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Post by MB on Jan 24, 2007 16:35:57 GMT -5
Our son, who is now fifteen, needs a drink with him at night. The open mouth breathing is very hard on him. For years he used a sippy cup because he could grab a drink half asleep and not spill on himself. I stole his idea and use it whenever I have a bad cold and know I am going to wake up with that dry throat from breathing through my mouth. He now uses the insulated coffee cups for cars or a water bottle.
mb
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Post by dannysmom on Jan 24, 2007 18:12:28 GMT -5
Trisha, I didn't realize our boys were so close in age...my Daniel is 19 months. I'm not sure if I've posted this before, but this is what we used to get Daniel on the straw. I'll tell you, it took many attempts, but once he figured it out, it wasn't long before we could get rid of the bottle completely. I like it because it's the same concept of the juice box (you can squeeze it to make the juice come up) but you can put inside whatever you want. It also sealed shut so I didn't have to worry about it spiling. Good luck
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Post by kellyds on Jan 24, 2007 19:24:51 GMT -5
Joshua is still on the breast, but when I give him other things to drink, he uses a straw. I started him on all different sizes and shapes of straws when he was about nine months old. It made sense to me, because they utilize straws for speech therapy. He's now an expert straw sipper. I have to hold the straw or glass for him, though. He'll be two next month.
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Post by CC on Jan 24, 2007 19:43:36 GMT -5
Chris never used the sippy cup as at the time his therapist were all NOOOO you can't use that. Whatever they said it was bad for his speech later on Hmmmm Now not to be funny really BUT his speech is his hardest hit area and like I said he never used a sippy cup, so not sure. Kodi used one as a babe and her speech is just fine so to me its like when they say Don't eat eggs they are bad for you but then some time passes and they say Oh Eggs are good for you, KWIM Anywhoo now that I have rambled on bout sippy cups, LOL Chris learned to drink from straws by using the juice boxes I would gently squeeze them and the juice would reach his mouth and honestly he took to it very quickly. Kind of messy in the beginning but once he got the straw thing down we went to plastic cups with a lid and a place for the straw. Actually my boy is 14 and loves to drink from a straw a bit way to much. He can drink from a glass but prefers a straw. He is so funny when ever we are out and he orders his meal he makes sure to order that "Straw" to go with his drink. Always a line item for him LOLOL So hows things going, any luck with the straw drinking yet?? CC ~
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Post by Cbean on Jan 24, 2007 23:08:20 GMT -5
Well CC, the speech therapists still hate the sippy cups. Emily's hates them just for the fact that it's another thing you will need to "train" them out of. Now in case you're still looking for ideas Trish, here's how we got there: First we started out with aquarium tubing. The perfect width came in a vacuum kit that you can get at all pet stores. Cut the tubing to fit your needs. I would cut it on a slant and then pearce a juice box with it. That way you could squeeze the fluid out. Meanwhile the tubing was wide, so Emily didn't have to pucker too tightly. Then her therapist started to use a SipTip cup. The top works like a plunger, just press it and the juice comes up. arktherapeutic.com/Merchant2/merchant.mvc?Screen=PROD&Store_Code=ATSI&Product_Code=OWSA3AR&Category_Code=Sip-tips-cip-kups-cupsThere's a lip block that she attached to it. It helps by getting them to place the straw midline and on the toungue right. (This thing is worth it's weight in gold!) Also keeps them from shoving the straw too far into the mouth. Still using this at home to keep her in the middle. Gotta make sure they're not drinking from the side. arktherapeutic.com/Merchant2/merchant.mvc?Screen=PROD&Store_Code=ATSI&Product_Code=LPBL106AR&Category_Code=Sip-tips-cip-kups-cupsOne day while visiting a friend I was watching her put a drink together for her daughter. She complained of the juice shooting out of the straw. AHA! Cheaper version of the theraputic cup! Take 'n toss by the First years. Plus they come in Sesame Street, Barney, Thomas, Nemo and more! www.learningcurve.com/wps/portal/!ut/p/kcxml/04_Sj9SPykssy0xPLMnMz0vM0Y_QjzKLd4w39DQCSZnFG8Q76keCqABDmIChkSu6kLEpXMTXIz83FSgeaQ7kG1mY64foRzrB-KaGJih8IwsLNHlDCD9IvyA3NDSi3NACAh0VAS2u1ro! This cup with the lip block did the trick. The lip block kept her lined up and I would press the lid to get the juice into her mouth. OH! You might have to add a T&A and Tubes into the mix there. That was what forced her into nixing the bottle and going to the straw. Now I don't have to worry about her getting thirsty while we're out. Can always get a drink with a straw. Oh and juice box straws aren't a problem either. I guess once you get it, you get it!!! Ark Therapeutics is a great source for tools. They are sooo nice there. Spoke with them on the phone and they couldn't be more helpful. They know they're products and suppliers! Check 'em out at arktherapeutic.com We are at age appropriateness on two things: Straw drinking and bad two year old attitude. JOY!
