Parents often go from encouraging their kid to drink from a bottle to drinking from a sippy cup. Did you know that you can start to encourage your child to drink from an open cup held by an adult at 4-6 months old! Instead of using a sippy cup why not introduce an open cup? You may be saying, but my kid will spill it everywhere! If you are worried about spills than we suggest that you give your kid a cup with a straw.
Here is an excerpt from a great article written by Melanie Potock, MA, CCC-SLP, “ Sippy cups were invented for parents, not for kids…Once a child transitions to a cup with a straw, I suggest cutting down the straw so that the child can just get his lips around it, but can’t anchor his tongue underneath it. That’s my issue with the sippy-cup: It continues to promote the anterior-posterior movement of the tongue, characteristic of a suckle-like pattern that infants use for breast or bottle feeding. Sippy cups limit the child’s ability to develop a more mature swallowing pattern, especially with continued use after the first year. The spout blocks the tongue tip from rising up to the alveolar ridge just above the front teeth and forces the child to continue to push his tongue forward and back as he sucks on the spout to extract the juice”-http://blog.asha.org/2014/01/09/step-away-from-the-sippy-cup/
Please follow the link above to read the rest of this great article!