Sippy Cups

[jacksmom]

I have heard from several people that it is a good idea to have your baby familiar with a sippy cup before their palate repair. We have our surgery scheduled for March and I was just wondering if any of you have suggestions on a type of sippy cup to try. Any input will be appreciated! Thanks a bunch!
Allison

[Heide]

Hi Allison, we are currently trying to get our daughter used to a sippy cup and regular cup before her palate surgery later this month. I like the Nuby sippy cup as the spout is soft; however my mom also got us a cheap dollar store variety with two handles on the side which seems to do the trick too. Both shake water out very well much to our daughter's delight :)

[jacksmom]

Heide, do you have to cut a hole in the spout, or can she take it like it is? When is your surgery date? We are definitely not looking forward to it, but anxious to have it behind us! Seems like from most of the posts on here, the surgery usually seems to go pretty well, if we can just make it through those first couple of weeks! Good luck & thanks for your help!
Allison

[Mum from down under]

Hi Alison we too are just about ready to go onto a sippy cup. ( our palate op isn't until August ) I know here we can get an attachment that fits onto the bottle. There are 2 kinds fast & slow & fit onto any bottle. I also know Avent do a sippy cup thing to that is soft it fits into the top of the bottle like a teat. Maybe you have something like that in the US. Hope I was of some help.

[cadiesmom]

My nine month old had her first repair at 6 months of age and developed 2 fistula. We did not have her on a sippy cup at the time, so until we could get her back on the pigeon nipple, we used a syringe to get fluids in her and also the haberman. She was back on her pigeon by about 5 days post-op though. Now it is time for us to try a sippy cup and I've been playing with a lot of different models, but Cadie can't seem to get enough liquid out so that she is satisfied. With the Avent trainers, did you take out the disc so that the cup was basically free flowing when it was upended? What other cups have people had success with? Any help would be appreciated.

[Heide]

Hi Again, Little did we all know what an adventure hunt it would be for the right sippy cup :) - both the Nuby one and the cheap one we use does not have a flow stopper, it basically just runs out when turned. It was also suggested to us that if we used the type that we had with our first child (no cleft issues) to just remove the valve thing so that it also just flows out when tipped. hope this helps and have a great weekend. Heide

[lislas]

I think I must have spent so much money looking for the right cup for our daughter, and of course the cheap one seemed to work the best. I tried the Nuby one also, but I never felt like she was getting a continuous flow. The one that worked awesome for us is Circo brand and I always find them at Target. They are wither pink, green or blue and the ones without the handles actually poured best. They are 99 cents and she took to them very quickly. Of course we did take the valve out too. They pour pretty fast, but she got the hang of it quickly, and our doctor said that if she could handle that she can easily drink out of a regular cup. This worked great because she drank out of a regular cup immediately post-op. Now we are trying the same cup with the valve back in, so she will have to learn to suck. Our doctor said it will be great practice for her...we shall see. (she had her palate repair 12/14/06). Good luck with everything!!

[lynn81]

hi
when kadyn has his lip fixed he was 2 months old so he didnt have time to use a sippy but when he had his the surgan was very adimit that he not get a bottle or pasifier for so many weeks after surgery... he was not to do any sucking of any kind so it had time to heal. i guess depending on the age when the surgery is done.... i would work twards a regular cup if old enuf or maybe one of the sport sippys that use a straw so there is minimal sucking involved. when kadyn had his we had to feed him with a 30 cc dropper with a cathiter(sp) tube on the end... feedings took forever.
good luck with the surgery.
lynn