5 Reasons To Avoid This Toddler Gadget To Gain Better Independence

🍼   Picture this: your little bundle of joy taking those first sips of independence. But before you reach for that colorful cup, hold on a sec!

In this episode, I'm uncovering the TOP 5 REASONS why ditching the sippy cup might just be the best decision for your tiny tot.

🚫   From dental woes to speech delays, I'm separating fact from fiction and shedding light on the hidden concerns that many new moms might overlook. 

But fear not! I'm not here to rain on your parenting parade; I'm here to empower you with knowledge and equip you with the tools to make informed choices.

🔍   So, grab your favorite beverage (maybe not from a sippy cup!) and tune in as I navigate through the murky waters of toddler hydration.

Whether you're a seasoned mom or a first-time mama-to-be, you won't want to miss this eye-opening discussion.

Mentioned in this episode:

TalkTools: Cut-Out Cups - CLICK HERE

-----------------------------------------------------------

CLICK HERE - JOIN THE WAITLIST

CLICK HERE - Building Vocabulary: Single Words to 2-Word Phrases Guide

Email: contact@HyerLearning.com

Transcript

Erin: 0:00

They might not see the connection that their mood. Or there are highs and lows of their ability to regulate. Transitions and whatnot are related to inconsistent sleep patterns and inconsistent nasal breathing patterns because they're not getting the rest that they have. And so. It's not always obvious and right in front of us. And what I want to share is the good news. Hello and welcome to Talking Toddlers, where I share more than just tips and tricks on how to reduce tantrums or build your toddler's vocabulary. We're going to cover all of that, but here, our goal is to develop clarity, because in this modern world, it's truly overwhelming. This podcast is about empowering moms to know the difference between fact and fiction, to never give up, to tap into everyday activities so your child stays on track. He's not falling behind. He's thriving through your guidance. We know that true learning starts at home. So let's get started. What if you could avoid several developmental complications that last several years. Simply by omitting one baby gadget.