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Post by Kristin on Jan 25, 2007 0:58:22 GMT -5
On the advice of my daughter's infant development teacher we went from bottle to open cup. It was messy and time consuming. The reason for skipping the sippy cup was that it was the same sucking motion as a bottle or straw. They wanted her to learn to sip and swallow. We took a small cups and carved out a "U" shape about halfway down the cup. This meant the cup held only a little at a time, but it allowed me to see the positioning of her mouth and how much liquid was coming in contact with her lips. We could control how much liquid went in to keep her from choking or drowning. It was a slow way to give her a drink, but did have her drinking from an open cup before she turned two. Our pediatrician strongly advised to be away from bottles by age 2, if not sooner. Her reasoning had to do with dental issues.
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Post by laurasnowbird on Jan 25, 2007 10:29:04 GMT -5
This was something we really stressed about. Ethan was still using a bottle at 18 months, and I knew from attending one of Sara Rosenfeld-Johnson's (TalkTools) seminars and knew that using a sippy cup was not a good option for him. She explained that kids use a sippy cup and suckle with it, like a bottle, which keeps them from developing the muscles used for speech. It also worsens tongue thrust because the tongue is thrust forward under the spout.
I obsessed about what to do, because Ethan had issues with being easily dehydrated, and I was really afraid to get rid of the bottles cold turkey. But he absolutely refused to even TRY any other kinds of straws or cups, so I didn't feel we had any other option. We waited until the heat of the summer was over, then threw away the bottles one day. I was freaking out, because he has constipation issues, and we have to make sure he gets lots of fluid.
I even made a chart to mark the number of wet diapers he had as we started this, because if he wasn't wetting enough, I was giving the bottles back! We took them away, and the first day he drank nothing. We fed him foods with lots of water. The second day, he finally consented to try the talk tools honey bear, and caught on like a champ. By the third day, he was drinking from it like he'd been doing it for months. Couldn't believe it!
I do think that with many things, the longer you let it go on past the age when a typical child would have developmentally moved past it, you are setting yourself up for trouble. Our kids are so dang stubborn that they get in some pretty deep ruts if allowed to do so.
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Post by trishasmom on Jan 25, 2007 13:59:29 GMT -5
I'd like to warn about using straws. For some children the straws cause them to take in too much air as they are getting their liquid and causing other problems. My daughter is not supposed to drink from a straw because she has aerophasia (sp) which causes her to what I call spit up after she eats and causing her to have a lot of bloating which as we all know isn't a good feeling. She rarely drinks from a straw but when she does she learned it well, and after she eats she is supposed to sit still for at least 5-10 mins before being active to reduce the spit up regardless if she uses a straw or not. But for the bottle I totally agree with the other parent who said follow their cues as to when they are ready. It's the same for toilet training, you get a better response when they are ready than you do when you try to make them be ready. When my grown typical child was small and still on the bottle I caught him at the fridge with his bottle open and pouring more milk in. I looked at him and said if you can fill your own bottle then you can drink from a cup and asked him to throw it away. He did with no problem so I knew he was ready. If he hadn't then we would have waited a bit longer. Oh by the way, more milk was on the floor than in his bottle. :-)
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Post by andrewsmom on Jan 26, 2007 7:02:53 GMT -5
Wow...it seems like I wrote this post soooo long ago now. Andrew was only 17 months at the time. Andrew is now 2...soon to be three in March. He finally got the hang of using a straw about a month ago...YEAH!!!!! Now if I can just get him not to pull the straw out of the drink, we'll be all set!! LOL!
For anyone starting the straw...don't give up.....it will happen! ;D
-Trisha
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Post by dannysmom on Jan 26, 2007 11:08:17 GMT -5
OMG that is so funny. I thought your little guy was older than mine!! I never thought to look at the date the thread was started!! I just responded to it. LOL!! My son was 8 weeks old when this was started!!
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