When Baby V was five months old, he rejected the bottle teat. There was more than a month of unsuccessful attempts to feed him using a soft spout. Over one weekend in August, I chanced upon an article entitled “What to Feed the Baby When the Mother is Working Outside the Home” by Dr. Jack Newman, on the website of Breastfeeding Mothers’ Support Group (Singapore). It suggested feeding through an open cup and it suddenly occured to me to try using the Medela Disposable Baby Cup Feeder, which the hospital has given me when I delivered Baby V. (They are also available at a pack of ten at Robinsons, The Gardens.)
During lunch, I offered about 5ml of expressed breastmilk (EBM) to Baby V via the Medela cup. He sipped it, recognised it as his usual drink, finished the entire serving after several sips (some dribbled down from his lips) and wanted more!
What a simple and inexpensive solution! I should have saved the money spent on buying the cup with soft spout, which is essentially a bottle too.
Now I can sleep well knowing that someone else can take over feeding Baby V when the need arises.
Pros:
- Feeding lip allows baby to drink milk without much spillage
- Made of rather thick plastic — the cup can be reused even though its name says ‘disposable’
Cons:
- Needs a caregiver to feed baby from the cup
- No cover, so I store the cup in a mini Tupperware container
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Hi MieVee,
Chanced upon your website while doing some research. My 3.5 month-old boy is rejecting the bottle and I’m now thinking if I should try another teat or maybe use a sippy cup. But now that I see your article, I thought maybe I could give this a cup try. My question is, though the cup is supposed to be the disposable type, you did say that it can be reused. If that’s the case, how do you clean it? Can it be sterilised in a steriliser?
Thanks!
Ruth
Hi Ruth, when my boy used the cup, he was above 6 months old, so I washed the cup clean and did not sterilise it. You may refer to Medela’s FAQ here. It does not address if the disposable cup can be sterilised, so consider dropping the customer service a message. If the cup is to be sterilised, also check that it is made of non-BPA material. Hope this helps. Happy breastfeeding! 🙂
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If only i knew of this product earlier! our hospital used those medicine cup to cupfeed the baby who cannot latch on in the hospital and i was given a few when i went home. but as they are not re-usable, i couldn’t find alternatives when they were all used up. now i know!
HI Regina, my friend also used medicine cups to feed her baby, but I’m not sure if the plastic quality can be sterilised in steam though. I’ve to thank the hospital for giving me the 2 sample cups, which came in useful many months later. 🙂
I had the same problem with my 5 month old. I did the exact same thing as you yesterday and she drank about ten mls. I have been trying to get her to take a bottle for over 3 weeks which still she dispies. I think i have found a solution being this. Great to know im not the only one. And yes i have steralised mine.
Hi MieVie,
Wondering what is the capacity of these cups?
Thanks!
Hi Aditi, sorry, I don’t have a sample of the cup now. Please ask any online seller. Thank you and all the best!