Straw Cups, Not Sippy Cups (Part Two)

This was originally written on Sunday, April 26, 2009:

Yesterday was already one week since Logan turned one year old! Sarah left this morning. . .so now that we're home from Iowa I washed all of Logan's bottles/nipples and put them away today!

The straw cups are AWESOME -- they did indeed work!!!! I wasn't able to buy one immediately after my post, Straw Cups - The Better Alternative To Sippy Cups, and so Logan ended up going from 24 lbs to 21.5 pounds all within the same week because he weaned himself from his final bottle. So after a couple of days Joe forced him back on the bottles which I had mixed feelings about -- shouldn't we follow Logan's natural cues since one year olds are supposed to stop bottles anyway? But losing almost 3 pounds in a week for a one year old was a lot! Since he refused the sippy cup it was not worth getting dehydrated over, so he continued the bottles while at my parents' house. Fortunately, immediately after we bought the straw cups he gained the weight back. So now we can honor what Logan already wanted 3 weeks ago: no more bottles.

I did more research about the straw cup and it sounds like they will be replacing all "normal" sippy cups in the near future. I am amazed that this info is just now being heard (but it makes sense that it'd take 23 yrs for studies to prove the effects). Most people still don't know (I didn't until a couple of weeks ago) so I'm glad I can help spread the word through my blog (you can read the above link I gave to find out why straw cups are the better alternative to sippy cups).

The sippy cup was invented in 1986 by a man named Richard Belanger, who licensed the design to Playtex. Prior to that, babies had a cup with a lid similar to when you buy coffee from a drive thru (it had a little hole, I actually remember mine). However, because of now proven links to speech problems and teeth problems, as well as many moms find it hard to wean their child from sippy cups (but we use straws for life), the straw cup was invented. Nearly every mother finds this to be easier for their child anyway. (They usually get it on their first try, whereas sippy cups can take months.) The kind we bought has a lid that slides over the straw so that Logan can carry it around without spilling. He loves it -- and I love it because I know I'm doing the healthier option.

Now he has no trouble getting the 16 oz of milk that he should have each day until two years old (he was on goat's milk all of last week at my mom's; today he started cow's whole milk). He also had orange juice for the first time and hasn't shown any reaction to the citrus like he did when he had oranges for the first time last month, so hopefully he's over that. I've only fed him juice two other days in his life (the first time was apple until I learned that is actually the hardest on babies' stomachs and so the second was white grape which is the easiest on babies' stomachs) because from what I read juice is not normally necessary for this age group. On the rare days that he will have it, he shouldn't have more than 4 oz. in a 24 hr period. (Same thing for water - 4 oz. a day is all that is necessary, but that he should have every day.)

Every day for breakfast he should continue to have iron-fortified cereal or oatmeal, as well as a lunch, dinner, and two nutritious snacks. That food should be fruit, veggies, healthy grains, lean meat, and low-fat dairy -- all minimally processed. Only one or two oz. of meat per day is adequate. He hasn't had eggs yet because they are not recommended for babies under a year, but when he does start he shouldn't have more than 3 a week. We have his 12-month check up tomorrow so I'll let you know if our pediatrician has anything to add.I'll write the rest of our update whenever I get the chance, but for today I wanted to mention that my last of my three friends due to have a baby in April, Brooke, had her daughter 6 days late on Friday, April 24, 2009 at 12:01 AM!!!! Kaelyn Jean weighed 8lbs-6oz and was 21 inches. Brooke e-mailed me two days prior and said that she'd gone to her appt. the previous day and was 5 cm dilated! Her doctor had set up an induction for Monday, April 27th (8 days after her due date) but she was hoping to go into labor naturally before then. She did (and had a natural labor as well). Contractions started throughout the day on Thursday and she went to the hospital after work. They broke her water at 8:30 PM and she was fully dilated three hours later! Her mom had a 4 hr labor with her first and 2 hr labor with her second, so genetics were on her side. Congratulations, Brooke & Sean!