Friday, April 23, 2010

Sippy Cups

If you're like us, you've spent a small fortune on sippy cups. If not, good for you! I seem to have a compulsion to buy them! Our daughter is 11 months old now, and we've gone through more than I care to admit. There's SO many out there. Soft spouts, 'starter' cups, straw cups, even little mini sipper cups that look like mom and dad's coffee cups! Handles, no handles, the list goes on. I recently came home from the store with 2 new kinds, to which husband responded "No more sippy cups!" Perhaps its my love of all drinking vessels (a new water bottle? a new coffee cup? I'm in!), or perhaps it really is a new-parent phenomenon, but we've bought more sippy/starter cups than I can shake stick at. In a quest to help you out, here is a quick review of what we've used so far, and what we've thought of them: (In order of use by us)

1. Nuby No Spill Cup with Soft spout
Rating: 4/5

This was a great "first sippy" and by far our (and daughter's) favorite first cup. She loved playing with it and sipping out of it. Although a bit large (its as big as baby's head!), it served its purpose. It did not get 5 out of 5 due to a few design flaws, but overall, a great starter sippy, and affordable!

Pros:
-Soft spout makes first sips easy for baby, a lot like a bottle
-Easy flow makes an easy transition from bottle, not necessary to tip too much
-Two handles easy for baby to hold
-Handles come off for easy cleaning, but are snug enough that it can be attached to something with linkadoos
-Light! As long as it wasn't full, even at 6 months, baby could lift

Cons:
-Liquid came out too fast. Baby was so used to bottle, she ended up wearing a lot of the liquid
-Top has to be on perfectly, aligned with two little tabs that are hard to see, or it leaks
-Needs additional top 'hard' lid for travel, or it leaks. we promptly lost one of these hard lids, and they're hard to put on.
-The sippy is a bit large. (see picture) for a first sippy, it could be smaller.


2. Nuby 2 handle Straw Cup, 8 oz.
Rating 1.5/5

The first Nuby was such a hit, and when baby starting grabbing for mom's straw when out at restaurants, we proclaimed, time for a straw cup! We rushed to the nearest store, and were overwhelmed with the choices of straw cups (its a whole new world of drinking vessels). We found the Nuby Straw Cup and thought, why not? Its cute, and baby loves her Nuby sippy. It was one of the only straw cups with handles. She can drink from a straw, this will be great! Not so fast. It was hard for even me to drink from, and I mastered the straw awhile ago. It MIGHT work for older kids, but seems too small for them.

Pros:
-Two handles are easy for baby to hold
-Straw tucks away easily by mom or dad, no leaks, sanitary
-No leaks! We had no leaking problems with this cup, but we didn't use it much

Cons:
-Its not REALLY a straw. Its a bite-straw. You must apply pressure on the straw and suck at the same time
-Baby can't open/close straw feature

3. NUK Learner Cup with Latex Spout
Rating: 3.5/5
After the straw cup disaster, we thought we'd try another sippy. While we loved the Nuby, I continued my quest to find a beginner sippy that was easier for baby to use (not such a fast flow), and leaked less. Or maybe just slower-flow, so she didn't end up looking like I dunked her in a pool after a drink of water. Baby never really took to this cup. It might have something to do with the unique shape of the mouth piece. Its quite large, and not very 'sippy-cup' like. Think bottle merged with sippy. This doesn't get a higher rating simply because baby didn't like it. Maybe if we had started with this one, it would have fared better. I wanted to like this cup, but she just wasn't buying it.

Pros:
-Easy to hold, with 2 handles for baby
-Pieces are interchangeable with other NUK products. (bigger bottle? no problem! don't want handles anymore? they come off!)
-Good size for starter cup (5 oz)
-Good flow-speed. Baby did not end up with a wet shirt, pants, etc.

Cons:
-Baby just didn't like it, perhaps its the bigger mouth piece?

4. Munchkin Mighty Grip Flip-Straw Cup

Rating 4.5/5
It was time to find a straw cup baby would use. She drinks from a real straw at home, but this just isn't practical for throwing a cup in a bag and going somewhere. At the store, we found most of the non-spill straw cups were the bite-straws. Not wanting to spend more money on another cup baby wouldn't/couldn't use, we refused those. They were tempting though! I found this one on a bottom shelf. Obviously, not the product the store was hoping I'd buy. It has a REAL straw. You don't have to bite it! And, it flips shut. More sanitary! This is hands-down baby's favorite cup. And, it seems all her friends love it too. Whenever another baby sees it, they want to try. We've taken to mixing and matching tops so we have different color combos than the 'standard' so we know which one is ours. Also has a large 10oz capacity, without seeming too big for baby to handle.

