Disabilities
Perspectives on Parenting©
by Nancy Lambert Davenport
Nancy Davenport's Column:
For Richardson News 5/23/99
Copyright Nancy Lambert Davenport 1999
"Cup Training"
The subject of babies learning to drink from a cup is not one that many of us live and die for, but to any parent who is trying to train his child to a cup, it's an important topic. I think some parents procrastinate teaching this skill because they consider the project daunting. They know how attached their child is to the bottle and simply don't see him ever giving it up. Some parents imagine their child taking their bottles off to college with them. No need to fret. Weaning can be done and without a lot of stress.
It is ironic that just about the time parents get the hang of nursing or bottle feeding and really have a great schedule going, it is time to introduce the cup. For most kids that is at about twelve months of age even if parents plan to continue nursing or bottle feeding for a long time. The world of child development even has a word, plasticity, for the optimum moment of learning a skill. About twelve months is the age of plasticity for learning to use a cup. In other words, one year of age is the EASIEST age for a baby to learn the skill, not the only age. Kids can learn it when younger or older than one year, but around one year is the least stressful for everyone. And we are all for "easy" and for stress free.
Here are some hints for EASY cup training for any child at any ability level. At about one year:
- Find a cup that is properly proportioned to the size of the child's face. A medicine cup or a shot glass that holds about an ounce and half is ideal especially if you can see through it.
- Avoid those cups with the spouts for training. They are good for traveling, but are really just another kind of bottle because kids suck the drink out. They won't learn how to drink from a cup using them.
- A good rule is: put no more in the cup than you are willing to clean up.
- Of course you hold the cup at this learning time.
- Have something wonderful in it.
- Don't have the baby too thirsty or hungry or he will get frustrated.
- Until he gets the hang of it, look at this as an exercise, not as a means of nourishment.
- Sometimes it is helpful to have the child sit on your lap facing away from you as you hold the cup. That way you can hold his arms away from the cup with one hand as you guide the cup to his mouth with the other. His natural tendency will be to grab the cup. He first must learn to drink from the cup before he can learn to hold it as he drinks.
It's going to take practice because the baby is learning how to swallow a different way than he has with a bottle. Give him time. Be patient. He can and will learn this unless there is a severe physical impairment. Some children will just take longer than others.
And I promise unless parents are record breaking procrastinators, kids will learn this skill before they go to college.
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EMAIL: ndavenport@ticnet.com
URL: http://www.nancyldavenport.com