1:23

So

Erin: 1:24

After 35 years of this particular gadget being on the market, we have learned a lot. And mostly in my best opinion, it's negative, or at least it's risky that we don't have to go there and then deal with problems. That don't serve your baby, your toddler or your family. So what's the gadget. I'm talking about a sippy cup and yes, there's a lot of debate out there. And moms dads. Professionals all have their own opinion. So I want to share mine. Helping you organize the information after 35 years of being in the middle of it, both in my practice. And it just so happens that I was. There when the sippy cup was invented, not personally, but, um, in that generation. So. It does seem innocent enough. I get it. And doctors are now having to weigh in, but they, unfortunately, don't understand a lot of the oral motor development that we end up being concerned with. And so they seem to always walk in the middle and say in moderation, in moderation, which then leaves the parent kind of in this pickle. What the heck does moderation mean? I think. Almost in every modality that in moderation and I use air quotes there. Can be very misleading, right? It happens in our diet and our exercise. How much sleep. What the heck does moderation mean? Because how it. Serves one person, it doesn't serve another. So we have to be mindful. And what is my word for this year? Intentional. So, let me lay out my five top reasons that I have concerns with the use of a sippy cup. The good news is because. Us humans are very inventive and creative, and we're always looking for better or upgraded versions. After 35 years, you mom, you dad have choices. And I just want to point those choices out there are much healthier, much more effective. And lowers any possible risk on the side. I'm going to cover five key facts of why you should avoid using a sippy cup. And remember what our long-term goal is. You want your toddler to grow into that preschool or that first grader, that second grader who is. Happy and healthy and highly communicative, right. Or at least that he has power to communicate easily and competently. That he's a healthy eater, a good sleeper that his good attention that she has. Good. Engagement and mood regulation and self control and curiosity. All of these things are built within those first 3, 5, 6 years, and they are stepping stones, but if we take the easy way out. Then it doesn't always serve us. And so that's what I'm here for is to really prevent unnecessary complications. Today. I want you to ask yourself. What can you do to prevent delays or prevent these risks? How can you. Be more proactive, right? Intentional. Like I said, So let's walk through these. So no matter where you are on this journey, I assure you that you'll find benefits for all of this information, because it focuses in on oral motor speaking, eating swallowing, and then it leads into other healthy quote unquote habits. Right. So don't get me wrong. There are a lot of different nuances to you making parental choices. I get that. and this is not an exhaustive list, but it is what I have identified as the top five big ones. So number one is accidents, and you're thinking really what's that all about? Well, the journal of pediatrics report that every four hours a child under the age of three is treated in the ER. For an injury caused by a bottle pacifier or a sippy cup. And so I think what the newest numbers is, is like 2200 unnecessary accidents. A year. And it's because kids easily get into the habit of carrying those sippy cups around with them. And that the unfortunate thing, the timing of it all is that they're just learning to walk. They're just, they're new, you know, mobile. Runners and walkers and climbers. And if you have something in your hand or worse in your mouth, It throws your whole balance off. And when you fall. It's really, really hard. So there are. A ton of reports with lacerations on the lips and, and bruising of the gums, chipping and breaking of the teeth. And that's just simply unnecessary. It's one more thing that you might have to worry about. And we all baby proof our houses. So let's make sure in, and I get this that we. We'll often feel like, oh, well, you know, he'll drink and then put it down. That's not what happens because life is busy life with a toddler as you well know. Is messy and active and always moving in different directions and it's hard to manage. And so I want to help you design routines. Uh, lifestyle around this that helps them develop mentally, but also eases the rhythm of your daily life. So just keep that in mind, avoid unnecessary accidents. Especially with a new Walker, right? Let's put that one-to-one together. Number two. And this kind of bleeds from that accident profile. That we create bad habits. Like I said, we're busy. We're on the go it, the life is, is moving and shaking and changing. And so I know that you're imagining. That your toddler can learn how to be a good. Eater right. That he sits at the table that he shares meals that he's eager to eat with you. That life is relatively peaceful during meal times that that's your big. Imagination. Right. You can dream big. And it's very, very doable as very plausible. But carrying a sippy cup during all waking hours does not support. It really does interfere. Good healthy eating and drinking habits at the table. And remember that's our goal. So at six months we introduced solids and we're showing them what we do when we sit down at the table and what this food means. And then we can teach them appropriately at 6, 8, 10 months. How do use open cups and straws? That's much more. Healthier and successful. If we give them that chance to learn how to do that. And. And we do that by sitting, he or she is sitting in their high chair and they have good body positioning. Right. And I've talked in other episodes about the importance of 90 by four, which means there's 90 degrees