# When did your little ones first drink through a straw?



## christy005 (Mar 5, 2007)

I cannot remember when my oldest son was able to drink with one.








My DS is 17 months now and cannot use a straw at all, although we have tried. I am wondering if that is normal. We are also waiting on a speech evaluation, because he is saying maybe two words (mama and dada, and not very consistently), so I wonder if there is an issue with the muscles or something that is affecting speech.
Thanks


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## mel_mama (Nov 24, 2008)

My son is 21 months and still can't seem to get the hang of it. However, he is advanced verbally and is speaking in sentences at this point (maybe 100 words or so?). So I'm not entirely convinced the two are connected...


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## sunflwrmoonbeam (Oct 9, 2006)

My 14 month old has been able to use a straw for about a month. I don't let her often, because she'd rather play with the cup, but she's got the straw down fine.


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## Chamomile Girl (Nov 4, 2008)

My kid first used a straw at about 9 months old. We were amazed he figured it out, but he has consistantly been able to ever since. Not much in the way of words going on here so I'm not sure they are related either.


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## ellemenope (Jul 11, 2009)

Is he not understanding how to suck, or is he sucking but just not hard enough to consistently get liquid up?

If he just doesn't seem to get it, I might suggest you try a really tiny thin straw first and then work towards those big fat ones they use for kids' cups. I have tried a few and they take a lot of suck power







. If he has only tried those he just might not understand yet what he is supposed to do.

DD started using straw cups at 10 months. She didn't 'get' traditional sippy cups until months later.


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## Abraisme (Mar 8, 2009)

My dd has been using a straw since 9-10mo, she's now 13mo and uses a straw type sippy cup all the time.


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## MamaPhD (Jul 30, 2009)

DD is 21 months and can use straw sippy cups or just a straw in a regular cup. She's been doing it for a while, so I'm guessing she started around ~16 months? Not sure about the speech thing...


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## mbm (Jun 14, 2006)

DD's been using the straw sippy since about 12 months, and she could use regular straws at about 18 months.

My mom was amazed, and told me that her kids all had trouble with straws until we were FIVE.


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## limabean (Aug 31, 2005)

We've always used sippies with straws instead of spouts, so our kids used them from maybe 9 months onward with no problems. We use the Thermos Foogo brand, though, which are easy to suck from. Some of the straw cups they sell are ridiculously hard to get liquid out of, even for me!


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## bender (Mar 23, 2007)

Mine started with a straw around 9 months or so, but then my parents used a sippy with him, so he got used to tipping a cup. Now, he tries to tilt the straw cup, but gets no liquid, and gets pissed off, so he refuses to use it. He will drink happily from my camelbak bite valve bottle though.


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## crunchy_mommy (Mar 29, 2009)

I don't exactly remember because we didn't do sippy cups & only used straws in restaurants but I want to say around a year old?

Have you tried this? Put the straw in the water, put your finger firmly on the top, and pull the straw out so the water stays in the straw, and then let him drink from the bottom. That's what we did with DS the first time or two & he got it right away.


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## EdnaMarie (Sep 9, 2006)

My 17-month-old has been drinking from a straw for some time, but we taught her using the trick of getting the liquid up to the top of the straw for her and that's how she learned it. I'm not keen on straws for babies in theory (my older daughter didn't have one until much later) but... baby has to be like big sister.









As for your son's speech, two words at 17 months is still well within normal range. Keep in mind that as a first-time parent you may be missing a lot of words (I know I did).


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## Latte Mama (Aug 25, 2009)

Around 8-9 months. My DS wouldn't use regular sippies because he didn't want to turn them up







so we got the straw cups. But he also started stealing sips from my water mug around that time which has a big straw.


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## tabrizia (Oct 24, 2007)

DD has been using a straw since 6 or 7 months old, we started her with a straw sippy rather then a regular sippy cup because DS didn't get the hang of regular sippies for ages and ended up mainly using straw sippies, so that was what we had.


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## cristeen (Jan 20, 2007)

Since about 6 mos. But he was supplemented at the breast from early on, so he understood the concept well. But at a year he still cant figure out the ones w a bite valve, and he cant be trusted not to flip up a regular one that will spill, so we still use bottles.


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## justKate (Jun 10, 2008)

At 19 mos., DD still doesn't really "get" straws. We got her to drink out of one of those hard plastic ones at Sea World about a month ago because we had one of those slurpees and it was hella hot. (I know, way to go mom, giving the 18 mo a slurpee.) We've tried it with regular straws since then and she still doesn't get it.

So the straw thing wouldn't bother me. As far as words go, two is not a lot, but don't think you should stress too much yet. Does he use any signs or have sounds that mean things, even if they aren't words? I hope the speech eval brings you some comfort.


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## Everrgreen (Feb 27, 2007)

I don't think it's related to speech. My DS is almost 20 months has been using a straw forever (maybe since around 12 months) and is still non-verbal


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## Kim Allen (Jun 28, 2008)

both of mine started drinking out of a straw at 8-9 months. I honestly was a lil shocked the picked up on it so early.


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## physmom (Jun 15, 2009)

I don't know... 8-9 months? A friend of hers had one and she used it immediately. We never had tried before that. Then again sippy cups baffle her even today but she can use a normal cup just fine?









Is it because he doesn't seem to like it or he doesn't have the muscle strength? It might just be a preference issue.


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## mckittre (Jan 15, 2009)

I don't think it's related to speech. My 19 month old can't use a straw at all (takes it out of the cup and tries to lick off the bottom), but speaks in 6+ word sentences.


