After Jacksons palate repair, he went back to the haberman, and used it up until he was off the bottle completely. Our PS allowed the Haberman right after surgery so we didn't even attempt anything new before surgery. He never really ate any solids before his repair and about 2 weeks after surgery he started eating baby food, and skipped right up to table food pretty quick. As far as "sucking"goes, I'm not sure how you teach that. One day my niece gave Jackson a cup with a straw, and as I was telling her that he couldn't suck out of a straw...he was drinking away!!!
Now he drinks out of regular gerber sippy cups with the valve in! I think it mostly has to do with his brother using those, and he wants everything just like his brother, so he figured it out! It seems like a long process, but it will all work out in the end! Good luck with surgery, keep us posted!
Allison