Adapted products for mealtimes

Enjoying the sunny day with a spill proof hydration bottle close by.

Two decades have brought us a lot of adapted products. Especially those that revolve around eating.

While our twins’ premature births brought low birth weights and developmental delays they had their older sisters to observe and imitate. We often did not see the advances they were making and continued to look at them as our babies.  Then it became apparent that these two were not going to stand for it. At. All. I remember when one of the twins (the very babiest of our twin babies) pitched a fit that we couldn’t seem to resolve. Until, finally, she had motioned and growled at us enough that we narrowed down the subject and the action she desired. She wanted to sit up to the table just like the way the rest of the family did. Her wheelchair at the time was a supportive stroller. No highchair, no booster seat, nothing babyish would pass…it had to be a WOODEN chair. Just because the cerebral palsy had delayed her speech and developmental milestones didn’t mean she was going to be content waiting for it to happen…and wait to join the life of her big sisters.

That was the beginning of a long string of searches for products that have an element of typical life and adapted enough to be useful for our girls.

After tons of research we finally came across the tripp trapp chairs. Unfortunately, back then, they were considered a medical supply in the United States and I had to pay extra for them to be imported and delivered. (It was infuriating, since they are typical across the pond, even back then.) They were one of our better purchases and very well used. They had extra straps added by an innoventive therapist. The seat and the foot rests all move up and down on the frame. Extra straps, padding, and even trays are available to add to them now! I guess we were not the first to inquire after that adapted product to eat dinner together. We kept them in use a long time, even as regular chairs. Now they are sold in many colors on Amazon!! Enjoy the choices!

Drinking from glass cups was their next demand.

Apparently sippee cups are not cool. I feel bad about that now, but I was really concerned they would stay hydrated! They recognized we all had a glass at the table. Still the whole thing seemed unreasonable to me…the potential mess and safety hazard. But I hate to be the one who scars their kids with nerdiness, so I worked at finding an adapted product. Believe it or not, we began with jelly jars and drilled the lids for straws. They worked pretty well for their small hands and strength…until the lids started rusting. Eventually we transitioned into our current canning jars with handles which, lucky for us, even became trendy! And although I had to invest more upfront, I found that the stainless steel or plastic rings are worth avoiding rusty lids! Try these:

and add these:

Our current cups are probably our favorite product to date!

We are hoping to increase our water intake, but toting glass jars or even cups with straws just doesn’t cut it. Recently a friend shared with me that a wish had come true: the children’s training cup that allows you to drink from any spot had taken on the adult world of sports bottles. YAY! So now we have the benefits of being spill proof and shatterproof in a large size and without juvenile colors. Find them HERE on Amazon

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