Sippy cups can make a parent’s life easier, but they aren’t the best for your child. Prolonged use of spouted sippy cups can cause some serious developmental issues with your child’s mouth. Let me tell you why Speech-Language Pathologists (SLP) and Dentists do not recommend the use of a spouted sippy cup.
So what is an appropriate cup to child then? Read the answer in the article: How to choose the right kind of training cup to baby?
7 problems about sippy cups
- Hinder a feeding development
Hard or soft spouts can impact feeding skills. Prolonged and repeated use of a spouted sippy cup maintains a suckling pattern what babies do from birth to about five months. Babies swallow by pushing their tongue forward and back – that’s called suckling.
The spout holds baby’s tongue down and that will continue a suckling pattern and leads delays the learning of a normal swallowing pattern. About 7-8 months suckling pattern starts naturally to disappear. When kids are about 12 to 14 months of age they learn to stop swallowing like babies, and start swallow like mature swallow pattern. After the first year kids need this pattern to learn to eat.
Read more about the development of infants feeding and swallowing in the website of Nature.
- Impact a speech development
Sippy cups may impact a speech development. Prolonged and frequently use of spouted sippy cup can cause malformation of the hard palate, which leads to issues of speech and speech sounds.
- Communication skills
Successful development of communication skills relates to successful feeding and swallowing. Normal feeding patterns reflect the early developmental pathways that are the basis for later communication skills.
- Tooth decay
Repeated use of a sippy cup can also lead to teeth decay. Learn more in the website of pediatric dentistry and orthodontics NOVA. - Bite problems and crooked teeth
Prolonged and frequently use of spouted sippy cup can cause malformation of the hard palate, which leads to malocclusion (bite problems) and crooked teeth. - Changes facial development
Sippy cup may contribute incorrect formation of the palate & other facial structures, and that’s how the sippy cup can change the whole face shape. - Impacts appetite and lead picky eating
Prolonged and frequently use of a sippy cup impact feeding skills, appetite and actually lead for picky eating in some children.
Sources:
1. Book: Pre-Feeding Skills, Second edition 2000, Suzanne Evans Morris, PH.D, CCC-SLP & Marsha Dunn Klein, M.ED, OTR/L.
2. Book: Nobody Ever Told Me That! 2010, Diane Bahr, MCD, CCC-SLP, NCTMB, CIMI.
3. Course and course materials of Melanie Pottock, MA, CCC-SLP, My Munch Bug.
4. Several websites:
– https://www.nature.com/gimo/contents/pt1/full/gimo17.html
– https://www.novasmilestogether.com/do-sippy-cups-and-bottles-promote-tooth-decay/
– https://www.willowpediatricdentistry.com/post/do-sippy-cups-cause-crooked-teeth-separating-fact-from-fiction
It is best to skip spouted sippy cups
Spouted sippy cups were invented by engineers, who just wanted to keep homes cleaned. These cups are not meant to help kids to eat or drink. Sippy cups can cause serious oral health issues.
With specialists we have designed a cup which does not cause any oral problems to your child. Actually we have designed whole tableware set which contribute your baby’s naturally self-feeding skills. There have been co-working speech languages pathologists and occupational therapists. Our products are 100% safe for children.
You can support your baby’s healthy oral motor development and self-feeding skills by buying Skandino’s tableware from our shop.
