I was fortunate. My son, as it turned out did great with breast feeding. Despite having low muscle tone, he was able to latch on and nurse like any other baby. In fact, it was much easier to feed him than his sister, who as a baby was and continues to be a princess in training. But then it came time for my son to learn to eat by other methods.
First, we tried bottle feeding and that did not work at all. We tried all types of bottles and bottle systems and he refused them all. Toward the end we were getting pretty desperate because I had been nursing him for about a year and I could tell that I was not producing enough milk so it was urgent that we feed him using another method. Thankfully, we were and still are surrounding by excellent therapists and one of them suggested using the honey bear. We had never heard of this but were willing to try anything.
Initially we assumed that our son would learn to drink from a sippy cup just as his sister and every other child seems to do. We thought it was the logical next step. However, our therapists recommended bypassing the sippy cup. I do not recall the exact reasoning but it had something to do with effecting the normal pattern of speech or something along those lines. The reasoning related to proper oral development.
Instead we learned about the honey bear. The honey bear is an excellent way to teach babies/toddlers how to drink from a straw. Essentially, the honey bear is the same honey bear that you can buy at the local grocery store that is used for well, honey. However, instead of filling the bear with honey, you can fill it with another type of liquid (in our case pediasure). Where you would normally dispense the honey in the cap, you can insert a thin plastic tubing that functions as a straw. The flexibility of the honey bear allows the feeder to assist the baby by controlling the flow of the liquid coming out of the bear because the feeder can squeeze the bear more to create a faster stronger flow or squeeze less to lessen the amount of liquid coming out of the bear.
Although you can just buy the honey bear from the grocery store, remove the honey and wash it, the honey taste/scent may still remain. Instead, we purchased our honey bear from www.talktools.com. Initially we only purchased one or two honey bears but not any additional straws. I would recommend that additional straws be purchased because they straws are not easy to clean. Depending on how often you use them, they may need to be replaced more quickly than the honey bear itself. To clean the straw, we found that Dr. Brown's straw brush was the perfect size to clean the honey bear straw. Fortunately for us, we are located near a Buy Buy Baby (www.buybuybaby.com) which sells the straw brush in packs of 4.
We also figured out there was a less expensive alternative. The take and toss cups with straws and lids that you can buy at any Target, Walmart, CVS, Walgreens or grocery store. Although not as easy to squeeze, you can squeeze the cup enough to help the baby suck out of the straw. Several months after my son got used to the honey bear we just switched to the take and toss cups because that is what his sister used. We still use those cups today for his milk and for any other liquids.
