While there is a bit of controversy around the topic of pacifiers, researchers agree that sippy cups aren’t the most helpful for oral development. The tongue movement and position used to drink from a sippy cup is about the same as drinking from a bottle. As children get older, using a different type of drinking will encourage more mature tongue movements and position. This will help with making more mature sounds. There is also some research suggesting that prolonged use of sippy cups, meaning for much of the day, sleeping with one, or using them for years, may affect teeth and jaw growth. This could make it difficult to achieve age-appropriate speech sounds.
Speech-language pathologists recommend that when you make the transition from the bottle, offer straw drinking and/or open cup drinking whenever possible. We recognize this is tricky as straws and open cups take more supervision and time to teach. Sippy cups are still great (and appropriate) for keeping cars, clothes, kids and carpets cleaner. If you can, offer straws or open cups at meals when you can supervise, or when baby is in an environment that’s easier to clean up. For teaching straw drinking, you can use a juice box or pouch, or the Honey Bear that is especially made to teach children this skill! http://www.talkingchild.com/shop_HoneyBearCupwithStraw.aspx To help with the mess, there are some no-spill straw cups out there once your baby learns to drink from a straw http://www.amazon.com/Munchkin-Mighty-Straw-2-Pack-Colors/dp/B001QXCF0S!
As for pacifiers, you will find strong opinions on both sides. Babies use non-nutritive sucking (NNS, or sucking for something other than eating) to stay calm and keep their bodies “organized” before they’re even born. It’s a natural soothing activity for them and almost all professionals agree that it should be encouraged in some way for the first few months of life. Breastfeeding mothers should be advised that researchers recommend waiting to introduce a pacifier until one month of age when breastfeeding is well established. Professionals also agree to try to limit pacifier use to when putting the baby to sleep, or when all other soothing options have been exhausted (feeding, diapering, rocking, swaddling, etc).
The controversy comes when talking about when to stop using the pacifier. Different professionals say anywhere from 6 months to three years. Why? In typically developing infants the natural soothing benefit of NNS ends before 6 months of age. After this time, it is simply an enjoyable activity. Some professionals believe there is no harm in waiting until three years of age to let go of the pacifier. However, here are some reasons why stopping sooner rather than later may be a good idea:
- The American Academy of Pediatrics reported that children who were limited to using the pacifier only when sleeping had a 30% less incidence of inner ear infections.
- Researchers for the American Speech Language and Hearing Association (ASHA) found that Children who used pacifiers were less likely to produce age appropriate sounds by the age of 18 months
- ASHA researchers also found that 3 year-olds who had used pacifiers within the last 6 months were consistently less accurate on tests of speech sound production than those who used pacifiers less than 8 months of their lives.
Of course, this is easier said than done. Here are a few ideas that professionals recommend for ditching the pacifier:
- If the pacifier falls out while your child is sleeping, don’t put it back in.
- If your child uses a pacifier much of the day, slowly limit pacifier use to only certain times of the day for less and less time each day.
- Cut the tip of the baby’s pacifier by a little bit every few days until it is small enough to no longer be satisfying.
- Give a soothing object (blanket, doll, etc) when you give your baby a pacifier so that after the pacifier is gone, he or she has a “back-up” for self-soothing.
- Allow your child to “trade in” the pacifier for something fun like a toy. Many toy stores are familiar with this trick and will play along.
- Make a big deal of getting rid of the pacifier. Talk about it every day for a week. Remind your child what a big kid he or she is and celebrate it! Collect all the pacifiers together and maybe even make a ceremony of handing the pacifiers over to a baby you know.
Of course, you know your child the best. If your child has an extremely strong attachment to the pacifier, increased sensory needs, has a very difficult time self-soothing, or doesn’t do well with quick transitions, you may need to do things differently. It is not recommended to take away all pacifiers and leave your child without another way to self-soothe. As with all things, use your best parental judgment!
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