All Things CUPS: for babies, toddlers, what to look for & what to avoid
- Alex Kelly
- Jan 2
- 4 min read
Updated: Feb 14
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The Issue with Sippy Cups
While sippy cups aren’t inherently bad, a prolonged use can cause malocclusion (crooked teeth), dental decay, and muscle imbalances.
Immature Swallowing and Muscle Development: sippy cups teach incorrect tongue placement and force children into an immature swallow with their tongue being thrusted forward. This is not ideal for proper jaw development or safe feeding. In fact, one of the signs of solid readiness for babies is not having an active tongue thrust - so why would we want to continue promoting such?
When you swallow, your tongue should RISE to the roof of your mouth and behind your teeth. Sippy cups force the tongue to DROP underneath the spout and into the floor od the mouth, encouraging all the wrong muscles.
Sippy cups promote the suckle-like pattern that infants use for breast and bottle feeding, which limits the child’s ability to develop a more mature swallowing pattern, especially with continued use after the first year (Melanie Potock, MA, CCC-SLP). The spout of the sippy cup forces the child to continue to push their tongue forward and back, perpetuating suckling.
Improper Teeth Development: sippy cups push the tongue into a forward position, which puts pressure on the upper teeth. Extended use can cause teeth to move forward and outward, leading to speech delays, chewing difficulties, and more.
Open Mouth Posture: sippy cups promote an open-mouth and relaxed lip posture. This can negatively affect breathing, dentition, sleep, and speech development. This open mouth posture can promote open mouth breathing, which can lead to numerous health issues like:
ADD/ADHD
Bed Wetting
Delayed Speech
Overweight/Obesity
Learning Difficulties
Vertigo/Clumsiness
Restless Legs
Aggression/Defiance
Teeth Grinding
Snoring
Mouth Breathing
Daytime Sleepiness
Nightmares/Night Terrors
Allergies/Asthma
Anxiety
Frequent Illness
Stunted Growth
Crooked Teeth
Swollen Tonsils/Adenoids
Forward Head Posture
Recessed/Stunted Chin
Dark Circles Under the Eyes
The Issue with 360 Cups
Not only do 360 cups also perpetuate biting and suckling, they force the neck and head of the child into extension which puts the airway at risk. They also require over-activation of the top lip and over-use of the jaw to support top lip pressure (Melanie Potock).
The Benefits of Straw Cups
Speech and Lip Development: when children drink through straws they develop strong lip muscles by sealing them around the straw. These muscles are needed for the early consonant sounds m, p, b. Straws improve lip rounding, which is necessary for drinking and swallowing (as well as speech and language development).
Proper Tongue Position and Development: drinking through a straw encourages children to keep their tongue in the correct position, which can help prevent the negative effects of mouth breathing. The retraction and elevation to the roof of the mouth that straws promote is considered a safe and mature swallow.
Teeth Development: drinking through a straw keeps the lips toward the front of the straw, protecting teeth alignment. Proper lip placement decreases suckling, which avoids pressure that could negatively impact teeth development.
What to Look for in Straw Cups
Non-Valved Straw Cups
Valved straws promote more of a suckling motion than sipping which is needed to help develop a mature swallow and facial development. Valves create an abnormal motor pattern. You want your child to have a rounded lip and suck with control, no force. You don’t want your child to have to bite and brace in order to drink.
Many cups have their valves in the tip of the straw (example Zak). Cups like these you can easily trim off the valve - turning it into a regular straw.
Other cups have valves that are un-trimmable, like The First Years Squeeze & Sip. See a visual of that in this video.
Thin Straws
Thin straws are *more important when first learning to drink through a straw. They bring up a smaller portion of liquid which makes it easier/safer to swallow, thicker straws can be more difficult to drink out of when it comes to tiny baby/toddler mouths, it can also cause a child to drink too much liquid too quickly lowering their capacity for solids.
Short Straws
A short straw allows the tip of the straw to to just reach the tip of the child’s tongue. This allows the tongue tip to reach UP in order to develop a mature swallow pattern.
Straw Cups We Own
Talk Tools Honey Bear (GREAT for first teaching) Talk Tools ITSY (great for babies 6mo-12mo)
OlaBaby (great for 6mo-3yr+)
The Benefits of Open Cups
Open cups activate lip closure and tongue elevation.
Facial Development: drinking from an open cup allows the facial muscles and bone structure to grow normally, promoting proper speech, feeding, and swallowing skills
Swallowing Development: The mature swallow pattern is with the tongue elevated toward the roof of the mouth. Drinking from an open cup helps promote this mature swallow. *when babies/toddlers drink from a sippy cup they are forced into an immature swallow with their tongue being thrusted forward.
Speech Development: drinking from an open cup can promote speech development. It promotes strong lip closure which is needed for producing the m, p, and b sounds in English, Spanish, and other languages. It also promotes proper tongue elevation for the t and d sounds.
What to Look for in Open Cups
Size: if a cup is too big for baby then it’s like drinking out of a huge bucket, which can cause unsafe swallowing. You want a cup that fits easily in baby’s hands and a rim that fits comfortable in the corner of their lips.
Interior Slope: some cups like the ezpz have an interior slope for an even flow for a safer drinking position.
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