In a previous post I shared our discovery about the spouted sippy cup not being a good idea for children with Down syndrome. I wanted to report our progress.
I had thought we would wean Christopher off his sippy cup. I thought he would feel deprived, or frustrated, if we did it abruptly. But I discovered that as long as I had the sippy cups in circulation my girls, who are wonderful helpers, were continuing to give him his drinks in them. So, the spouted sippy cups had to go! I bagged them up to store until we need sippy cups for Trinity. The transition has gone smoothly.
What a big difference it made! He is doing so well with sucking from a straw. He is even working at drinking from a regular cup. He is having better lip closure and the drooling has decreased greatly. He still needs reminders to keep his tongue in, especially when he is tired. But that is happening less often.
Last night, when he gave me kiss at bedtime, I did not need to wipe the drool off my face. Ahhh, I like nice dry kisses from my little guy!
Since Christopher got the tubes in his ears, he is again saying many words and attempting many more.
We are also playing a kazoo, blowing whistles and sipping from the long bendy straws. All this leads to better lip closure, tongue control and stronger mouth muscles.
Progress is so exciting!
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