at their hips. When they're sitting in an appropriate sized chair, 90 degrees at the knees, 90 degrees at their ankles. So their feet are supporting their. Their body posture. And they're building their strength and coordination and there's 90 degrees at their jaw and neck. And so we want them to be able to pick up the food and put it in their mouth and only think about eating and chewing and swallowing and not having. To walk around or to sit in a, in a, in an uncomfortable chair or to sit on mommy's lap. All of those don't serve. The development of the motor planning and organization and the cognitive understanding of how I do this thing called eating and drinking. And so it's. If we create these bad habits and I've talked before about, how do you avoid creating a Grazer, And a child that just eats on the fly. How do you avoid picky eating all of these things? Feed into this, no pun intended, but it's really important that if they're just eating and drinking 24 7, or whenever they feel like it, then that doesn't help build that internal system and good healthy habits. So when you think about introducing solid foods at six months, I want you to also. To include in that. And, and I don't always point this out explicitly, but I am now that's the time is to introduce open cup drinking and down below, I'm going to have a link to a company called talk tools that I highly recommend. They have an introduction cop and in my opinion, a true introduction and is called cutout cup. As it has this notch cut out for his nose. So if you can think like you have a circular rim, but there's this notch, which allows easy placement. On the lips These flexible cups are an improved design over time as always, right. We get better and better through experiment. And it really helps stimulate the lips and the cheeks, which then allows the drinker, your child. Uh, to drink without a head or neck extension. And that's the problem with these 360. Munchkin cups And that's a whole nother story, but I don't recommend those either. Because we've learned over time, watching kids use those 360 cops. That they tip their head back and extend it. And that's not a good drinking posture. So this. Cut out cop. This has this generous. Open design, which allows you mama to easily view the lips and the tongue movement. They're colored cups, but they're. You can still see through them, right. They're kind of OPEC. And it's really a remarkable cup that has gotten better over time. I can attest to that because I remember. You know, back in the, in the mid nineties, when they first were designed. That I used them in therapy and I, and I would just loan them to parents to practice at home because it really is designed as an introduction. You wouldn't stay there with these cutout cups. You want to transition them after a few weeks. To a real open cup that is small enough that they can handle it. But. You want them to get the experience with sipping liquids out of this? Interesting thing that they have in their hand right over time. They come in three different sizes. And is really, really easy for them to manage and you to support that. But the idea is when you start to introduce solids appropriately through baby led weaning methods. Then it's also important to introduce the whole drinking need right. And I know it's it's been kind of driven in her head that, oh, a sippy cup is just a transition cup is just something in, helping them, transition off the bottle or the breast. And that's simply not true at all. It's not necessary. So another layer that we modern inventors here I have thrown into the mix. Remember what your dream is to have them Share meals with you and sit at the table and have good manners and that then you can go out to restaurants and friends and relatives and not worry. That they're going to, disrupt the whole social eating community and because that's an important part of our lifestyle. So there are good and bad aspects to all of this child raring and you get to pick what kind of future you want. And I'm just helping you understand. If you choose certain things here early on at six months and 12 months and 18 months, then that will help you. Color in that, that glorious future that you see. So number three. Is really what, pediatricians and dentists talk about because using a sippy cup. Throughout the day, whenever they feel like it can really lead to dental problems. So the American academy of pediatric dentistry. Actually state that you shouldn't use it for a quote long period of time. That it should not act like a bottle or a pacifier. And, again, that whole moderation term gets a little dicey. So we have to be. Really intentional and cautious of. What are we going to do when, where, and how it often the sippy cup. We'll then develop into a pacifier or a bottle and they will then begin to rely on it. And that's part of that bad habit is that it really. becomes a security object and not a tool for drinking water when you're thirsty, you don't want your child walking around with a spoon in his mouth. just in case he's hungry and he wants to take, you know, A scoop of food. You don't want him to walk around with a sippy cup and we'll talk about. How it's evolved into this every day tool that we think is automatically needed. So dentists recognize that both milk and juice contain sugar, that coat the teeth, especially. When they're put into a sippy cup and that unfortunately then leads to tooth decay, which is their primary concern that dentists. And I've seen a lot of tooth decay and what we call bottle rot or sippy cup rot. And that's just, again, another complicated factor that you'll have to deal with. It's not the end of the world per se, but it's not a healthy thing to deal with. And it's. easily avoided. And I truly respect what the dentists are saying, because you know, it's another piece to the puzzle that help support. Giving better instruction to new parents, right? You