Learn how to teach baby to drink from a straw in minutes using one of three different tricks quickly and easily. Plus, discover the best straw sippy cup!
Any parent with a baby or toddler knows that there are a multitude of sippy cups available to choose from. It can be pretty overwhelming when you’re standing in front of a selection of 30+ cups. To make it more confusing, parents have the choice between the traditional spout shaped sippy cup or a no spill straw cup. My vote, as a therapist, is the straw cup. In fact, this is one of the first recommendations I make to families I am working with to improve feeding skills and even give sensory input. I know, you didn’t know the straw had so much power! To say this simply, straw drinking requires the use of different muscles and a more sophisticated motor plan, meaning it is a little more challenging.
Using a spout shaped sippy cup is the same sucking motion a child uses to drink from a bottle, so it isn’t progressing their skills much. You may be saying, “So what? What difference does it make?” Well, those straw drinking muscles they are using are the same muscles they need to manipulate food in their mouth better and say more speech sounds. Sure, a kid will still eventually get these skills, but by introducing a straw, you are laying a stronger foundation and they may master these skills sooner! In addition, straw drinking gives a lot of sensory feedback, the force it requires to suck can be very calming and organizing. Sounds great, right? By now, you are ready to run to the store and stock up! Before you hop in the car or click over to Amazon, there are a few things to consider first, like what kind of straw to use, what age you should introduce it, and how to actually teach a baby to drink from one (most of them need some help to get going).
When Can Babies Drink from a Straw?
Let’s talk about age first. Most babies are capable of being taught to drink from a straw at 9 months. Typically, toddlers will figure it out by age 2 on their own. I was able to teach my older son at 8 months and my younger son taught himself at 5 months! That was crazy, and I’m not trying to brag, he just kept watching his big brother do it and put it together on his own. I was pretty amazed when he reached for it one day and just took a drink like it was old hat. Although, that is pretty uncommon, potentially, it is possible.
One important word of caution, straw drinking can cause babies or toddlers to swallow quickly if they are sucking fast, which may make them cough and choke on the liquid. Swallowing is a very coordinated action that most of us take for granted, when something “goes down the wrong pipe”, liquid may actually enter our lungs and we begin coughing to get it out. It is okay if this happens occasionally, but if it happens often (and it could with babies), then you may need to lay off the straw for a little while or try putting thicker liquids into the cup (milk, milkshakes, or even applesauce) until they get the hang of it. Otherwise, they could end up with pneumonia. Also, make sure they are seated, it can get difficult for a toddler to manage walking and swallowing. If your child is greater than 15 months and still coughing frequently while using a straw, mention it to their doc.
How to Teach Baby to Drink from a Straw
Alright, so let’s get into the meat of this post… How to actually teach your child to drink from a straw. First of all, try and stick a regular straw in their mouth. It is important that it’s just a good old fashioned straw, because the no spill straw cups require you to suck really really hard. A baby may try to suck and when they don’t get anything instantly, just give up. Who knows, they may take to it right away, without any help from you. More likely, they will just hold their mouth open or put their mouth on it, but won’t suck. In this case, I would try the siphon technique:
1. Take the regular straw and stick it into a cup of water, so it is touching the bottom, and put your finger over the opening at the top. Keep your finger over the opening at the top so you are holding the liquid in the straw as you pull the straw out of the water, as I am doing in the picture above.
2. With your baby sitting firmly in a chair, hold the straw up over their open mouth and release the liquid so it falls into their mouth, being careful not to allow too much water to go in at a time.
3. Repeat this a few times, if your baby seems interested. If they aren’t up for participating, then try again on a different day. Hopefully your baby will start to close their mouth around the straw. If they aren’t, then stroke the sides of their cheeks and demonstrate so they can imitate you!
4. Once they are closing their mouth around the straw, keep your finger over the other end of the straw so they have to suck to get the liquid out. Keep putting more and more water into the straw so they are sucking more and more through the straw.
