How to teach your baby/toddler to drink from a straw

image was taken from here

I actually don't know.....

I tried to teach Faith to drink from a straw after her first birthday. 

At that time she only pulled the straw from the glass/bottle and played with it or just bite the straw -_-

I was a bit down because I found that my friends' kids could do it at the first attempt.  

But I keep telling myself that when the kids are grown up, it doesn't matter when they could do it. The important thing is they are able to do it. (This applies to all my worries about when she's able to crawl, walk, run, talk, etc..)

So I started to google "how to teach your baby to drink from a straw" (it's amazing that nowadays google is considered a verb :)) and found many interesting websites. It's a bit reassuring, because it turns out i'm not the only one who's wondering how.

So here are some tips that I think most useful (for the details please see here)

• Finger on the straw trick: Place the straw in the baby's drink, then put your finger over the end of the straw to trap some liquid inside. Lift the straw from the drink, then put the other end of the straw in your baby's mouth and release a little liquid. That way she understands that straw can deliver the liquid. She just needs to suck
• Demonstration tactic: Show her how to! We know that babies are all about imitating
• Use a bendy straw: not sure why but i guess because by using a bendy straw the babies don't need to look down? I put it here because Faith's first time was using a bendy straw 
• Be Patient :)

I was about to forget about this and did not give her straw for a long time.

Until two days ago.. I was given a glass of water with a bendy straw from mom. I tried it on Faith (make a wish before it), and to my surprise, she was able to drink from the straw! The straw was not transparent, so I could not see the water flowing to her mouth, but I could feel the cold water flowing when I touched it.

I was very happy. Yesterday I tried it again and she was able to drink from the straw (this time using straight type). I guess she'll be able to do it when she's ready..

Here is a picture of her sipping an orange juice :)

A quick update: Faith is 10.1 kg and 81 cm long now (just had her last vaccine in the second year).