What I Have Against The Sippy Cup

 

If you’ve ever spoken with a speech therapist concerning a young child, the topic of sippy cups and pacifiers has probably come up.  All of my friends and colleagues have heard me lecture about sippy cups at some point. So what do I have against the sippy cup anyway?

To expel milk/formula from the bottle/breast, infants use a suckling pattern.  The tongue moves forwards and backwards in the mouth as it presses against the nipple of the bottle/breast and never touches the alveolar ridge, which is located just above the front teeth.  When drinking from a sippy cup, the spout allows your little one to continue this forward/backward motion and restricts his/her tongue from raising and reaching above the front teeth.  This inhibits your little one’s ability to develop an adult-like swallowing pattern, and encourages him/her to continue to swallow like an infant.  Pacifiers have the same effects.

So why is it so important that your little one develop a more mature swallowing pattern?  Dentists and speech therapists both have something to add here!  The immature swallow (which can develop into a “tongue thrust,” where the tongue pushes straight forward) can affect teeth alignment and can result in protruded front teeth.  The limited movement of the tongue from front to back that this immature swallow encourages can result in your little having difficulty producing some speech sounds, the “s” sounds being the most common. 

So what’s a mom to do?  Begin transitioning your little one from a bottle to a cup as soon as possible.  No spill cups that have straws are a good alternative to the sippy cup.  Sipping from a straw can help your little one strengthen his/her tongue, cheeks and lips and can mimic many oral movements that children practice when developing speech.

 

 

Giving your little one a sippy cup for a short time can be totally fine, in fact each of my boys drank from a sippy cup for a little while.  It’s often very difficult to teach a 6 month old to drink from a straw, so a soft spout sippy cup would be appropriate.  Once your little one reaches 10 months old start going for the straw cups, preferably one that has a short straw that his/her lips surround.  Practice drinking from an adult cup as well by holding it for your little one. 

Prolonged drinking from a sippy cup doesn’t guarantee that your little one will have speech difficulties but why take the chance?!

Love & Language,

Marisa