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!

Straw Cups - The Better Alternative To Sippy Cups

This was originally written on Saturday, April 11, 2009:

Good news - Logan's infection on his scar is almost gone! It just looks like a little red scab now which is good because he finished the antibiotics this morning. His appt. with the ENT is on Tuesday morning so hopefully all will be back to normal by then.

The bad news is that what I was afraid of happened (the antibiotics lowering his immune system) - he caught a cold. Who knows, maybe he would have gotten it anyway since he started going to a babysitter's for 8 hrs a week, 3.5 weeks ago, but his nose started running on Thursday evening. I had hoped maybe it was just because it was really cold that day (and raining) and we were outside for a few seconds because we went over to Lisa P's so that Logan could play with Lexi & Riley. It was so fun, I was amazed at how relaxed & comfortable Logan seemed there. He used to just observe first before jumping right in to playing with other children, but this time it was like he recognized Lexi was a kid right away and went over to play with her and all of her toys. He was walking around their house like he went there every day. That must be where the stereotype comes from of daycare making kids more social!

Babysitter had told me she wasn't going to have any other kids this past Thursday because it was spring break this week and asked if it was okay to take him to Wal-Mart. I said "yes" and when I picked him up she said he'd done wonderfully. Apparently at the check-out the lady said, "I know him but not you." Wow! I thought that was impressive. Yes, I had just gone to Wal-Mart the other day and the cashier had interacted with him, but I would not have expected her to remember him. I don't think I'd be able to recognize a baby who I didn't know, especially since I'm sure there were several others she had through her line!

I'm so glad that Logan did flawlessly all 3 mornings last week. Like I said, though, after next week (when we arranged another 3 mornings) we will go back to just 8 hrs each week because 12 hrs is too much. :p

Babysitter said with just one child she isn't required to keep him in the basement, so he was able to join her around the house and she said he was so excited, he acted like he was in Dinseyland. She said her daughter was home and he really loved playing with her, too. (She's going to UNL this fall to major in vocal music.) I learned that Babysitter & I go to the same hair salon, which then I went to yesterday to get my hair colored for the final time (this time it's dark brown w/ blonde highlights so it should grow out looking natural, unlike when I have it blonde or if I'd have kept it red, even though it really wasn't red, but whatever. This isn't exactly like what I was hoping for, either (not as many blonde streaks as I'd wanted), but oh well it's better than the weird color I had the past four months!

We had Logan's 12-month pics taken at JCPenney last night and he did the best he ever has. He only started crying at the end of the session (after 45 minutes), which is when we were doing a family pic, so I didn't like any of the family ones, but the main point was getting a pic of him and there were several excellent ones (probably the best pics we've ever gotten). I also liked the photographer the best compared to Target & Portrait Innovations, however even though we paid the same price as we did at both Target & Portrait Innovations, I like how they did things at Portrait Innovations the best. JCPenney was pretty much identical to Target as far as how they design the photos and put their packages/collections together and then they e-mail you the pictures in a week and we also have to wait a week before picking up the ones we ordered. We got a 2-year membership because even though we already had a coupon, that was going to make our total $5 less so we'll probably go there again. I think Wal-Mart is our only other place to try (so that will be next time at 18 months). Once we're done with all of them then we'll probably just stick with the same one from then on, whichever wins!

Anyway, back to Logan's cold -- so his runny nose continued all day on Friday and I heard Logan coughing throughout the night. Fortunately he hasn't had a cough today and I haven't had to wipe his nose yet AND he is in a great mood so hopefully it's just minor and he will fight it off now that he took his last dose of antibiotics. However, now I think I caught it because I've been coughing since yesterday. I went to bed at 8:30 last night (that was awesome!) and slept until 7 this morning so hopefully that will help.

Dang, we were just a week away from Logan only having had two virus' in his first year, now it will be three (hopefully he will be over it by his birthday on Sat)! But that's still good because the average is eight in a baby's first year!

I'm glad we realized it prior to today, though, because we were scheduled to go over to Chris' house this afternoon and meet her little guy who is going to be 2 months old tomorrow. But I do not want to expose him! I'm really bummed, I've been dying to meet Gregory and to hang out with Chris so I was looking forward to it all week - that was our only plans for Easter weekend!

In other news, Logan has weaned himself from all but one bottle (8 oz) a day now (you can read about him weaning himself in my post The Weaner), but I've discovered there's no way I'm going to be able to give him adequate hydration in a regular cup. Even though he does perfect with me holding it and will drink an entire glass-full, he needs something that he can regulate and where he can give himself water on demand throughout the day or else there's just no way he's going to get enough. I read that from this point on, 16 oz of milk is adequate for his milk supply (so obviously that was part of his weaning - he probably just wasn't as hungry) but since he won't take a regular sippy cup I am glad to have learned of another option:

Lisa P. recommended a straw sippy cup. I looked this up online and guess what? This is actually what is better for kids! The whole reason for this "no bottle" rule after 12 months is because it's the same as when kids suck their thumb -- it can cause teeth problems. Well, according to an article on WebMD, toddlers can develop lisps and other speech problems from use of sippy cups, as well. Joe had a speech problem when he was a little guy. He had to go to speech therapy until second or third grade. So I'm glad to have learned about the straw cups because I don't want Logan to go through the same thing, especially since (I don't think I've ever written this here before) he has an above average tongue. LOL, it's true. Whenever Joe sticks it out I always scream because it's like that Kiss guy (only it curls up, not down). We noticed around 5 months old that Logan totally takes after him! So I don't know if that was part of the problem, but the speech pathologist in the article says that toddlers tend to drink [the sippy cup] as if it were a bottle. "They have a hard object or spout with various shapes depending on the type of cup, and their bodies are tipped back. This hard object or spout misplaces the tongue and pushes the teeth out as the thumb can." Steer clear of sippy cups and use straws instead, she urges.

So we're picking one up today and I really hope that Logan takes it. Supposedly they are easier than a sippy cup anyway. . .I will let you know! (You can read the update here.)
P.S. I started my period last night, yeay I won't be a blob for Logan's birthday! :p