5. Now try putting the straw directly into the cup and letting them take a drink. Some will have figured it out at this point and won’t need any more help. If they go back to holding their mouth open, then start over and this time, when they start to suck the water out of the straw, flip the straw down into the open cup of water. This is a little tricky, you have to be fast. The idea is that you don’t break the sucking action and hopefully they start to make the connection that when they suck, they get a drink!
It may take several “practice sessions” before your babe masters this skill. If this approach isn’t working, I do have one more trick!
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Another Way to Teach Your Baby or Toddler Straw Drinking
You will need to get yourself a set of the Munchkin Take and Toss Straw Cup
(this is in the picture at the top, but the straw is different in my pic), they usually come in a four pack and are super cheap. For some reason, when the lids are placed on these cups, it creates a vacuum. Put the straw in the cup, with the lid tightly on and put the straw up to your kid’s mouth and squeeze the cup. The water will actually shoot right into their mouth! Do this gently, again, you don’t want them to get too much. Encourage the stroking on the face if they don’t close their mouth and of course, demonstrate! Therapy supply companies actually sell and market cups designed to help your child drink from a straw, if you are interested in those, click here
, they look like cute little honey bears and are a therapists favorite for sure.
Once they have mastered drinking from a regular straw, then it is probably a good idea to move to a no spill straw cup. Besides your own sanity, they have to suck harder to get the liquid out, which will decrease choking and coughing. As I mentioned earlier, there are a ton of cups to choose from. I don’t have any brand that I particularly love, and if they fall the right way, they all leak a little (so much for no-spill). Also, they are a total pain to disassemble and reassemble. In my house, we have one water cup a day and one milk cup a day that I keep in the fridge between meals. I do this just to minimize how often I have put these things together. I hope I’m not swaying you away from the straw though, they are worth it!
The Best Straw Sippy Cup to Get
I have a few that I like and have worked well, but follow the steps below to make sure you find a straw that works well for you and your baby or toddler.
1. Is it a skinny straw? Some have really wide straws which give too much liquid and don’t work the muscles as well. Definitely choose a skinny or thin straw.
2. Is it insulated? I prefer these for milk, but buy plastic ones for water. Although, it’s your preference.
3. Can you flip the straw inside? Meaning is their a lid that slide to cover the straw. This helps minimize germs while traveling, but obviously isn’t necessary.
I have tried and like Munchkin 
and Playtex 
varieties well enough, skinny straws are the most important feature. Most of these need replaced after 6-12 months though because the plastic straws start to wear down and tear. If you don’t want to deal with threading the straw through though after washing, this Playtex version is really easy.
Keep in mind straw drinking requires a lot of muscle control and coordination. If you are trying this with a child with low muscle tone, it will be much more challenging, and will probably take multiple attempts before they learn how to do it.
I would love to hear how it goes with your little babe, let me know!
And, if you’d like to grab a totally free printable with my top 9 Tips to Improve Feeding (this is perfect for establishing good eating habits from an early age) then click here.
More on Feeding Milestones
Mega List of Finger Foods for Babies and Toddlers
The Complete Guide to Feeding Milestones
How to Wean Your Baby from the Bottle
Why You Should Let Your Baby Get Messy
How to Keep Your Child Seated for Meals
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Alisha Grogan is a licensed occupational therapist and founder of Your Kid’s Table. She has over 19 years experience with expertise in sensory processing and feeding development in babies, toddlers, and children. Alisha also has 3 boys of her own at home. Learn more about her here.
I had my 6 month old out shopping and his aunt bought a fruit smoothie with a straw. My baby cried for it so we let him have a go at it and he was sucking out of it in no time! I just wanted to see if it was healthy for him to be using a straw cup and this article was perfect! Thanks 🙂
My pediatrician told me to use a sippy cup when my baby was 6 months. He didn’t like it and i bought different cups. When he was 7m i started giving drinks with straw as you mention here I started using my finger and straw to give liquid to my baby. Now. Is 10 months and he now drinks from a straw cup. Thanks for the advise now he is leaving the bottle to use straw cups…. ☺☺☺☺☺????