guys, Are given this beautiful baby and you're like, oh, it doesn't come with a manual. What do I do? And I really respect the dentist and the pediatrician. Who are trying to hone in here and say, ha, you know, it's not good for the, for the, the health of the teeth. but I think there are other nuances to. What are we putting in the sippy cup? And I think. If you're sitting here listening to this and saying, well, you know, I'm already using a sippy cup. If I can change your mind in one thing that would be, do not put milk. Or juice in a sippy cup. And the truth is no child in the whole wide world. Should actually be. Drinking juice. And you know, that's, I'm going to talk a little bit about that later on in this episode. But. We can also talk about the pros and cons with, or having our children drink. Cow's milk as well. And the American academy of pediatrics advise parents. To discontinue the bottle and move straight into an open cup drinking by the age of 18 months. So how I lay out my recommendations is that. A bottle. I should be for nutrients, just like a mother's breast. Right. It's it's to give the nutritious calories and vitamins and minerals. And that cups. Should be used for water. That's it. Right. It's it. Shouldn't. Kids should not be drinking their nutrients. Once they're weaned off the bottle and or breast. And, you know, the ideal target would be 12 months with the bottle, right. To wean them off the bottle. If you're choosing to continue with breast feeding, I think that's absolutely fine. not only because mother's milk is ideal nutrients. But it's also part of that bonding and that connection and that love. And I think up to about 18 months is lovely. Is, especially because our world. Is a little crazy and busy and active and. And nursing can really help settle our, our babies or our new toddlers. So look at it that way that. Juice. Any kind of juice, even if it's organic or this or that is just, you know, three, four, sometimes five teaspoons of sugar. It is on necessary. And I can not overstress this in, in my mind is just one of the. Unhealthy habits the human race has developed. if you want. Apple juice. Eat the apple. If you want strawberries or berries of any kind, eat the fresh fruit. Help them chew, help them build their sensory awareness. But gulping down juice is just consuming. Sugar. And most of the juices have added sugar or added apple juice because that's a cheap component that you can put in. And It interferes with their, Hunger regulation. And it spikes their glucose. And so it is, it is not necessary. Not healthy. And another bad habit to get into. Or better yet avoid all together. As a toddler as a young teenager and as an adult. So if you have juice in your house, Just throw it out. I know it's a waste, but it is that important. All right. So here's my challenge for you. If we as therapists and Early interventionists can easily teach a 6, 8, 10 month old baby to drink from an open cup. And when I say easy, it just means that we have to be there. We have to show them how it's done and it will take. Weeks and months, but you'll see improvement almost right away. And yes, there are going to be messes. But then that goes back to saying, okay, well, if I only put water in all the cups, Then the mess is just going to be water and that's not a big deal. And I'm going to share down in the description, but In my outline here, I have notes on what other options. so let's just take a quick look where the heck did the sippy cups come from? And I said in the beginning, they've been around for about 35 years. Right. When I was finishing my graduate work. And, you know, when I started working with families and they'd come in with these sippy cups, but. What it was, was an engineering dad. I think he was from Southern California and that's where I was. And he was just tired of cleaning up the backseat of his car and he was tired of. Cleaning up his rugs and his home. And he was a smart dude and he certainly understood, how to get liquid in your, in your baby without messes, but he didn't understand oral motor development. He didn't understand. The connection between, early speech and language. Talking. And chewing and swallowing and how they all interrelate. He just wanted a clean house and his clean car. And I get that. And, in my industry, we kind of joke about him quite a bit. But what happened was he started making them and selling them to friends and his local school community and all of this. And then in the early 1990s, about 10 years in, he sold his patent. To Playtex and then everything is history. I mean, you know what happened? Right? The commercial industry educated us. You innocent mom and innocent dad saying, yeah, I don't want messes either. And look, my child, my new child is independently drinking water, hopefully, but no, what we put in because they're still quite young. His milk. And cow's milk is not necessary for any toddler. And we can talk about the pros and cons to that. But. We now have 35 years of what the side effects are to using the sippy cup and how easy it is to create bad habits and how easy it is. For it to become their, their pseudo pacifier. And then his extended not four weeks. Like it should. Was originally thought of, but for months and years, So we can make a healthier decision, avoid accidents. Like I mentioned, avoid bad habits. Avoid dental rot. And I know. It's not always. Easy to embrace these decisions. And it's not necessarily looking at it saying, oh, this is easy. Yeah. I like cleaning up spilled water, but if we put in the work now, Then a couple months from now, six months from now a year from now. He will understand. Oh, I'm thirsty. Let me go get some water. I'm going to stop here, drink some water, sit down. You know, if you have a two year old. Then he can say, mom, I'm thirsty. And you say great. Here's your cup, your open cup Or here's a, uh, straw, sit down, have