Parents constantly want to introduce something new into the diet of their babies. Everyone is in a hurry to introduce complementary foods from 4 months, when it is needed only from 6 months, they experiment with dishes. Weaning your baby out of a bottle by switching to a straw is a good move that can help weaning.
Ability to drink through a straw
Age of transition to tubule
On the Internet, you can find not a single article that the best time to start teaching a child to drink from a straw is 6 months. Such information is, to say the least, illogical, because a six-month-old child most often does not sit on his own. You can offer him a straw, and there is a high probability that he will learn to suck from it, but a mother or another adult will have to hold a vessel from which the child will drink. In addition, you will need to seat the crumb, which is still difficult for him. In this case, acquaintance with a new way of drinking does not make life easier for the mother, while the baby can hold the bottle with the nipple on his own.
A healthy baby with intelligent parents can sit for a long time without support from about 8 months of age. From this time on, you can try drinking through a straw. If parents do not pursue the goal of teaching this skill to a child, there is nothing wrong with a baby drinking from a bottle for up to a year. The use of the nipple for feeding, even up to one and a half years, does not affect the bite, the incorrect formation of which parents are so afraid of.
How to teach a seated child
Attention! Placing a six-month-old baby in pillows, thereby subjecting a fragile spine to vertical load, is a big mistake of inexperienced parents. The longer the baby is in a horizontal position, crawling on the floor and bed, the healthier his back will be in adulthood. Therefore, acquaintance with the straw before 8 months is inappropriate.
If an eight-month-old baby shows refusal after several attempts to drink through a straw, you should not force him. In this case, it is wiser to postpone this question for a while. Perhaps at the age of 9 months he will more willingly undertake to study this way of drinking. Nine-month-old babies, unlike eight-month-old babies, can add up a sequence of two actions. That is why at this age it is easier for them to understand how the tubule works. Previously, they used one bottle, but now they can deliberately combine a vessel and a straw.
If a baby has managed to master this type of sucking for up to a year, he can be entrusted with a solid, non-wrinkling dish from which he can drink. But a cardboard box of juice or yogurt is unlikely - it will certainly be crushed, crumpled, and its contents will end up on clothes, furniture and the floor. A kid who is already one year old can be trusted with containers made of non-solid materials. Of course, he will have to be warned several times that it is not necessary to squeeze the box, which he will successfully cope with soon.
Interesting. For most toddlers, the empty juice box quickly turns into a toy for the development of fine motor skills: children now and then take the tube out of the box, and then diligently try to insert it back, aiming at a small hole in the lid. These classes can last 10-15 minutes, which every mother will be incredibly happy about.
The benefits of drinking from a straw
The ability to drink from a straw makes life much easier for a young mother, who values every minute of free time:
- You can increase the walking time. Now, if the water in the drinking cup runs out, it's time for a second breakfast or they forgot their bottle at home, mom can easily get out of this situation by buying a box of juice, yogurt or ready-made porridge, depending on the situation.
- You can travel long distances without a refrigerator at hand, such as on a train. Now there is no need to worry about the safety of milk, which the baby is used to drinking. If the journey lasts even a single day, it is very convenient to take with you milk, packaged in 200 ml boxes with a straw. In such packages, it is pasteurized and can be stored for a long time without refrigeration until opened. One open package is enough for exactly 1 meal, and you don't have to worry about how well you managed to wash the sippy in the field.
- With the help of a straw, the child drinks from an upright position. Babies who are accustomed to sucking on a bottle nipple are forced to lie down to drink, or to throw their heads back strongly.
- Children are delighted when they see how interestingly the amount of compote in a mug decreases when it is sucked out through a straw. The guys who are especially successful in this matter practice stopping the flow of juice and returning it back to the cup.
Juice for a walk
Important! Children have no desire to suck the tube without stopping. They calmly part with her, emptying the vessel. If you want to chew it (such a desire, as a rule, arises almost always), damage to the tube will not incur unnecessary expenses, as in the case of damage to a nipple for a bottle or nozzles for a sippy cup.
How to teach a child to drink from a straw
If a mother wondered how to teach a child to drink from a straw, she will be faced with the fact that the child does not have an intuitive reflex to suck, as it did with her breast or bottle. We'll have to show patience and a little perseverance. If the baby does not show interest in the proposed method of eating his favorite compote for a long time, it is better to leave the child alone.
Some children can easily and simply deal with the innovation, but not all. It depends both on the age and the desire of the child. If you didn't manage to acquire the skill on your own, adults should help. There are several ways you can try to explain to your baby how to use the colorful straw:
- When teaching to drink from a cardboard box, when the baby takes the end of the straw into his mouth, gently and lightly press the walls of the package so as to push a small amount of the contents into the child's mouth. Due to the strong pressure in the mouth, there will be a large amount of liquid, which the baby does not expect at all. This can be intimidating and discouraged from participating in the process.
- Using a personal example, having previously purchased colorless and transparent tubes, you can continue your lesson. For clarity of the movement of the liquid, it is better to use something bright, not water. Juice, tea or compote are perfect. Slowly drawing in the drink, you need to show the baby how the color level, slowly, goes down. Tearing off the end of the straw, indicate that the bright column has returned downward. With repeated repetition, the child will realize that the mother, in contact with the tube, controls the crawling colored strip.
- If the visual lesson did not lead to the desired result, you need to show the child a familiar gesture - a kiss. That is, you need to loudly "kiss" the tip of the tube so that the liquid from this jumped up along it. Children from one year old who understand the meaning of speech can be offered to kiss a straw if the term “suck” is not clear to them. Usually, children in a year already try to kiss their mother on the cheek, which will be a clue to action.
Girl and milkshake
Important! Any lessons should be started only when both mom and baby are in a good mood. If even one of them is tired, upset, or angry, the exercises will not lead to the desired result.
Tips on how to speed up learning
If parents are thinking about how to teach a child to drink from a straw in the first year of his life, the following tips may be helpful:
- When offering to get acquainted with a straw for the first time, it is better to use the baby's favorite drink. The taste, which he never gave up, will help him quickly navigate in mastering a new sucking technique. It is better not to use drinks unknown to the child yet.
- It is easier to teach if the child is thirsty at the time of learning. Even any adult learns something new faster if it has personal motives. Thirst is a powerful motivator. But it can also play in the opposite direction - a baby who wants to drink, not being able to quickly master the work with a straw, can be very upset that he cannot get drunk, so the thirst should be moderate.
- It is easier to accustom your baby to a straw in the morning or lunchtime, when he is active and seeks to learn about the world. Evening lessons are likely to be useless and can turn into crying, because the vast majority of children are used to calming down and getting ready for bed with a bottle of warm milk or mom's breast. Replacing the necessary attribute for restful sleep will only become stressful at the beginning of the journey to the tube.
During training, allow to fall asleep with a bottle
Additional Information. Many children can use milk only through the usual breast nipple or bottle. Therefore, mothers make their first mistake by offering the baby to drink milk through a straw.
Parents should understand that the first attempts to master a straw will necessarily be accompanied by wet spots. In no case should this be the reason for the unhappy mother's tone. Instead, arm yourself with napkins and get ready to support your child. Successful sips must be accompanied by noisy applause, smiles and hugs.
The most important thing that a mother should remember is that if a baby for some unknown reason refuses to drink from a straw after a year, this does not mean that he is incapable. Most likely, he simply does not like this way of drinking. All people are individual from birth. You should not force the baby to suffer with an unloved pipe just because the neighbor's baby has been using it for a long time. You always need to be guided by the needs of your child, and not be measured by skills with neighboring children.
