OT question about sippy cups

[las3888]

When was your DC able to drink from a real cup and not a sippy cup? We have been working on this for a while for a few months but haven't made much progress. I haven't pushed it too hard...DS is approaching 2. I see other kids in play groups who can drink from a real cup and others who can't. DS has picked up things on the quick side, but this is not coming that easily to him. Any ideas of when I should really push it, as well as any tips or advice?

Thanks alot!

 

[Steph9072]

My ds was two in October. He still dribbles if given a regular cup. The only time I allow him to try is at the table. He is given sippy cups when he is in his play room or in the family room. Shoot I still give my six year old dd a sippy depending on what she is drinking just to prevent stains.

 

[TheDizMom]

Don't push it. He's still pretty young. My DD is just now reliable with a regular cup and she is almost 6. I never really used the regular cup until they were about 4 and only then at the table. I still give my DD a sippy when she isn't going to be at the table and she wants something that may stain. Heck my DS who is 10 still spills on a regular basis. As a matter of fact I think my DD spills less then he does. I say if you want to work on it do it at the table and the rest of the time use the sippy cup, if for no other reason then your own sanity. Don't we have enough cleaning to do already.

 

[northriver]

I'm always the odd mom out on the sippy cup issue. At our house sippy cups are for water. I do milk in real cups - mostly so they don't get 'lost', finding those missing milk sippy cups totally creeps me out. Several times a day we migrate to the linoleum kitchen with bib on and mop handy, and drink milk from a real cup. She can spill all she wants - I expect spills, so there is no pressure. Practice makes perfect! We started this at 12 months, and DD is still dribbling at 20 months. But she does well enough that I don't have to drag a tippy cup with us everywhere we go.

Good luck! Like many life skills, they will certainly learn before they get to college so don't stress about it!

 

[Not so Dumbo]

I think my boys were around 2.5 when we started letting them drink from reg. cups for mealtime at the table. They still used sippy cups through the day.

OT- I'm trying to get DD to start using a sippy cup. For the life of me, I can't remeber how I did it with the boys. It's a Gerber sippy with the sucky spout. She puts it up to her mouth but doesn't know she has to suck to get the juice out.

 

[becca011906]

double post sorry.

 

[becca011906]

Not judging at all or saying this is the right way for every family but this is how cups/glasses/sippy worked with each of our kidos. Every child is differant and family situration is differant.

My oldest started a cup (non sippy) at 5 months old, when he started day care when i was in school, we were breastfeeding and he wouldn't take a bottle, even kids as young as days old can be cup fed... he stoped using a sippy cup all the time when he was 3.5 y/o and started preschool, he's preschool also ONLY used cups w/out lids, so he got use to it often.
My middle dd started a cup at about 13 months (never had a bottle), sippy cup gone at 3 y/o b/c she started preschool and again wasn't able to use it there so why should she at home...
My youngest used a cup around 6months when i started working part time, and used a sippy about 15 months old (again never had a bottle), she is now 2.5 and still uses a sippy about 2-3 times a day w/ water only too. at the table and if she wants milk or juice it goes in a glass that stays at the table.

 

[NEVERENOUGHWDW]

16 months......but using a straw

 

[tjmw2727]

We started cups at about 18mos - 5oz dixie cups about half full with meals and snacks. I would refill as often as necessary until they got the hang of it.

TJ

 

[SummersMom]

I'm always the odd mom out on the sippy cup issue. At our house sippy cups are for water. I do milk in real cups - mostly so they don't get 'lost', finding those missing milk sippy cups totally creeps me out. Several times a day we migrate to the linoleum kitchen with bib on and mop handy, and drink milk from a real cup. She can spill all she wants - I expect spills, so there is no pressure. Practice makes perfect! We started this at 12 months, and DD is still dribbling at 20 months. But she does well enough that I don't have to drag a tippy cup with us everywhere we go.

I guess that makes me the odd mom out also. We only did sippy cups in the car with water. Everywhere else we used regular cups from the get-go. DS started at about 8 months and before he turned 2 I could trust him with a full glass, unsupervised. I have to say I'm thankful that I skipped the sippy cups with DS, it took me forever to get DD off them.

 

[KayR]

I used to love sippy cups for my DS (now 6) but we discovered at 2 that he was speech delayed and that he had weak motor skills around his mouth. The speech therapist said don't use sippy cups - especially the ones with the valves in. It teaches them to suck incorrectly and if a child has an issue with the motor skills round the mouth, it does not help. There are articles on the increase in the number of children that need speech therapy since sippy cups were introduced. Obviously the sippy cup manufacturers deny that there is any link.

Too be on the safe side DD(now 2) never had a sippy cup with valve. We used the straw cups for the longest time - she could use a straw from 6 months. At the table she uses a regular cup - she isn't perfect, but does very well. For car journeys we now use the throwaway/reusable cups with the lid - but only after she was talking up a storm and we knew there were no speech issues.