a drink, relax for a moment and then go and continue to play. You don't do it on the fly and when we're busy and active, then you have those spill proof straw cups that you can put in the back of the car. That's easy. And we'll talk about why are all of us, not just our kids, but. it just so happened that at the same time that the sippy cup was introduced in the early nineties. That was when the single bottle drinking of water was introduced. And I did a little deep dive onto that because I find that fascinating. I think, you know, you see these things coming together and then they feed off of each other. Somebody. Produces a product. And. Educates us. that we need that product. And then we're convinced is just a way of life. But I w I want to now dive into number four. Cause we, we talked about. You know, th the first three, right? There's accidents, bad habits, dental rot, and number four is the swallowing issues. And it really, this whole sippy cup in his design engineering dad who doesn't understand the oral motor skills. But it really. Goes against everything that you're striving to do with your, Brand new toddler that, that one year old and that one and a half year old, but also even at six months when you're introducing solid foods in you're introducing. How to quote unquote drink, not from a bottle and not from abreast, but from a quote unquote cup. Then you want to set them up for success. So most parents due to the advertising, believe that a sippy cup. Is a big natural milestone. And that for moving from the bottle or the, and, or the breast into the sippy cup is a huge. Progression. And it, it's not. If we look at the motor planning what's necessary from drinking from a sippy cup, it's no different than when your child drinks from a bottle nipple. It's the exact same. Way to get liquid down his throat. And there's a whole different motor planning and motor coordination between a bottle nipple and a breast. And we know this, we've never been able to really design. The ideal bottle nipple that works like a breast because that's mother nature. That's how God designed us and is really quite beautiful. And the development of the motor skills there between those two modes of eating for your newborn and your baby. Are quite different, but if we just use the bottle for six months or 10 months or 12 months or 14 months, then introducing solid foods and drinking from a cup appropriate and good speech and good singing and good. Motor skills and all of these things. Then we can mitigate. And he bad swallow or bad sucking habit that you've created in that first 10 or 12 months. I hope that makes sense. And so. When we look at a baby. Who is bottled fed, that though the musculature is moving and strengthening differently than breastfed babies. And so it's this unnatural force and the jaw is pulled backwards. And, and that's that kind of sucking motion. While babies breastfeed, the jaws actually grow for word. Due to a more natural pressure balance. While there they're extracting and there's videotapes on this and it's quite remarkable to see the different postures and. And movement patterns during these. But again, if, if you end up you can't breastfeed or you stop breastfeeding at six months, that's what I did. And we switched to a bottle. But at the same time we were introducing cup drinking and straw drinking. And so as we slowly changed her diet by her 12th month. Then we were able to really wean off the bottle because she was getting plenty of nutrition through her, her solid food, eating right. And then she was drinking water from a cup. I think most of us are pretty. Knowledgeable with the benefits of breastfeeding, right. That it's pretty common knowledge. That the nutrients Or just simply remarkable that it lowers ear infections and respiratory problems. It reduces the chance of reflux or gastrointestinal problems. And breastfeeding seems to have a positive effect on reducing the risk of sudden infant death syndrome. So there's a wealth of knowledge and research and data to support all of that. What isn't as common, I think, especially with new parents and new families. Are the pros and cons with the oral motor. Benefits of breastfeeding versus bottle feeding. Then, like I said, we just simply haven't been able to duplicate, you know, God's creation of the breast. And, and that makes sense. And so we, again go into this with. Some purposeful intention, right? Some planning and understanding where are the cutoffs and what are the pros and cons and. And to be open, to have some wiggle room with this, right? Ideally yes. At 12 months we'll have. Introduced enough healthy nutrient dense foods that she or he, my precious little baby, my one-year-old will no longer need. A bottle to be nourished with. Right. And that does not mean that then you give cow's milk in a cup. That is a myth as well. And pediatricians more and more are saying that. we don't have to do that. That if you are smart. In the kitchen, then the cow's milk isn't necessary. Now you can give. dairy with cheeses and, and plain, plain, plain high-fat yogurt. That's what your babies need. Not the sugar one, but, and I'll talk a little bit, I think later on in my notes, I outlined pros and cons to cow's milk, but for this purpose right here, When we're starting to choose the. The different methods that we're going to help our baby develop these skills. And swallowing is really, really important because. it's not just to swallow the food or the drink, or even your own saliva. That's that motor planning. That is exercise throughout waking and sleeping hours. We as humans will swallow just our own saliva, 2000 times a day. And every time we put pressure on either our teeth or the roof of the mouth, that's five pounds of pressure per swallow. Then we're shaping the oral. Structures right there. They're hard palate. Their teeth. How the upper jaw and the lower jaw fit together. How