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I decided to start sharing some tips and tricks that I've learned either through work or parenting books. Through the years I've picked up some tips and tricks from speech therapists, occupational therapists, social workers, and many other professionals. So...to start us off. Here's a tip from one of Quinn's first speech therapists.
Age: 2 years and above
Area of Development: Speech
As soon as your child is able to suck from a straw, you should replace all sippy cups with straw cups. You really should stop using sippy cups by two years of age and your child should be able to drink from an open mouth cup at the table. We were doing that, but allowing Quinn to use sippy cups in the living room. Sippy cups do not help the muscles in the mouth area to develop strength. Having your child drink from a straw actually gives their muscles a little work-out and these straw cups keep the messes to a minimum. She also suggested giving him yogurt or thick shakes to drink through a straw to really work out those muscles (we never did do this - I thought it was kind of mean).
Did you find this tip helpful? Do you have a tip you'd like to share? Leave it in the comments or email me at mccathy at comcast dot net.
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3 comments:
I'm a HUGE proponent of using straw cups instead of sippy cups. At 1 Dylan figured out the straw thing and I NEVER offered him a sippy cup after that. Bad for teeth, bad for speech, just didn't seem like a good idea.
So, I'm totally in agreement with you & the therapist! You know, me & all my "knowledge" are always here to lend an opinion!
Oh, and I just can't agree that giving a kid a shake could be mean on any level! :0) But I do understand what you're saying!
Great tip. I will certainly keep that in mind when the time comes. I especially liked your recommendation of what type of cup you can use to minimize messes as I'm sure that's what leads folks to sippy cups in the first place.
I'm ashamed to say, we still use sippy cups. But I should go look for the straw cups.
The best tip I had from our speech therapist for our son was to imitate all the sounds that things make. "Oh, look at the car! Cars go, Vroom Vroom!"
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