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## Angelorum (Aug 5, 2006)

The waiter brought us a straw cup at a restaurant when ds was 8 or 9 months. We gave it to him to play with, and after about 1/2 an hour, he had figured out how to drink from it! I was pretty surprised. He has no idea how to use a regular sippy, though he'll tip an open cup and get a face full of water. So, it's all straws around here.


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## pbjmama (Sep 20, 2007)

Both of my kids were drinking from a straw at 8...maybe 9 months. DS had speech and language problems and DD has no speech/language problems. FWIW, 2 words at 17 months is well with in the normal limits.


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## thehighernest (Aug 11, 2009)

Around 5-6 months when we started solids. Don't ask me how he did it, but my husband sat with him one night "showing" him and when I got back from work DS could do it. On the other hand, he's 18 months old and does not get at all that other cups require tipping back, so we're working on that now that we're trying to move to open cups.


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## Tiana (Mar 31, 2007)

As others have said, two words at 17 months is perfectly normal, plus there may be other words that you are missing.

I don't think straw use is related to speech, though. My daughter was the most verbal toddler I've ever met (talking as well as some of the 4 year olds in her kindergarten class at two), but couldn't figure out straws until sometime after 2. I can't remember exactly when, but sometime between 2 and 2.5.

My son is 14 months old. He's fairly verbal, but no where near as verbal as my daughter was at the same age. He's been able to use a straw since he was about 12.5 months, which was pretty much the first time he was offered one to try.


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## JBaxter (May 1, 2005)

Jack had probably 30 words and has been drinking out of a straw since 7 or 8 months old.


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## BeagleMommy (May 26, 2006)

DD was very advanced verbally (and still is) and didn't learn to use a straw at all until three. She tried every time we went to a restaurant, but never could get it. She still chews on the straw enough that she can only get about half the drink out before the straw is destroyed.


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## IngaAnne (Nov 19, 2009)

I first gave my son a smoothie in a cup with a regular straw at 13m. He figured it out on the first try (I guess he really wanted that smoothie). The Thermos Foogo was another one he picked up right away. It took a while longer for him to figure out those spill proof straws. They just take too much effort for him to bother. My son's language skills are probably on the lowish end of normal.


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## petitchou (Mar 10, 2008)

Both boys started at 7-8 months. Ds1 could never figure out the sippy cup so we tried a straw and he took to it immediately. His first word was at 19 months and it wasn't until much later that his speech really took off. (He's almost 4 and sometimes I wish he was a little less verbal now







)

I think it's important to consider whether he is trying to communicate in other ways as well - signing, pointing, grunting, etc.


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## redvlagrl (Dec 2, 2009)

DD learned to use one at about 14 mths when we were on a road trip. She still doesn't get that you don't tip the cup though (23 mths)


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## dizzysmom (Jun 25, 2010)

DD has been able to use a straw since about 11 months, and she prefers to use the straw-type sippy cups. She went out to breakfast with my mom one day and we forgot to send her with a sippy for her juice, but DD came back having learned to use the straw.


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## globe-trotter (Feb 11, 2009)

I never did sippy cups with my son, we went straight to the straw cups. He started using one at about 9 months and sill uses it great! (13 months now)


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## MadiMamacita (Jan 29, 2006)

Quote:


Originally Posted by *Chamomile Girl* 
My kid first used a straw at about 9 months old. We were amazed he figured it out, but he has consistantly been able to ever since. Not much in the way of words going on here so I'm not sure they are related either.

that, but I think it was a few months earlier actually.


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## curious&eager (Jul 1, 2008)

I think 6-7 months old. He also wanted whatever I had, so when I had a cup of water at Chick-fil-a, he would beg and I put the straw in his mouth and within a few attempts, he got it and has been sipping straws ever since. People would stare at him drinking for a straw because of his age. It was so cute.


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## Mama2mc (Sep 7, 2010)

We first tried it at 6 months, and he got it right away, he loves drinking from any type of straws.


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## CrunchyChristianMama (Dec 5, 2008)

Quote:


Originally Posted by *ellemenope* 

DD started using straw cups at 10 months. She didn't 'get' traditional sippy cups until months later.

That's how my DD was too. We ended up getting some metal straws for her because she only wanted to drink out of straws.


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## newmomroxi (Mar 6, 2009)

Quote:

Put the straw in the water, put your finger firmly on the top, and pull the straw out so the water stays in the straw, and then let him drink from the bottom.
We started doing this with DS at about 9 months b/c he wouldn't (couldn't?) drink from a sippy and at 11 months, he learned how to drink from a straw normally. He still cannot drink from sippy cups so we're just going to skip them.


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## gbailey (Mar 10, 2009)

DD just started using straw cups a few months ago. She's 2 years old. But she'll only drink water from it and nothing else


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## Novus (Mar 16, 2010)

DS started drinking from straws at about 6 months and now mostly uses straw cups & a camelbak with a bite valve. Like some of the others, he's not too proficient with sippy cups though.


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## PatchChild (Sep 1, 2006)

DS was using a straw about 9 months, but took until nearly a year to figure out how to lift and tip a sippy cup. Go figure.


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## St. Margaret (May 19, 2006)

We discovered DD could do it before a year, at a restaurant, and she didn't get sippies/the ones we had spilled easily so we got the foogo straw bottles and she STILL prefers a straw. At 3yo we're finally making progress on drinking from a cup







We were all too in love with how a straw was fine and would never spill.


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## CassnBeth (Jul 30, 2007)

For my DD using a straw was like a light bulb going off -- all at once one day she suddenly knew how to do it even though I had been trying for ages to show her how with no luck. She was...nine months old? ten months old? She was definitely talking already.


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