Help! Sippy Cup

[jstupak]

Hello,
My daughter is 9 months old - scheduled for her palette surgery on Feb. 28th. Her doctor requires her to be totally off of the bottle at least one month before the surgery. Only problem - I can not even get her to drink from a sippy cup. I have tried many kinds, and when she sees it she starts to cry. Any advice? She also refuses to eat anything and only will drink formula. Hates juice, etc.

Thanks,
Jenna

[Z-Pup]

Jenna,

Zach was to be off the bottle before his palate surgery in July. I can only assume the reason you are to be off for a month before hand is to give you a dead line with some wiggle room so that you are for certain off the bottle at surgery time.

That being said....Zach had his last bottle 2 hour before his palate surgery, with some Pedilite. He was NOT a fan of the sippy cup. After surgery he wouldn't take the sippy cup. We had surgery on a Wed. and spent the night in the hospital, he was on an IV and getting his fluids. So Wed he got no fluids other than his IV. Thursday morning, I made sure to get enough in him so that we could go home.

Once we were home, I fed him out of a syringe (like the ones they give meds in oraly to our little ones) It was a 10 ml syringe. I'd put him in his high chair and feed him 10 ml at the time to equal 8oz, three times a day. He hated it. But I'd get it in him by any means...because I was not going back into the hospital for dehydration and because he was being stuborn. So from Thurs to Monday night last feeding this is what we did. I waited him out Tuesday morning for his sippy...it took about an hour and he drank it down...right out of the sippy.

We used (and continue to use) the Nuby brand, with the soft spout as he doesn't know how to suck and needs to 'chew' the spout. We started out with the ones with handles. At first I took the spout and cut a hole in it...as in you could literally turn the cup upside down and it would pour out, this is how he drank it for the first week....then I took a top and just cut one side of the 'grill' out so that he had to work a little more to get it...and then finally I gave him a factory made top...

His P/S said he could have his bottle back after two weeks, but I wasn't doing that either....WHY? we worked so hard to get there, there was no way he was getting the bottles back!

All this to say....don't stress about the bottle really...after surgery they don't want ANYTHING...NOTHING....NADA...in there mouth!! And the way I did it worked for us...it was a pain but we survived.

hope that helps a little.

[mellyott]

We also use the Nuby cups with our daughter. She chews on the nipple and only gets a little at a time. We have used these since she was about four months old. It has worked well and she loves it, however, now she can not grasp the concept of other sippy cups. We also sometimes use the old, hard plastic sippy cups. We just take out the white plastic inner part. This way the water pours out and she doesn't have to suck. Be cautious because sometimes she gets too much water and at times chokes. I hope this helps you. Good luck.
My daughter is scheduled for her palate repair on December 20 and our plastic surgeon has not said anything about discontinuing the bottle. We are gradually doing it ourselves, has anyone else been told to discontinue the bottle?

[jstupak]

Thank you for the advice. I guess I am going to have to wait until she is really hungry and push the sippy cup. I think they want her off of it a month out - to make sure she is totally off of the bottle. If not, they said they will cancel surgery. Our doctor said that using the bottle after palette repair may cause to tear open the sutures. I think each doctor is different.

After the palette surgery, can they suck??

[Heide]

Hi Jenna, our little one (BCLP) had her palate surgery almost 10 months ago. She can create a little suction but is not able to actually drink from a sippy cup with the piece in or a big straw. There is still a opening behind her front teeth for growth/future surgeries so the palate is not completely closed. I know we all use different sippy cups but the Nuby soft spout worked the best for us. Heide

[jacksmom]

We started out using a different type of Nuby cup. It comes as a bottle, then you buy the sippy cup nipples separately. The spouts are more narrow like a bottle, but the liquid still comes out when they "bite" it. I can only find them at Babies R Us. I posted the link to the picture on one of the other sippy cup questions. I love them because they don't spill or leak, and they come with tops to cover the spouts. A couple of months after his palate repair, Jackson was able to drink out of a straw and now he takes a regular Gerber sippy cup with the valve in. He HAS to have everything just like his big brother......
Just give it some time, eventually she'll get the hang of it. The timeline of having to have her off before surgery is stressful I know, but trust me...after surgery you will do anything just to get liquids in her SOMEHOW! You'll be surprised at what all you can come up with! After surgery, a sippy cup may feel better in her mouth than a bottle, and she may take right to it then. They are all so different!
Good Luck!
Allison