XP: Honey bear straw cup?

NJLH

Is it worth the $? My girls cant seem to get the straw thing down. They've never quite mastered anything beyond a soft spout sippy. My daughters therapist said the sippy is pretty much a bottle and to move onto straws. I'm curious about the bear cup. Thnaks

breezy0629

I've heard there are some home-remedy things you can make that are very similar and cheap. I feel sure some of those ladies will chime in! Hold on the line before you spend the $$.

I'm thinking one of them was aquarium tubing + the restaurant type ketchup/mustard bottle or something of the sort (Ive seen those at Party City).  https://tinyurl.com/23hv2mj

It seems like that would add up to a similar price, but it is probably locally available and no shipping. 

This is not from personal experience, just from seeing some other posts. 

Mbitner

In my classrooms we always used the ketchup bottles with a straw.  Much cheaper and works really well!  GL! 

lpennie16

I actually have one that I don't want. It didn't work for my son. PM me about it.

Sobachka

I have not tried it, but hear about it.

Nothing worked for my guy - he had no interest. Until a week ago when he saw me with a regular plastic cup and a regular straw (like fast food drinks) and I gave it to him to try, and it worked.

Justinlove

Our OT made one out of a small ketchup style bottle and aquarium tubing for us.  The basic concept is to squeeze the liquid up the straw to work towards independent sucking.  You don't need the "cute" device to do it   DD is very interested in chewing on the straw..still working on the sucking part!

NJLH

Thanks for the great ideas....not sure what aquarium tubing is. I'll look it up!

Justinlove

Aquarium tubing is sold at pet stores or even Walmart.  It is plastic flexible tubing that is used in air pumps in aquariums.  However, it has may uses as we all have found out

To make your own Honey bear, just get some tubing (very cheap) and a bottle like this

Cut a little bit of the end off the "nozzle" and insert a lenght of tubing so that it goes all the way down to the bottom.

Easy Peasy

ncsubride

Great suggestions, thanks

MummyGruetzie

If your speech or OT is recommending it and its in the line of what you're working on in therapy, ask for them to bring it for you to try on your DD. The honey bear cups can be bought with extra straws that are only 40 cents, or bought in huge bulk packs so a lot of places have them to use with their clients. I try to let my families try things out before buying them, so they don't waste their money. This is pretty normal in the field.There's also something called the sip-tip cup, which I've never tried personally, but I've heard really good things about. You can buy it at Beyond Play for 13 bucks. Its got a good valve that holds the liquid in the straw and teaches the child the reward of drinking from the straw.