Just like bottles and pacifiers, sippy cups can damage kids’ teeth too. Constant toting by toddlers can make them cause tooth decay. Yet, sippy cups can prove to be quite helpful as a transition tool to bottle from cup for young children and also lessen the amount of mess that children create while drinking from bottles as they come with removable valves that regulate the rate of flow of liquid. Though, they are not prone to orthodontic issues like overbites that occur mostly by bottles or pacifiers, sippy cups increase the risk of bad teeth when babies drink sugary liquids like juice and milk from them all the time and carry it around all day long. Here are some tips to use sippy cup in a way that they cannot ruin a child’s teeth:

* Clean the cup, lid and the stopper thoroughly clean the cup after use and do not let liquid be trapped in the nooks and crannies of a sippy cup and valve. Rinse it properly and periodically check lids and valves for any accidental damage or bacterial and moldy growth.
* Do not let the baby walk with the sippy cup in hand and nurse on it for hours on end.
* Do not use a sippy cup all the time but only at meals or when the baby is really thirsty, then you can give him water in it.
* Once your toddler learns to drink from the regular cup, wean him from the sippy cup totally. Fun straws and ‘Big Kid’ strategies may help.
* Only put pulp-free juices in the sippy cups as pulp may clog the plastic valve.
* Preferably, fill sippy up with water when the baby is going to bed because sugars in juice or milk can pool in his mouth at night and can be quite detrimental to the health of baby’s teeth.
* When the baby is eight months old, he may be given about half a cup non-citrus juice daily and when he is about one and starts drinking whole milk, he should be given no more than 24 ounces of milk and one cup of juice daily. A toddler who is to full at mealtime is at higher risk for developing cavities.