My 6 Month Old - Kuna,ID

I started my son on sippy cups at 6 months. You should upgrade to a convertible car seat. You can find some that rear face to 35 pounds, and there's a new Graco seat (my ride 65) that goes to 40 rear facing. Like everyone else said, rear face until at least 1 year old.

I agree with the convertible seat, rear facing. As for the sippy cups, you can do it at any age, really. The Gerber Nuk with the soft spout seems the easiest transition, and actually, I still use it with my son when he is up and about even though he can now drink out of a cup.

For the carseat - he must still ride rear facing until 12 months. Make sure the one he's in is rated for up to 30 lbs and he should be fine.

For the sippy - I wouldn't give him a sippy at all. He's old enough you can start teaching him to drink from a regular cup. Start with a small cup with handles and just a very small amount of liquid (water, juice, or breastmilk/formula) and help him tip it up to his mouth. Expect it to take him a little while to learn, and a mess in the process, but in the end he'll be able to drink and you won't have to wean him from the sippy as well!

My son is almost 5 months old and weighs 22 lbs...according to our car seat it works up to 22 lbs, however we switched to a rear facing convertible one at 2 months because he was already sooo heavy. As for the sippy cup, you can do it now, some bottle brands make sippy cups that are easy for them to start on! Goodluck.

Upgrade your carseat whenever your child is big - either by weight or by height. My daughter has always been at the top of the height charts, so we had to upgrade her seat at around 6 months as well. As far as a sippy cup, give it a try! I don't think there's any hard and fast rule - every kid is different!

yes you can upgrade but the cars seat still has to face the rear of your car. I asked my peditricain the same question.

You can put him in a bigger car seat as long as you keep him rear facing , they cannot face forward until they can sit up unaided and must be at least 1 yr old. As for the sippy cup you can try to give him one now , he may be get on very well with it at the moment but there is no harm in trying , I found with my kids that until they were around 12-14 months they just played with the spout.

Hope this helps

K.

You can upgrade the carseat but it still has to be backward facing. Although he meets the weight requirement for forward facing he does not meet the age requirement. Both are set and they have to meet both before you turned them forward facing. So go ahead and upgrade just make sure the seat can be used both wayso you do not ahve to buy a third in 6 more months. Consider yuself lucky as my daughter did not hit 20 lbs till somewhere between 15 and 18 mths. I remember she was 21 lbs at 18 mths. YOu can certainely introduce the sippy cup. He wil till need the bottle for a while, I switched at 1 year to nothing but sippy. Till then at about 6 mths I started giving my daughter a sippy at meal time to start getting familiar and learn how to use them. It will take a litle time for them to get to get it. Once they get it down you can use it for juice or water and leave the bottles fro milk till he is about 1 year.

you could give him a sippy cup whenever you want. Its a good skill to learn. It'll take him a while ot figure it out, but there is nothing wrong with starting soon. On the car seat, he obviously now needs a convertible car seat, unless your infant carrier seat has a high weight limit. Until he is at least one year old he needs to be rearfacing... the longer the better. Most convertible car seats can be rear facing until your child reaches 35 pounds. The American Academy of Pediatrics is now officially recommending that children stay rear facing until age 2 if at all possible. Good luck.

I started my daughter on a sippy cup around 6 months old. It took her a couple weeks to finally get the hang of it. He most likely will just play with it at first but if you keep giving it to him he will soon figure it out.

>cups

Give him practice cups in the bath/shower where it doesn't matter if he spills. My kids loved this especially in the shower where they can easily refill the cup by putting it under the stream of water.

not at 6 months...but maybe at 9 months.

real cups or cups w/ straws attached to the side. Plastic, naturally.

Your little guy still needs to be rear facing. One year and 20 lbs is the MINUMIM to face forward but most car seats have been upgraded for extended rear facing up to 30lbs depending on the car seat. The spinal cord is protected better in the rear position. I can send you links of info on this topic...
You can start a sippy cup at any time. I did sippy cups at 4 months when I introduced juice to them.

I switched to rear facing car seat at 6 months since the baby-bucket was just too heavy to carry even though my kids still fit in it. Also, the Rubbermaid little sippers with the flip-up spout which has a straw to the bottom worked best at that age for my kids since all they have to do is bring it to their mouth, they do not have to tip it up like a sippie cup. I did have to make the valve that lets air into the sipper bigger by cutting some of the rubber away. The other post is correct that until they are 1 year old, regardless of weight (I believe) they need to be rear facing. We had to put rolled up towels under the carseat where the backrest of the carbench meets the seat of the car bench to fill in that dip otherwise baby seemed to be falling out of the rear facing car seat. Good luck.

Bree Ann,

The sippy cup question is definitely for your pediatrician. For safety concerns you should NOT turn your infant forward facing until he is 12 months AND over 20 pounds. Now would be a good time to find a good convertible car seat (one that is both forward and rear facing), however tempting DO NOT turn him around. He may be a big boy, but he is not ready to turn around. Talk with your pediatrician as well about this. He should have a well baby visit coming up! My 9 month old girl doesn't 'get' the sippy cup idea. They function differently than bottle. I wouldn't rush it. ;)

Be SAFE!
V.

You can upgrade carseats, especially if he's getting uncomfortable in the bucket seat, but you need to keep him rear facing for another six months so make sure you get a convertible seat that will fit rear-facing in your car. I think you can start a sippy cup at any time.

Hi Bre Ann - you have a healthy boy there! If you still have your son in an infant carrier, he's already outgrown it as they usually only support babies up to 20 pounds so it is time to buy a new seat. My youngest only lasted 9 months in his infant carrier.

I would recommend switching to a convertible car seat that will accommodate him up to 65 pounds if it will fit in your car. The majority of them only fit up to 40 pounds. You probably already know that he will need to be rear-facing until at least 12 months - some recommend longer.

You could start him on a sippy anytime. He will be messy with it at first but will get the hang of it quickly.