Letting 4 mos old have water?

My 4 month old daughter typically sits on my lap while I'm working
from home, eating, reading, etc. I'm commonly drinking (water or iced
tea) during these activites and in the past few weeks she's starting
grabbing at the glass with intent.

The other evening I was watching television with her in my lap (CSI,
it's educational, right? ), both of us facing the television. As
I'm moving my glass of water towards my mouth, she reaches out with
both hands, grabs the glass and starts moving it towards her mouth.
Now, _everything_ she grabs she puts in her mouth, so that's not
surprising, and I let her. Gnawing on the glass isn't going to hurt
her, and I'm still holding on the glass. But she doesn't just gnaw on
it, she put the rim in her mouth, and then starts tilting the glass
up. She then starts taking little sips of the water.

At this point, I can't drink without her trying to steal the glass
from me. When it's water, I let her. I thought she was supposed to try
and snatch my food before she took my drink! (She loves watching us
eat, but she hasn't tried to grab any food or utensils yet.)

Up to this point, she's exclusively been fed breastmilk. I don't see
any need to start her on anything else, as she seems happy and is
developing well. I plan on starting her on other foods around 6
months.

I know she shouldn't drink water instead of eating, and I know she
gets all the fluids she needs from breastmilk. But ... is there
anything wrong with letting her experiment with a cup of water? (I
struggle with pumping enough milk for her when she's at daycare, so
I'm not eager to give her a cup w/ even just a couple ounces of
breastmilk in it, only to have her dump it on herself )

I've thought of looking into a sippy cup for her. Are there any good
sippy cups that I could put breastmilk in and be fairly confident she
wouldn't be able to dump it out?

Anyone have any opinions/experience as to whether or not she'd be as
interested in experimenting with a sippy cup as she is with *my* cup
that I'm currently drinking from?

I'm afraid I'm going to have to give up iced tea, to make sure I don't
accidentally let her have a sip of *that* instead of water!

Leigh

our 5 month old did similar, I was really impressed to see him lift the
glass to his mouth, the only help was dh supporting the weight and sip it,
he did then spit it right out!

They don't need water, nbut if they want to practice I don't think there
is any harm, you could get an avent magic cup, they are from 6 months, but
they do a softer spout that you can buy seperately, that I think says from
3 months.

Perhaps she would like handles on her bottles for day care too?

Leigh McCuen wrote:

is there
anything wrong with letting her experiment with a cup of water?

Caterpillar gets an open 2-handled cup in her bathtub, and
she drinks some (anywhere from a little sip to 2-3 gulps)
once every 2-3 baths. She was a little older than your DD
when we let her have a cup. My parents sometimes give her
the same cup with its valveless sippy lid with a little
water, which usually makes her mad because she can't feel
the water with her tongue before it dumps in her mouth.

Phoebe
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My dd (13 months) has been going after my "sippy cup" of water for as long
as she could grab things (probably began around 4 months too). I always let
her sip my water as much as she wanted. Not much actually made it in and it
never seemed to affect her appetite. I think it's good that they get used
to the taste of water, so they may be more likely to enjoy it as they get
older, rather than sugary drinks.

Leann