That’s great! Go baby go!
That’s great! Go baby go!
That’s great! Go baby go!
My pediatrician told me at her 6 month spot to start giving her juice in a sippy cup. I tried and she wasn’t interested but the next day she was interested and just took right to it like a champ! She figured it out so fast !
Thank you for this article. My four month old daughter refuses a bottle and I am stressed because I am going back to work soon. My oldest NEVER took a bottle and would cry every time we brought one out. I was lucky with her though and didn’t have to go back to work until she was eating mostly solids. I’m trying to figure out the best way to handle my four month old in this situation. I was thinking about trying a sport water bottle or a shot glass so she can eat something while I’m working. Do you have any suggestions? It seems too early to introduce a straw. I have three weeks until I return to work. Thanks!
I love this article! Trying to teach my 10 month old. Thank you for the help! I’m interested in getting the cups you mentioned, but would like to clarify, as there are 2 different products. Did you use The First Years take & toss cups, or the munchkin straw cups? I’m looking online & want to get the right ones that I can squeeze water out of…
Start with the take and toss!
Good article but I found the article by looking up what to do if your baby only drinks threw straws. My lo is 11 months and I introduced every sippy imaginable when he was 6 months and he wouldn’t take them. Then at 9 months he would take drinks from ppls straws and loves the adult straw cups with lids. I gave him a non spill straw cup and he refuses to use it. He also drinks from water bottles and cups but won’t do the nonspill cups either. Any sugestions on this one?
Good article but I found the article by looking up what to do if your baby only drinks threw straws. My lo is 11 months and I introduced every sippy imaginable when he was 6 months and he wouldn’t take them. Then at 9 months he would take drinks from ppls straws and loves the adult straw cups with lids. I gave him a non spill straw cup and he refuses to use it. He also drinks from water bottles and cups but won’t do the nonspill cups either. Any sugestions on this one?
Good article but I found the article by looking up what to do if your baby only drinks threw straws. My lo is 11 months and I introduced every sippy imaginable when he was 6 months and he wouldn’t take them. Then at 9 months he would take drinks from ppls straws and loves the adult straw cups with lids. I gave him a non spill straw cup and he refuses to use it. He also drinks from water bottles and cups but won’t do the nonspill cups either. Any sugestions on this one?
Good article but I found the article by looking up what to do if your baby only drinks threw straws. My lo is 11 months and I introduced every sippy imaginable when he was 6 months and he wouldn’t take them. Then at 9 months he would take drinks from ppls straws and loves the adult straw cups with lids. I gave him a non spill straw cup and he refuses to use it. He also drinks from water bottles and cups but won’t do the nonspill cups either. Any sugestions on this one?
It sounds like he hasn’t made the connection for what he needs to do, as those cups can be hard to drink out of. Playtex has a straw cup trainer that is no spill, but you can squeeze and have the water shoot up. He may need this to get the idea. If he won’t even accept them, try it in a fun no pressure way, especially in a different environment or out of his routine.
My 13-month-old daughter has a rare genetic disorder, so we get early intervention services already, currently PT and OT, but she will be evaluated for feeding/speech this week. She was mostly breastfed until I returned to work, when she was 5 months. She refused bottles until my very patient nanny got her to take the Munchkin Latch, which worked until she was collapsing the nipple, so we switched to Dr. Brown’s. She’s great with that, still takes around 20 oz of milk from those throughout the day. She never got the hang of sippy cups (she just chews on it and laughs), and at this age, I think we just need to move off bottles and skip sippy cups. I’m trying to get her to use a straw cup, started with the Zoli, but again, she just chewed on the straw. OT recommended the honey bear straw cup, but upon research, I found some other (less expensive) options that allow you to squeeze the liquid up, including the Toss and Go. We started with the Rubbermaid Litterless Juice Box this past weekend. Baby started by biting on the spout, but it’s a hard plastic, not soft like the Zoli straw, and eventually she closed her mouth around it and started sucking, which is great, exceptshe either lets the water run out of her mouth, or she actively spits it out (like she thinks it’s funny). Sometimes she’s blowing into the spout, so she’s blowing bubbles. Do we just keep trying, or do I now have a new challenge on my hands? Would it help to put milk in there for her, or just keep trying water for a while? Thanks for your advice!
