I saw several threads on cup feeding in the breastfeeding section but those are mostly about newborns and nipple confusion. I have a different issue and thought this section might be more useful.
My nine month old son has a cleft in his soft palate which will be repaired in about a month. We are not supposed to use a bottle or sippy with a spout or valve around the time of the surgery. I've been trying to teach him to cup feed but we are having a hard time.
I think I have finally found the right vessel to hold the milk. A glass a little bigger than a shot glass seems to avoid his nose and not be so big that it pours out the side of his mouth.
He doesn't seem to be manipulating the milk correctly in his mouth. I can see the liquid pooling behind his teeth. He's not getting it to the back of his mouth and down his throat. He has previously been bottle fed with a special valve that keeps the liquid in the nipple. He then squeezes it out into the back of his mouth. He does fine with smashed food (not pureed).
We've been practicing off and on for a while and in the past week I've been more persistant. Milk get everywhere! I didn't want to use my pumped milk for practice or formula so we've been using his sister's very vanilla soy milk. It is sweet so he is enthused!
Any suggestions?
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