Talktools Honey Bear Drinking Cup with 2 Flexible Straws - Includes Instructions - Spill-proof Lid by TalkTools

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As pediatric speech-language pathologists of Speech Sisters, we hear four common questions pertaining to the “bottle to cup” transition. Here is the WHEN, WHY, WHAT and HOW to make this transition easy and successful! Question #1A: WHEN should I introduce my baby to a cup? There are many sippy cups on the market—soft spouts, firm spouts, with handles, or without handles. But, as feeding specialists, we have to reiterate that we don’t love sippy cups and instead recommend you focus on straw cups when on-the-go or in need of a mess-free meal. Why? Sippy cups encourage your baby to use their tongue in a way that is not ideal for cup or straw drinking. Plus, as soon as your baby masters a sippy cup, it’s time to conquer more mature cup skills, which adds an unnecessary step (and expense) to the process. Above all else, make sure to start with an open cup first. It really helps your baby learn how to take a small bolus of liquid in their mouth and swallow. We recommend avoiding hard spout sippy cups – the rationale is described in the final video. They seem to work (at least for the people I have suggest them to.) I have sent a few friends home with these to try and they usually have good success. 6. Our next cup to try: The Lollacup!

Now, before you tear through your kitchen and trash your sippy cups or worry you’ve irreparably damaged your child, we just want to point out that using a sippy cup will not damage your child and likely have zero noticeable impact. In fact, one of our staff feeding therapists occasionally used sippy cups with both of her kids because she already had them and they were spill-proof. While sippy cups may not be ideal for oral motor skill development, babies are incredibly flexible and resilient. Before we get to teaching specific cups and how to progress to more advanced skills, we wanted to answer some important questions. Teaching cup drinking is an important skill to learn for when baby is eventually weaned from the breast or bottle. Give baby a small amount of water in the cup and hand it to them with your hands over their hands (“hand-over-hand” technique). MagicHave tried getting my 9 month old to drink from a straw cup awhile now, but she just chews on the straw. Heard someone raving about these cups, so I gave them a shot. I didn’t think they’d be any different from all the other cups (I mean, how different can cups really be). I was wrong. Within 2 tries, my daughter was drinking from the cup as if she had been doing it for years. Could it have been just a coincidence? Maybe. Still great cups. The don’t make a mess when she flings them around, so that’s a bonus.The Honey Bear is a TalkTools ® original that allows you to control the flow of liquid into a child's mouth and encourages children to learn straw drinking. It is used by speech and feeding therapists around the world to teach lip rounding, tongue retraction and other oral-motor skills. It can also be used by toddlers to transition from bottle feeding to cup drinking. The flexible straw and the squeezable body of this cup make it the perfect tool to wean a child from bottles or sippy cups. We do not advise using sippy cups with a “spout”. These cups are similar to bottle nipples, therefore they do not promote a proper tongue placement or a mature swallow pattern.

We recommend you seek support from an occupational therapist or speech therapist who has a specialty in feeding, eating, and swallowing to help your baby learn this skill. Patience and practice Made from medical grade materials that are FDA compliant - free from BPA, latex, lead, phthalates and PVC There are about 5 different types of straw cups in our cabinets as of now. Much like choosing a bottle, a straw cup is going to be an individual choice for a child. I am going to tell you what worked for us, but it may not work for your child. I also did this without the help of a speech therapist, so don’t consider this expertadvice. The Search For The Best Straw Cup The goal in the 6- to 12-month age range is to practice the skills of cup drinking—not to replace the breast or bottle. Starting open cup practice early (ideally around 6 months of age) allows your baby plenty of low-pressure time to hone cup skills before transitioning off bottles or breastfeeds. If you’ve missed this window and your baby is now 12 months or older, all is not lost! Your 12+-month-old still has time to learn this skill! Which cup should I use for my baby?

The American Academy of Pediatrics recommends that you wean your child off of a bottle around 12 months old and completely eliminate the bottle by 18 months. You can obviously continue breastfeeding your child beyond this time frame if you choose, but if your baby is taking breast milk from a bottle we recommend that you offer it to them in a cup by 13 months. Question #2: WHY should I wean my baby off of the bottle? There are a few cups out there that actually help bring the liquid up the straw. The "Mr. Juice Bear" therapy cup, or honey bear cup is made just to teach straw drinking. Although not made for this purpose, the take and toss straw cup has similar functionality and is less expensive. These cups have a very short shelf life because your baby basically outgrows it as soon as it does its job—which is to teach your baby how to drink from a straw! (Babies will also catch on that they can squeeze it and use it like a fire hose!) However, we mention it because it’s really effective for babies who are struggling with the straw. If this is your baby and the pipette method did not work, here’s how you can employ straw trainer cups like Mr. Juice Bear or a take and toss straw cup: Quentin, 8 months, reaches for his cup. Giving your baby the chance to reach for the cup before you bring it to their mouth will speed the learning process for independent cup drinking. Baby putting food in cup/splashing Step 2: Sit down, smile at your baby to catch their attention, and then bring the cup to your mouth to take a small sip. (You can use the same cup if you are comfortable with that or two cups, one for you and one for baby. Just make sure you are drinking out of the same looking cup.) This silicone cup is so well-designed. It’s an open cup, a sippy cup with a soft spout, and a straw cup all in one. It’s incredibly easy to clean, it has easy-grip handles, and the kids cannot pull off the top. It is on the smaller side at 4 ounces, but it’s a great cup for milk or water—and comes in really lovely colors.

Love these!I bought these to help my 6 month old learn how to drink out of a straw. These are the best honey bear cups we’ve used. They hold a decent amount of water and are easy to squeeze and get water into his mouth. He also LOVES drinking out of them. He often wants water more than his food at meal times. My toddler gets jealous of his bear cups and she loves to drink out of them too. The straws are a little difficult to get into the lids, but it helps if you insert it from the top of the lid instead of trying to push it through the bottom. If we need more of these, we will definitely buy this product again. There is one cup out there that we have yet to try but when I saw it on TV I knew that the people whoinventedit were brilliant. We used these cups for five straight years through two kids. They hold up incredibly well, are great for storing leftover liquids in the fridge, and are made from glass, which eliminates any concerns about plastic. You can also use the bottles as storage containers once the kids outgrow bottles. months: Introduce a straw cup. We like to start with a honey bear straw cup (see recommendation below). You can squeeze the honey bottle to help move the liquid up the straw. This will allow your baby to become comfortable with a straw and learn how it works.ARK's Bear Bottle is a fun and friendly way to make drinking easier for beginners and/or children with oral motor difficulties. The Honey Bear Bottle Kit is an excellent way to transition babies straight from bottles to straw drinking, as straws promote better oral and tongue positioning. Avoid using sippy-type cups altogether! Before choosing a straw cup, we recommend first teaching your baby the skills of using a straw by itself, which we’ll outline below. Once your baby has the basic idea of the straw itself, you can choose any straw cup you prefer, knowing your baby can use it. The Bear Bottle holds approximately 8 ounces of fluid (225ml). The bottle measures approximately 2" x 2.5" x 6" (5cm x 6cm x 15cm) A: We only recommend juice for constipation (prune, pear, peach juice diluted with water). Otherwise, juice isn’t necessary for babies and young children – fruit is a better option!

If you are attempting to start teaching your child straw drinking on a conventional straw cup, but are unsuccessful consider using the Honey Bear Cup. The following can be referenced as a system for gradual exposure. 1. Initial Presentation:Yelp, Noah’s DRINKING his fruits and vegetables for lunch! My goal: Have NoahTransitionOff The Bottle by 12 months..