the jaw. is aligned at rest. All of these are really vital to speech, to eating, to breathing, to sleeping, to mood, to health. It's this domino effect. I'm always sharing with you. But I just wanted step in here and, and take note that the swallow pattern is different with a. A bottle nipple and a breast. And if removing toward a mature swallow, We even want to move beyond that breast too. Right? We want them to be able to be. At rest and taken food or taken liquid, or even swallow our own saliva with a mature swallow pattern. Sippy cups, unfortunately, reinforce an immature sucking pattern is very similar to what your baby will do with a bottle And that is why pediatricians and dentists are, calling it a transition period. Or it shouldn't move beyond this training period. And I say, you don't need this transition period. That just like the pacifier. And I've talked about this in previous episode. You use the pacifier to pacify, right. To help them transition to sleep, and then you remove it, you and that is a very strategic tool. And that. Can be highly beneficial, but then you have to have an exit plan. Here, what I'm saying is a sippy cup, you don't even need it. Because it's counterproductive. There's a forward. Motion, right. The tongue is moving forward. It protrudes out and even a slight. Protrusion of the tongue against your teeth. Right? If you think about it's very similar to, if you put your thumb in your mouth, right? That's that hard spout for the sippy cup Andy. It literally interferes with the contact of the tongue and the hard palate. So now the opposite would be an open cup or the use of a straw during drinking, which reinforces what we want as the more mature swallow pattern. It really promotes it. And then it's really because the lips are leading when it, Forms a seal on the straw or the rim of the cop. And it gives them that exercise, that oral motor exercise to isolate or what we call disassociate the lips from the cheek and the tongue. And so now you're getting these fine motor planning movements with great success. So, what we want is the tip of the tongue to elevate behind the top teeth, which are those bumps. If you run the tip of your tongue up there, and then it will push against that and the liquid will then go back for the swallow. So even if you don't. If your baby doesn't have teeth up there yet, at six months when you're beginning to introduce a cup or a straw. The tip of their tongue. We'll start to go up there right on the gum line. And, and be able to have that wave, like motion to swallow down the liquid or swallow the food. So just keep in mind that hard spout really interferes with proper motor planning and exercise. And when your baby's out and about during waking hours and talking or playing or singing or eating or chewing or swallowing his or her own spit. That's all exercise. That's growth and development. That's why everything that we do with them, even if they're playing on their own, they're wiring their system there. You're giving them that opportunity to develop strength and coordination and regulation and alignment and all of these things. So number five of my list of top concerns with sippy cups is that. Lo and behold, it will interfere with speech. And I continually stress and I'm sure I've mentioned just a few minutes ago, how eating, drinking, swallowing and speech are all interconnected. That it's an oral motor system, And we're building these patterns. And so I know at this point, you're probably thinking, well, Will all kids who use sippy cups have speech issues and that's. a simple know I'm sure. You know, kids that you sippy cups and don't have speech issues or don't have eating issues or don't have to in, in swallowing issues. And that's great if they don't and you're blessed. But I can share that good oral motor skills are necessary for good speech development. And that good oral motor skills are necessary for good. Eating habits. And so if we know how those are interrelated, Then why go there? Why throw another layer to this complicated mess that we live in right in this modern world You know, we have a lot of beautiful advances that have helped us live an easier life, but sometimes using these tools. Or make it easier. In the immediate now. But harder in the, in the long run. So if your child has poor or even just mildly weak oral motor control. Which would include like lip closure. The tongue elevation onto the roof of the mouth. The mature swallow pattern. Then in turn. Speech sounds and imitating words can be compromised. Can be delayed or slowed or worse yet kind of turn into this. This mumble, right? This inaccurate production. We have very, very small motor planning to say that. Or the. All of those individual sounds the tip of the tongue and the back of the tongue. And, and they move really, really quickly. And in order to get good practice in that. Then we need to strengthen it wherever and however we can go. This is why one of the first things. A good speech therapist or any speech therapist worth her salt. We'll discuss how they're using a cup or a straw. And if they are using a sippy cup, how much and when and where and how and what goes in it. So that's a really, really important factor for all of these reasons. Right. It reduces risk that helps me understand, are they using it as a bad habit and a pacifier? What what's the health of their teeth? What's the swallow because that leads into to speech production as well. My number one goal with this podcast is to help you mom understand how to prevent. Issues that aren't necessary or layers that make it more complicated. No. My hope is that your, your. Gaining information here to help you set the stage for success to alleviate. Your challenges and your toddler's challenges to avoid these unnecessary problems. You have to make some hard choices and other moms. friends and family and even professionals might say to you, oh, That