Sippy Cups & Swallowing

When it comes to baby paraphernalia, there is a world of different tools and gadgets that inevitably make you ask “do we need these?” “which one is the safest?” or “How do I use that?” Among these items: the sippy cup! The sippy cup is an item that was born out of the 80’s as a mechanical engineer’s desire to save his carpet from his son’s spills. When I bring up sippy cup use with parents, it’s pretty normal to hear worries about where they would be without their sippy cups that help keep spills at bay. The idea that sippy cups are not considered a developmental milestone can be a hard one to swallow (pun intended!).

So what’s the big deal with sippy cups?

Sippy cups can delay your child’s oral development, specifically the development of a mature swallow pattern which should develop around a year old. A sippy cup (as well as bottles and pacifiers) promote the infant suckle-swallow pattern. This is where the tongue moves in a front to back motion to move food and liquids to the back of the throat for swallowing. However, in an adult swallow pattern, the tongue tip rises up to the gum ridge behind your teeth (the alveolar ridge) and a wave-like motion helps propel the food or liquid back in a more controlled manner that allows for consumption of more difficult textures than what an infant swallow can handle. Sippy cup spouts often hinder this elevation of the tongue tip and development of this mature swallow pattern which allows children to become safe, efficient eaters. When the infant suckle-swallow pattern persists beyond what is considered typical, some things we often see include:

• Difficulties with efficiently managing bites of food
• Increased messiness or drooling
• Increased instances of choking or gagging
• Open mouth posture
• Possible changes to dental structures or dental decay

For more detailed information regarding some of the orofacial changes a prolonged infant swallow pattern can lead to, see our post on Tongue Thrust–coming soon!

So what are some alternatives?

Many speech-language pathologists who specialize in feeding recommend moving from breastfeeding or bottle feeding to practicing drinking from an open cup or with a straw! At Parkwood, our clinicians can help you and your child identify items that may be hindering development of an adult swallow pattern and help with development of this swallow pattern. We also recommend these sources:

• How to Teach Your Nine Month Old to Drink from a Straw by Nimali Fernando MD, MPH & Melanie Potock, MA, CCC-SLP
• 1234 Method to Teach Toddlers to Drink from an Open Cup by Melanie Potock
• Nobody Ever Told Me (Or My Mother) That! Everything from Breathing to Bottles to Healthy Speech Development by Diane Bahr
• Melanie Potock, pediatric feeding expert and author
• Sippy Cups: 3 Reasons to Skip Them & What to Offer Instead
• Why You May Want to Skip the Sippy Cup for Your Baby