove your baby is an advanced scholar of hydration. Just to start learning.
Offering a cup from around 6 months gives your baby the chance to explore a new motor skill while mealtimes are already becoming more varied. Open cups and straw cups can both be helpful here, and many babies benefit from exposure to both over time. Open cups help babies learn to sip and manage the flow of liquid from the cup rim, while straw cups support a different drinking pattern and can also be a useful option in everyday life.
Which cup should you start with?
You really do not need a 14-step cup journey with a separate spreadsheet.
A small, lightweight cup that is easy for little hands to hold is a great place to begin. Open cups are often recommended from early on because they allow babies to practise sipping directly from the rim and learn how liquid moves. If you’re using a cup with a lid, a free-flow option is generally more supportive for skill development than a no-spill valve that requires hard sucking or biting.
Our Joyfull Soft and Sleek Silicone Cup is a lovely option for open cup practice. It’s soft, lightweight, easy to grip, and a good size for little hands just starting out.
Our Joyfull Sippin’ Silicone Cup with Straw is another great choice for babies learning a different drinking pattern. Straw drinking can be a helpful skill to build alongside open cup practice, and having both options available gives your little one the chance to explore, practise, and find what feels manageable.
What should go in the cup?
For babies aged 6 to 12 months, think small sips of cooled boiled water at mealtimes, alongside breast milk or formula feeds. Sweet drinks aren’t recommended, and cow’s milk should not replace breast milk or formula as a main drink before 12 months.
Sometimes, in feeding therapy or with children who are finding cup practice especially tricky, a slightly thicker liquid may be easier to control because it moves more slowly than water. That can reduce the speed of the flow and make the whole experience feel a little less chaotic in the mouth. But for most babies starting out, tiny amounts of water in an open cup at meals is the usual and sensible place to begin.
How to introduce cup drinking
Keep it simple.
Start with just a small amount of liquid — truly a small amount. A splash in the bottom is plenty.
Sit your baby upright and well supported, either in a highchair or on your lap. Good positioning matters when babies are learning any new feeding skill. A stable body makes it easier to use the mouth and hands well.
Then:
Bring the cup to their lips slowly.
Let them feel the rim or straw.
Tip the cup gently.
Aim for one tiny sip, not a full serve.
At first, you’ll likely be doing most of the helping. Over time, you can gradually reduce your support:
- first you hold the cup,
- then you help them hold it,
- then you support the base while they do more of the work,
- and eventually they’ll take over.
That progression is exactly what we’d expect from a developing motor skill. It is not supposed to look polished on day one.
Open cup or straw cup?
This is not a custody battle. You do not have to choose one forever.
Both can be useful.
An open cup helps babies learn to sip from the rim and manage how liquid enters the mouth. A straw cup gives them practice with a different oral-motor pattern and can be practical for everyday use once they’re getting the hang of it. Many families like offering both so their child can build flexibility and confidence across different cup types.
That’s why having both the Joyfull Soft and Sleek Silicone Cup and the Joyfull Sippin’ Silicone Cup with Straw can be a really helpful setup. One supports early open-cup learning, and the other gives your baby the chance to practise straw drinking too.
A few helpful tips
Keep the liquid amount small. Less liquid = less heartbreak.
Offer regular practice. Tiny, repeated experiences are far more useful than one random attempt every few weeks.
Let your baby explore. Mouthing the cup, tipping it, banging it, staring suspiciously at it — all part of the process.
Praise the attempt, not the amount swallowed. Learning matters more than performance.
And expect spills. The mess is not evidence that they’re bad at it. The mess is evidence that they’re learning.
The takeaway
Cup drinking is a skill, not a switch.
Starting around 6 months gives your baby the chance to begin practising in a developmentally appropriate way, alongside solids and with lots of support. A small open cup is a great place to start, straw cups can be a wonderful addition, and the goal early on is not perfection. It’s practice.
So if your baby takes one sip, pours the rest on themselves, and looks personally offended by the whole experience?
Completely on track.