that's hogwash. My kid used sippy cups and didn't have any problem. Well, God bless him. He didn't have any problems. That's great. And I'm just saying. You have a choice. And. If I could remove things that just were unnecessary. This is one of them. Right. Just like, I would be much more mindful about how you use a pacifier and more mindful about. What food choices I give my, my brand new 6, 8, 10, 12 month old. Right. Do I want highly processed food or do I want him to fall in love with, nature, right? Healthy plants and delicious meat. That is one ingredient. You have these choices right here right now to make that. And when I do hear parents or see it on social media or read an article. That they didn't have any problems with their child and using a sippy cup. And. I wonder, you know, they might not say. They might not see how it, it's connected with a picky eater. They might not see how the recurrent ear infections colds. Or congestions are related to what they put in that sippy cup. They might not see how they're bad sleeping and snoring is related to the fact. That their oral musculature is weak. It might not be severe, but as a week enough, That they sleep and rest with their mouth open that there they've become a mouth breather, not a nasal breather. They might not see the connection that their mood. Or there are highs and lows of their ability to regulate. Transitions and whatnot are related to inconsistent sleep patterns and inconsistent nasal breathing patterns because they're not getting the rest that they have. And so. It's not always obvious and right in front of us. And what I want to share is the good news. Here's the good news. Since the invention of the original sippy cup way back in the eighties and nineties, like I shared we've come a long way. We've learned. Through research and technology, the pros and cons. we've also developed alternatives that you don't have to go there. And so I have a friend and a colleague, who semi retired now, but she was coming. Of age she's a little bit older than I am. back in the late eighties, early nineties, and her name is Sarah Rosenfeld Johnson, but she founded a company called talk tools. And I mentioned this earlier in this episode, and I'll have the links down below. And I've been sending clients there to her website and to her, company. Because she's developed tools that we can help in therapy, right. When someone has severe oral motor problems, For lots of different reasons, but she's also. Developed alternative cups or cups that will help in this transition. And when I talk about transition, I'm talking about a month, it takes about a month. To really teach your baby how to drink from an open cup. And so she has, as I said earlier, these cutout cups. That you can get three, three different sizes for about 12 bucks. They're lightweight the baby, your baby can easily manage them. Once you're helping them. Right. And then you slowly but surely remove your hand or your support and they can manage the cup. She also has cups with handles and that's helpful. She has a, cup. That's called a honey bear with a straw. It's very cute. I've used it. I probably have had 200 of them in my career. But it's a great way to teach kids how to use the straw because you can squeeze the bear a little bit. And so you can help them, be successful right off the bat. and they. Make that connection of, oh, if I put my lips around the straw and I suck a little bit. I get, Water. But there are a lot of great alternatives. As I said a straw is always an excellent way to go. And yes, there are tools and I think I'll have another episode specifically on open cup drinking and straw drinking, because there's a little art to that, like all of this, right. There's. It's an art and science of, of mother mothering and parenting and my speech and language. You know, my whole career is that I appreciated diving deep into the science and, and learning the biology and the neurology and the. development. But the flip side there's, a special knack to get these 1, 2, 3, 4, five-year-olds. To do what we need them to do. Right. there is that art and science together. And what I really, as a bonus, I just want to touch upon the nutrition. And I've mentioned it earlier as it fell under other concerns. Especially, with the tooth decay and all of this, But I want you to really think about the pros and cons about the food choices that we make for our, babies and our toddlers and our children and ourselves. Right. And I think that this is a golden opportunity for new moms and new families. To say here I have this beautiful baby or this 1, 2, 3, 4 year old, who is just beginning to enter. You know, life at large and how can I serve him the best? By giving him the best richest food. And then I have to of course, look in the mirror and say, okay, what do I eat? how do I take care of my, my nutrition? My, my mental health, my cognitive health, my physical health. Right. You're recovering from this new baby. And you want to serve yourself well, too, But a couple of ideas that I just want to share with you, especially as it's related to the sippy cup. And I mentioned this earlier. if I, if I could wave a magic wand and take one thing away from families to help them. Right. It would be no juice. For anybody ever. And just put that whole product Out of commission. There's no need. Uh, like I said earlier, If you want the taste of an orange, go eat the whole orange, right? You have some chewing going on, you have some fiber. you know, you'll eat. Uh, one orange, but you, you won't eat the juice of four oranges that typically are poured in a glass or the three to seven teaspoons, depending on the type of orange juice. So. The other piece and pediatricians are kind of getting on this bandwagon is that cow's milk isn't necessary. And again, it's just. Part of the advertisement. That we've been conditioned to believe that, oh, once they stop. Breastfeeding