We own no less than 15 sippy cups that I either purchased or were gifted to us. Why so many? In an attempt to wean Charlie off his beloved bottle, I tried almost every sippy cup out there! Unfortunately I bought them all for nothing because Charlie won’t even drink a sip of milk out of them. He will drink water out of sippy cups (we don’t give him juice), but he doesn’t really have a preference for a particular cup and will drink out of any one. He’s actually been drinking water out of regular cups since he was 18 months old so we rarely give him a sippy cup, but most parents I know continue to use sippy cups well into toddlerhood. The only time Charlie does use sippy cups is in daycare. This is our arsenal:
1) camelbak (we have a stainless steel one that’s no longer available), 2) gerber graduates fun grips, 3) nuk learner cup, 4) tilty cup, 5) nuby gripper, 6) avent trainer 4 months+, 7) dr. browns soft spout training cup , 8) zolibot straw sippy cup, 9) nuby the first cup, 10) think baby, 11) munchkin mighty flip grips,12) gerber graduates sip and smile spillproof cup, 13) the first years take and toss straw cup, 14) playtex the first sipster, 15) born free trainer cup
I’ll share in-depth reviews in an upcoming Guide post. But for now I’d like to go over the main things you might consider when purchasing a sippy cup:
1) a silicon spout that’s similar to a bottle to make the transition easier for younger babies vs. a harder plastic spout
2) straw cups are sometimes easier for some babies to use
3) valves that minimize leaks
4) handles
5) bpa free and stainless steel
We gave Charlie the Gerber Nuk Learner Cup when he was six months old as his first sippy cup. It has a soft silicon spout, and handles that make it easy for little hands to hold. At that age, it’s difficult for most babies to have the manual dexterity to tilt a sippy cup back and then also learn how to drink from it, so it definitely takes them a little time to master.
Next we tried The First Years’ Take and Toss straw cups, and Charlie took to a straw right away. The only problem with them was Charlie would knock them over or remove the lids, and they would spill. The problem with most sippy cups with valves that control spills are that you have to suck really hard! Have you ever tried to drink from a sippy cup with an anti-leak valve? I can barely get anything out of them!
We finally settled on the Zolibot straw cup, and used that one most frequently. The straw is kind of impossible to clean so it wasn’t perfect, but the soft silicon straw and handles made it easiest for Charlie to use. The slide over lid also kept the straw clean when we were out and about, which was much better than having a separate cap that would inevitably get lost.
If you read sippy cup reviews, and I’ve read thousands, most of them have mixed reviews with complaints about leaks. I think all sippy cups leak at least a little bit. And if it doesn’t leak, it’s probably difficult to drink from! I’ve never really had a big problem with leaks with any sippy cup we’ve used, so I think finding the right sippy cup is more about finding the one your child likes best, whether it’s a straw or a particular type of spout.
Did you try a million sippy cups like us? Which ones were your favorite/least favorite?
Sippy cups part 2 of 4
1. Swarm: Best Sippy Cups by Swarm2. Selecting a Sippy Cup by Mrs. Bee
3. Norahcurls and the 3 sippy cups by Mrs. Tea
4. The Search for the Perfect Sippy Cup by Mrs. Lion
blogger / watermelon / 14218 posts
Holy Moly! Your poor cabinets!!
Wagon Jr. drinks out of #11, but just water. It’s what we pack for daycare. He learned how to drink from a straw on #13, and we use a similar cup from Old Navy for his milk during breakfast and dinner now. It’s a much thicker plastic (even the straw, so him biting the straw doesn’t destroy it), has a rubber ring around the screw-on top so it doesn’t leak, and there’s a rim on the straw under where it comes out the top of the cup to prevent him from pulling the straw out. It does spill when he tips it, but since he only drinks milk in his high chair it’s not a problem.
We also have #1 for water for when we’re out and about on the weekends. It’s probably my favorite because it’s so easy for him to drink out of and doesn’t look so babyish.
olive / 61 posts
avery uses the playtex straw cups (looks like the munchkin ones (11) and the nuk sippy for milk, although its a little bigger than the learner cup – its called EZ cup or something like that I can’t seem to find more of it anywhere! luckily i was able to get six of them. i still give it to her warm and like a bottle three times a day (morning and night, and one for daycare). she tried 5 sippys, including dr brown, gerber, and playtex before finally taking to the nuk right away.
GOLD / grape / 82 posts
So many choices – oh boy!
wonderful olive / 19353 posts
Wow that’s a lot of sippy cups!!
hostess / wonderful watermelon / 39513 posts
wow, i’m dreading this already!
pomegranate / 3053 posts
WOW! I thought I went through a lot of sippies! I bought about 8 or 9 of them before Nicholas drank the most out of the Playtex sippies. We have all of them and he drinks out of all of them. You’re right about sippies. They are incredibly hard to drink out of but, hey, he’s still drinking all of his milk in one sitting so I’m keeping them. Nicholas also drinks really well out of regular cups now but I just have to watch him b/c he does accidentally knock it over from time-to-time. I just got him the munchkin plastic cups. The ikea cups are similar to those as well and cheaper (had I known earlier!).
Anyway, I think they get less picky with cups as they get older. At least with Nicholas. He’ll drink out of anything now. I bet if I took out his other sippies he’ll use them just as good and will like it better b/c it’s “new.” I also use the Nalgene sippies as well but those leak more than the Playtex ones. I found that the playtex ones leak the least; but if you throw it around some water will come out. But I only give him either milk or water out of his sippies anyway. Nothing sweet and sitcky! He hardly drinks juice b/c I don’t want him to.