Pros:
-Easy to use. Just a regular straw! Don't need to tip cup to drink
-Flips shut, for sanitary, (mostly) leak-free travel
-Baby loves it
-Fairly easy assembly/dis-assembly for cleaning

Cons:
-No handles, but baby has managed to adapt
-Leaks a little. Sometimes it doesn't thread right, and since its just a straw, some liquid can escape. but less than you'd think.

5. Thermos Foogo plastic sippy, phase 1
Rating 4.5/5

It was time to start moving milk to a sippy cup. The Nuby was still too much of a mess (and since baby only drinks breastmilk, I wasn't too keen on the idea of her wearing half of it. I can't just mix up some more if she's still hungry.) Off to the store, yet again! We found this Thermos brand sippy. Its super cute, we went with plastic, since it was cheaper than the stainless steel alternative, but the whole line is so cool looking. All the parts are interchangeable between cups (a feature I'm sold on, if you haven't noticed). Had a soft-spout, but not too soft. Doesn't leak even if baby mashes top into table. This was by far our favorite sippy yet!

Pros:
-Easy to drink out of, but not too fast of flow
-Two handles makes it easy to hold
-Interchangeable parts with rest of Thermos Foogo cups, makes for easy transitions
-Did not leak!
-Has oz. marks on side, so you can still measure as if it were a bottle.

Cons:
-Hard to put the top together. (If its not together correctly and tight, it will leak)

6. Playtex First Sipster Cup 7oz.
Rating: 4/5
While we loved the Thermos brand sippy, it just wasn't big enough for milk at daycare. Off to the store we go! We found these Sippy cups. Everyone we know uses them. They're the quintessential sippy cup. They have to be ok, right? Well, they are. They're ok. While advertised as having a soft spout, its not really soft. Its more just a pliable hard plastic. You can't really feel the spouts in the store, due to packaging, so we didn't notice that until we were home. They say 7oz, but we found they held almost 8oz, which was perfect. Baby drinks ok out of these, but they're not her favorite cup. At 11months, we're still using this one, and she'll drink out of it, but its definately not her favorite.

Pros:
-Doesn't leak much. If you tip it upside down and shake (which baby does), some liquid does come out
-Has two handles, easy to hold for baby

Cons:
-Baby just wasn't excited about drinking out of this cup. (it has since grown on her)

7. Nuby No-Spill Sports Sipper
Rating: 1.5/5 stars
Since baby was moving to a sippy for milk at daycare, and wasn't particularly in love with the playtex one, and the thermos was too small, our caregiver gave us this cup to try. It had the larger capacity, but the soft spout. She said baby loved it. We gave it a try. upon further inspection, we noticed: of course baby loves it! It's a giant bottle with a faster flow! We quickly gave up on this one, not wanting to encourage more bottle feeding.

Pros:
-Baby knows how to drink of this already
-Soft spout

Cons:
-This is really just a big bottle, has nipple-like tip, that you have to tip to drink from.
-Not easy to travel with. Requires a separate top-lid again, like the beginner Nuby.

8. Tommee Tippee Explora Truly Spill Proof Sippy (9mo +)
Rating: 5/5


Off to the store we went, again. I was determined to find a sippy that could hold enough milk for daycare, baby liked, I liked, was reasonably priced, and didn't leak. I found it! My one gripe is the very specific "boy" or "girl" themes. You have a choice between blue/aqua with planes and boats or pink/purple with flowers and butterflies. I'm not a girlie girl, but also don't want my child to have gender-identity issues! In any case, I went with the aqua. A small complaint, but the 6mo + cups come in much cuter designs that are gender-neutral. I almost bought the smaller 6mo cup, but stayed on task looking for one that would be suitable for the milk at daycare. We simply love this cup.

Pros:
-Does not leak.
-Lid for travel is ATTACHED. I can't lose it! and it stays where it should, doesn't come off while in my bag, and doesn't interfere with baby's drinking
-Has soft-ish spout, but not too hard, not too soft. Perfect transition-to-hard spout sippy
-Easy assembly/dis-assembly for cleaning. (just read the instructions first)
-Shaped like a real cup (bigger at top than bottom), meaning you don't have to tip it completely upside down to get liquid out.

Cons:
-A bit big around/no handles, but baby has learned to hold
-Not many color choices

1 comment:

  1. I admire your persistence:) I thought it was just Eli and sippys not working out, but maybe I am just not finding us the right one! I want to try the Tommy Tipee or the Thermos one. When he smashes the soft spout of the one we have on the floor they leak a bunch, and since I also cringe at wasting breastmilk, I end up taking it away.
    Great reviews!

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