That’s great Jen! I would try milk, it wouldn’t hurt and might be more motivating. Also, yes I would keep trying it will take a lot of practice. Give her lost of praise for anything she does that is in the right direction. Wishing you the best!
Thank you! Will try milk this week. She’s going to be getting feeding/speech therapy through early intervention, but that won’t get approved or started for a handful of weeks, I’m sure. So in the meantime, I’ll use any ideas or advice I come across in my own research. Thanks for your help.
hi, your post is quite motivating for me .As my baby never touched bottle at all , she 11 months now.So started with sippy cup she out rightly refused it then tried the bottle with straw.
She takes sips from the bottle but very few .she will start chewing it and then take one sip .She takes 10ml from straw
.So is that fine ? In one go she doesn’t drink it all .
Please advise as am getting very worried n frustrated about it .
It is important to keep trying, daily with the straw… actually at every meal. She just needs a lot of getting used to it. In the mean time it is great that she is taking some of it, albeit a small amount.
hi. My daughter is going to be ten months soon. She started drinking from a shot glass at 4 months and by the age of 6 months she started taking open cups. She refused bottles at 2 months and does not take sippy cups at all. I tried giving her straws but instead of sucking she chews and bites on the straws. I desperately want her to drink from the straw so that i can have a closed container for drinks, for travels, lesser spills. She wants to drink herself but is unable to hold the open cup properly and drink from it .
First, I would just keep trying every day. Give praise for anything she does in the right direction. Second, there are a variety of “open” no spill cups now that a rim and an inset lid that will prevent spills. In the mean time use that. I would also try the steps listed in this post about using siphening from a straw.
my toddler went straight to glass at 15 m old never took bottles or dummies and at 2.5 year old cannot use a straw for drinking. learnt how to use a straw for making bubbles in thewater glass and has been knowing for a couple of days how to drink from a sport bottle (non suck) but thats it. i prefer straight out of glass drinking any way. started with a shot glass.
Drinking from an open cup is an important and valuable skills too! And, a shot glass is a great idea.
My daughter ONLY uses a straw cup. When I tried to introduce the sippy she hated it. I even tried the soft spout and she wanted to chew it rather than drink from it. One day when we were at grandmas and I forgot the sippy, out of pure necessity I gave her some water with a straw and Eureka! She just turned 8 months and has been exclusively using straw cups for 2 months now. My question is a mom friend of mine insists that it is still necessary for her to learn how to use a sippy cup for later development. Is this true? I don’t see why?
That is totally false! The mechanics needed to drink from a sippy cup are the same as a bottle. It is awesome that she is drinking from a straw. Don’t worry about the sippy cup for another second.
Any tips on how to get an 11mo to actually drink the liquid he gets from a straw as opposed to spitting it all out? We’ve mastered the sucking involved in using a straw, but he never keeps any of the liquid in his mouth! I almost think it’s a game- he spits it out all over himself and laughs sometimes, or spits it really far and makes a mess. He cut back his formula intake to only about 12oz/day so I’d really like him to drink some water to help with hydration and constipation, but no luck! Thanks in advance!
I agree, he really needs to drink water. It sounds like he is going through a phase- don’t give it too much attention. If you need to I would use a sippy cup for a short bit so that he is getting some liquid and just keep offering the straw, tell him, “water stays in our mouth.” Or, “swallow”.