or bottle feeding, then we just pour cow's milk into a glass. And that. And especially here in the United States where the only. Country that I'm aware of that drinks cow's milk from a glass beyond age two. And so it's important That you again, have recognized that you have choices, right? I can get yogurt and cheese. I can use those dairy. to get all those nutrients that I'm looking for, you know, protein and healthy fats. And calcium and all of that. And so here, here are the takeaways that any cup, whether you use a sippy cup or you use straw or an open cup, Should only be water. And that walking around with a drink is unnecessary. And when I started to do some research for this particular topic. Um, I found it very fascinating that. It was like all of these things coming together and it's a perfect storm. So you have the developer. In the early 1990s with sippy cup. And then you have, highly processed food production. peak again, starting in the 1990s and everything was about, these individual packages for your kids and all of this. And then you had in 1986, there was a big scandal about the lead that's in our tap water. So what happened? And again, this is when I was kind of coming of age, right? I was, 25 30 years of age. And I was building my practice and I was right there in the heart of LA. And. It was quote unquote, a fashion statement to have these. Single water bottles. Right? And so the two first companies were Perrier and Evian. And, uh, you know, the Hollywood push this because there's led in our tap water and we can't go there. But the interesting thing, and you can Google this, but. The two first companies besides Perrier and Evian. Was that Pepsi made and still makes Aquafina. That was in 1994. And then the Coca-Cola made Disani in 1999, I think. Or 1990, actually, they came out first. And those water bottles. I would never buy them by the way, because they're just filtered, tap water. and I have bought them because I was desperate, on a road trip or something. That's the only thing that the gas station had. But. if you, again, if you have a choice, when you have a choice, choose healthier versions, choose healthier. But I found it fascinating to look at the timeline where sippy cups were invented. And process foods spiked. And then we had the single use water bottles right out a plastic, plastic, plastic. And that's a whole nother. Rabbit hole that I don't want to go down, but there pros and cons to that. But the other big piece, this is, this is kind of my takeaway for you all, because it becomes this domino effect. And I talk a lot about domino effect here, but. Um, the big takeaway is that processed foods make us much thirstier because you're, you're saying you mom, if you're 25, 30 or 35, you grew up with water bottles. Right? I didn't grow up with water bottles. I was in, I was a professional one water bottles came into Vogue. Right. But. It's the highly processed foods that. Interfere with our, our sodium balance. So what happens when we, when we eat packaged food, right? Whether they're cookies or chips or crackers or bread, even. That because they have so much sodium. It draws out the water out of our tissues and then our body needs an external water. We need to drink water from the outside to stay. Hydrated and in balance our cellular system, our water balance. And so, then we're driven to drink more water and you, you know this, when you eat popcorn or eat a whole bunch of chips, you drink water. Why do you think. I don't know if they do this anymore, but bars, used to always. Give free peanuts away. Why to make you thirsty. So you drink more. the other aspect to highly processed food because it is so processed, right? That we need more water with it to actually digest it. So we have this imbalance because of the sodium. And the dehydration internally. So we're. Needing or thinking we need more water. And so it becomes this big cluster. I think. I know that once I removed all processed foods and it was, in stages I became Keto and, and now Ketovore. which just means that, I lead with protein and, you know, I have some vegetation on the backside. And some healthy fats in the middle, but I eat nothing from a box or a bag anymore, nothing and I used to. For a number of years when I even went Keto, I got all these alternative flours. Right. I went gluten-free and then I just went completely wheat free. But it's still highly processed. There's still extra sodium that our body. Doesn't really know what to do with. And so I'm sharing this kind of nugget. So you can put it in perspective. And even if you test yourself for one week and say, okay, I'm not going to eat any processed food for one week. You see how you don't go to your water bottle as much, you don't. Drink nearly as much water. And, you know, there's some controversy around eight. Glasses of water a day or eight to 10 glasses with some people. Um, I have noticed that I drink a lot less water even living here in Florida. So. I just want. You to have all of the information that you can make the decision. You can make a wise decision and you can sit on it for a while and look at it a month from now. like I said before that the domino fact. With oral motor development, speech and eating are so tightly interconnected. Right. And that your goal. Is to have your baby and toddler develop efficient and effective mature. Oral motor skills. And then they become healthy eaters and good drinkers and the speech and the breathing serve him. So then he can continue to grow and learn and thrive. So keep that all. In your heart when you're making these decisions. And let me know what you think. Thank you again for spending your precious time with me. I truly look forward to future conversations with the pros and cons to all of these baby gadgets. I hope you're enjoying this beautiful spring. And that you all had an lovely Easter, so God bless. Take care. See you next time.