Re: ARTICLE: reason why sippy cups are not good

[Guest guest]

I have 3 and 2 year old boys who neither say any words. My SLP told me

to get rid of the sippy cups and cut straws down to nubs to force them to

pucker their lips and not allow them to put the long end into the sides

of their mouths where the liquid can pool up (making them lazy to use

their lips).

i just found a great cup that helps us in many ways. it has a

retractable plastic ring on the top that prevents liquid from spilling.

as you put the cup to your mouth, your upper lip presses the ring inward

allowing the liquid to flow through just as if you were drinking from a

real cup. It's spill proof yet it works just like an adult cup. The

greater benefit for us however is the sensory effect. My oldest won't

let anyone or anything touch his mouth area. He freaks out if you do

which makes it hard to do anything in therapy. We do a lot of

desensitising but he still withdrawls. This cup forces him to use his

upper lip as pressure to allow the liquid to flow through. it's minimal

pressure as the cup works very easily, yet it still makes him use his

upper lip.

Anyone else seen this cup or agree/disagree with my assessment? I've not

yet told my SLP about it so i'm interested if she'll agree to the

benefits.

Becky

[Guest guest]

Becky

We have these cups for my son, at least I'm guessing we are talking

about the same ones. We have the Playtex Drinking Cup-they are no

spill. My son uses his teeth to push down on the top to make the

liquid flow out of it. He's also discovered that if he shakes it, he

can make a HUGE mess w/it.

We have just discovered a better cup for our biggest problem w/ Aidan-

tongue protrustion-we got the Munchkin Healthflow cup & because of

the design his tongue can't come out.

> I have 3 and 2 year old boys who neither say any words. My SLP

told me

> to get rid of the sippy cups and cut straws down to nubs to force

them to

> pucker their lips and not allow them to put the long end into the

sides

> of their mouths where the liquid can pool up (making them lazy to

use

> their lips).

>

> i just found a great cup that helps us in many ways. it has a

> retractable plastic ring on the top that prevents liquid from

spilling.

> as you put the cup to your mouth, your upper lip presses the ring

inward

> allowing the liquid to flow through just as if you were drinking

from a

> real cup. It's spill proof yet it works just like an adult cup.

The

> greater benefit for us however is the sensory effect. My oldest

won't

> let anyone or anything touch his mouth area. He freaks out if you

do

> which makes it hard to do anything in therapy. We do a lot of

> desensitising but he still withdrawls. This cup forces him to use

his

> upper lip as pressure to allow the liquid to flow through. it's

minimal

> pressure as the cup works very easily, yet it still makes him use

his

> upper lip.

>

> Anyone else seen this cup or agree/disagree with my assessment?

I've not

> yet told my SLP about it so i'm interested if she'll agree to the

> benefits.

>

> Becky

[Guest guest]

Tricia -

Thanks for posting this article on sippy cups. I need to add that we used a

" spill-proof " cup from Playtex with Josh for quite a long time. It's a cool cup

- it does not have a protruding spout. It has a center " disk " that, when

depressed by the child's lip, releases liquid from anywhere around the cup top.

I thought that would suit our purposes because Josh didn't have a wrist rotation

that would allow him to use a sippy cup and we hadn't advanced to the cup stage

yet. However, when an OT and a SLP saw him using the cup recently, they both

said to get him off of it ASAP! The cup is a great invention but, in Josh's

case, he was using his teeth rather than his lips to manipulate the top to get

his liquid out. Not only could he be doing teeth damage but he is not using the

muscles in his mouth/lips - therefore not helping his dysarthria at all. We

switched to a regular cup immediately and are working on getting him to put his

lips on the cup (hard to do with the dyasthria

and sensory issues). Just another two cents!

Sherry

Morin Family <morinfamily4@...> wrote:

" To sip or not to sip?.....That is the question. "

A popular item often found in children's snack packs and lunchboxes is the

" sippy " cup. A " sippy " cup can be described as a cup with a twist on lid

from which there protrudes a spout containing a few holes from which the

liquid can pass through. Parents find these cups to be wonderful

conveniences for transporting liquids, as well as for minimizing accidental

spills.

As a speech language pathologist experienced in feeding and oral motor

issues, I find these cups to be particularly problematic. All outward

appearances would suggest that drinking from a " sippy " cup is no different

then drinking from a cup.

In fact there are some significant differences in oral motor

characteristics. Primarily, the " sippy " cup tends to encourage an oral motor

characteristic referred to as a " tongue thrust " (sometimes called a " reverse

swallow " ). Speech clarity, or articulation is dependent upon the tongue

being able to make contact on specific points referred to as articulators.

In order to this the back of the tongue needs to be stabilized in the back

of the oral cavity. This is the starting point from which the tongue needs

to be anchored before executing the movements necessary to produce speech

sounds.

As children typically grow and develop they move through a series of stages

regarding the kinds of food they eat (i.e. liquids to solids) and the manner

in which they are consumed (i.e. suck/swallow to chewing). The child will

also progress through a series of stages revolving around the use of

utensils (i.e. breast/bottle, fingers, cup, straw, spoon, fork,). The

child's ability to successfully master these skills and incorporate new ones

is derived from the ability to simultaneously acquire the appropriate oral

motor skill to execute them.

For example, a newborn moves the tongue forward (protrusion) from the

resting position to perform the suckle necessary to extract liquid from the

breast/bottle. When the child begins spoon and cup feeding the tongue

predominantly engages in retraction movements. At this point in development

the child is no longer sticking their tongue out during feeding.

A child should begin cup drinking between 15-18 months of age. By two years

of age a child should be off the bottle completely. Reliance on the " sippy "

cup appears to encourage tongue protrusion at a time in development when

feeding skill acquisition is trying to establish tongue retraction.

An inability to perform tongue retraction may result in the child having

difficulty producing /t/, /d/, /n/, /s/, /z/, and /r/. If additional sounds

are produced with the tongue in a forward mouth position the overall result

may be a negative impact on intelligibility.

Article from: http://www.teamhope.com/10.htm

<http://www.teamhope.com/10.htm>

[Guest guest]

Our SLP & OT said the same thing about the sippy cup, they both have

begged me to take them away from Callie.

They both said it is the worst thing for her tongue, ( lays on the

bottom of her mouth & protrudes ) & mouth muscles. We found a cup

that has a retractable straw, not exactly spill proof, but better

than some of the other non sippy cup options. Callie has a few issues

with the texture of the straw, but we're working on it. At home, we

use straws that she has adjusted for us, they are the character ones

that are curvy, she cut the top so there is very little room for her

to be lazy & not use her mouth muscles to suck in.

I have found these great milk shakes that Callie loves. They are

called super shakes, the more you shake the carton, the thicker it

gets. It's made from 2 % milk, not exactly low calorie, but she

really works hard with the straw to drink it.

I hope this all makes some sense. I do wipe up spills often, but I

figure with the exception of the car, it's a small price to pay.