Speech therapists recommend regular cups or ones with straws.

 

[kinntj]

My DD is 4 and still uses a sippy around the house. Once my youngest DD turns 3 (in a month) we'll be slowly getting rid of sippys and just use regular cups. It's disgusting to find old sippy's under the bed or in the car on the floor. YUCK! I think a few spills would be better than that.

 

[tjmw2727]

My DD is 4 and still uses a sippy around the house. Once my youngest DD turns 3 (in a month) we'll be slowly getting rid of sippys and just use regular cups. It's disgusting to find old sippy's under the bed or in the car on the floor. YUCK! I think a few spills would be better than that.

Yes - with my first we had the sippie cup with juice or milk around the house and yech. By the time my second dd was done with a bottle there was no sippie for her and drinks were only at the table just like dh and I.

TJ

 

[MSSANDRA]

A great place to pratice the real cup is the bathtub. A cup of whatever to begin or end the bath and no issue if it spills. just be sure to take the cup out so there are no "bath water refills"

 

[las3888]

Thanks all for your posts! What great advice! I love the bathtub advice, and am in agreement with real cups at table, and maybe sippy cups as a snack in the afternoon etc. after all, who wants to stain their carpet...

Anyways, after reading the responses, I realize my concern is more with the fact that DS will not drink from a real cup at all and like I said, he is approaching 2. I am not trying to make this his one and only standard, I just can't get him to do it really at all. I have tried dixie cups, real cups, and cups with his favorite characters. He just has a really hard time getting the lip of the cup in his mouth and then tipping it. I am not trying to be hard on him...it's just like I said..most his age that I have seen in play groups, etc. are able to do this and he just doesn't get it...just wondering if there was any way to get him to improve.

Thanks again for all of your helpful posts!

 

[va32h]

Hang in there, he will get it. Every child has something that it takes them awhile to get the hang of. My oldest daughter couldn't "pump" herself on the swing until she was six! And my son doesn't hold a pencil correctly, no matter how many little pencil-holding gadgets we try. My youngest is presently struggling to figure out how to pedal a tricycle.

Just keep offering the cup in a no-pressure environment and stay positive if there are any spills.

 

[bunnysmum]

As a speech-language pathologist, I agree with the previous poster who mentioned that sippy cups are particularly an issue for children who have any kind of oral-motor and/or speech issues.

I was a big sippy cup offender myself with my dd (now 7), because I didn't want the spills on the carpets, etc. But she never had any kind of problems with speech or oral-motor development. And that was before I knew about all the issues with sippy cups.

I might just mention, though, that for anyone who is interested, that it's actually sippy cups, and bottles, and pacifiers, too, that are culprits for speech and oral motor development, if they are used too long. Certainly, babies have a need to suck, and that's fine and dandy. I'm not aware of any magic number as far as when they need to stop, but I would just be aware as a parent, that bottles, sippies and pacifiers can all hinder speech and oral-motor development.

The reason is that with each of these items, the tongue pushes the nipple or spout against the roof of the mouth in a forward thrusting motion, and if done over a long period of time, this can cause the tongue to be carried too far forward in the mouth, so that a tongue thrust is developed. That can cause things like kids saying "th" instead of "s" ("thoap" instead of "soap"), for example.

I'll climb off my soapbox now but just thought I'd throw my 2 cents worth in!!

Best wishes to all you Moms! Parenting isn't an easy job, and it isn't for cowards. I tell you, if it's not the sippy cups and pacifiers, it's the little seven year old attitudes!

 

[PaulaSue]

Straws and cups with lids were the key for us. My girls were born with speech issues (tongue-tied, had surgery) and we had to get them off sippys ASAP, since they are so bad for speech developement.

 

[jessica52877]

My son started with a real cup right before turning 2. I am not fond of sippy cups so as it was we only had ones where the liquid would "pour" out. We only have drinks at the table in the kitchen though. There were usually dribbles but I expected that.

I don't think it is an issue to push if you are fine with the sippy. I know lots of older kids who still use a sippy cup. I guess since I am home all day that I don't mind if a mess happens. I can just take my time and clean it up. My son just turned 4 now and he still every once in a while will spill his cup, probably not more then 4x a year, but it does happen.

 

[WantToGoNow]

My dd3 started using regular cups when she was 18 mos. old. The daycare she was attending at that time did not allow sippy cups for the children once they hit the 2 y/o class so they started at 18 mos. teaching the kids to use the regular cups (and also sleep on cots instead of cribs). We eliminated them at home at the same time to make it easier on her (and moved her to a twin bed). They started with one of the 6 ounce Dixie cups and filled it about 1/4 full - that way, when they spilled, there wasn't much to clean up. As they developed the skill, they gradually added more to the cup.

T.