I don’t have a least favorite or at least don’t remember which ones I didn’t like. I was glad Nicholas chose the Playtex ones b/c the parts are easy to wash. Always a bonus when it’s easy to wash!
GOLD / wonderful grape / 20289 posts
Wow that’s a big list! So far we have two. A normal sippy and a straw one. She’s 9 months and can’t use the straw, and doesn’t get that you’re supposed to tilt the sippy. I figure I’ll just wait and hope she takes to one of them later in life.
blogger / eggplant / 11551 posts
holy moly that’s a lot of cups you have there!
we tried #14 with the harder spouts because it got great reviews on amazon, but DD wouldn’t drink from it and just treated it like a toy. i read that sippy cups cause more tooth problems than a straw cup, so shortly after i decided to jump straight to the straw cup and it worked really well! our favorite is the playtex lil’ gripper because you can squeeze it to help the liquid come up. this was helpful when she was first learning how to drink from it. we also dipped the straw in some juice to let her know there was something inside the bottle and she started sucking. the liquid inside the cup was water though…. we’ve never given her any actual juice.
now she can drink from anything with a straw with no problems. so i never worry if i forget her straw cup at home since if we’re at a restaurant i’ll just give her sips from my water cup.
blogger / pineapple / 12381 posts
We love the nalgene sippies. They hold a lot of water which is good for us because Lala drinks a lot!
pomegranate / 3503 posts
LO never really liked the straw ones over the ones with the spouts. He now drinks out of a normal cup at home and a metal foogo straw one at day care. My younger LO drinks out of the Nuk learner cup and is getting better and tilting it herself but I will probably try to introduce her to a straw one soon.
guest
Playtex Baby Lil’ Gripper Twist is very similar to your fave. It comes in a smaller size. Also really cheap, easy to find @ Target and Walmart, BPA free. LO used it from very young. Doesn’t leak.
hostess / wonderful honeydew / 32460 posts
DANG! We only have the Zoli. I put milk and juice in the sippies and boil them in hot water to get them clean! So far so good.
guest
We used the Nuk learner cups, then the Gerber Graduates — they have some smaller ones with handles and larger ones without. The Gerber Graduates have valves that prevent spills and we never had trouble with spills or leaks with them. They are hard to suck, but I heard somewhere that the hard sucking actually helps with child’s speech development by strengthening mouth and tongue muscles. Can anybody back me up on that?
cantaloupe / 6687 posts
What age do you think a baby will take a straw cup?
hostess / papaya / 10540 posts
I just posted about another one I just heard of last night! http://boards.hellobee.com/topic/shart-tank-the-lollacup
hostess / wonderful honeydew / 32460 posts
@Boogs: HAHA did you write SharT tank first? Hilarious!
guest
Wow! Just started trying my LO on a zoli today… He didn’t really know what to do with it. He also doesn’t like water straight though (when he’s constipated I usually give him 2oz water and 1oz prune juice) so maybe that’s the problem…
hostess / papaya / 10540 posts
@chopsuey119: Haha I totally did!
pea / 20 posts
Sam’s a die hard Zoli addict! We just have a bunch of those now. They’re also basically his lovey now too haha
pomegranate / 3008 posts
To get my son to drink out of a sippy at all it was this Tommee Tippee one that we finally had success with. http://www.tommeetippee.us/ctn/522002_green.html
The second favorite was this Nuby one. http://www.amazon.com/Nuby-2-Pack-Spill-Super-Spout/dp/B0037LLGD4/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1335793052&sr=8-1
Now he likes the MAM sippy cups. http://www.amazon.com/MAM-Learn-Training-Months-Colors/dp/B002UXQM4I/ref=sr_1_1?s=baby-products&ie=UTF8&qid=1335793076&sr=1-1
GOLD / pomelo / 5167 posts
whoa, that’s a lot of sippy cups. Mavrick isn’t very picky.. (but doesn’t want to drink milk out of a sippy cup either) so I look forward to how you stopped the bottle for Charlie.
GOLD / wonderful coffee bean / 18478 posts
@BoogieBea: do you put milk into the Foogoo straw cup? I want to try it per Mrs. Wagon’s rec, too, but the reviews say not to use it for milk. Do you use it for milk?
pomegranate / 3503 posts
LO mostly drinks out of regular cups now. I’ve never put milk in the Foogo. We mostly just stick a straw into be milk carton if we’re out. And sadly, in the evening, he still takes the milk in the bottle. I know we have to stop that! It’s embarrassing now to tell people that.
coffee bean / 30 posts
mrs. bee- I am in the same camp as you – i have gotten so many sippys but no luck with my LO. Any tips? How did you get Charlie to finally use the sippy / straw? My LO is 15.5 mos and I’ve been trying for over 5+ mos now. He will just play with it!
guest
We just transitioned our 7 month baby from bottle to a Poli sippy cup. Our baby is still on formula and drink easily from a Poli cup. It offers 3 adjustable flows for water to thicker fluids. I like how it’s super easy to clean with a built in valve and the parts don’t get lost. The cup is very durable and doesn’t break or crack when it gets tossed on the floor. Love that it’s made in the US.
You can order at http://www.usapoli.com