Wednesday, August 1, 2012

Sippy Cup Obsessions

When J was nearing the 6 month mark, I started to obsess over sippy cups. In my head, if I didn't pick the perfect cup, I could ruin the entire experience for the both of us. God forbid, I completely traumatize my child and cause him to become anti-cup! No, I'm not joking at all - I really did feel that way. After talking to other mommy friends of mine, I decided on the Nuk Learner cup as his first cup because of the silicone or latex spouts making it so similar to a bottle:
J instantly took to that cup and it was fantastic. It never spilled and all I had to do was put in the travel disk and it could be thrown right into the diaper bag for easy travel. I did try a Dr Brown's training cup that a company rep sent me free of charge, but J could not figure out how to use that cup; for about 2 months he was only able to use the Nuk one. .The cup was fantastic up til J got his first tooth, at which point he started chewing the spouts and destroying them. Initially, I bought replacement spouts on amazon.com, but it got pricey after awhile at $7/spout. Once J had a few teeth and I had dropped a lot of money on spouts that I was constantly having to replace, I opted to try some different sippy cups.

I cannot lie; I went crazy with buying sippy cups so I have lots to say. I will only include pics of my favorites so as not to overwhelm my readers and drive you lovely people crazy. First I went back to the Dr. Brown's cup. It is great because unlike others, it has oz markings on the side which is helpful in instances where I need to know exactly how much of what I am giving to J. He wasn't totally crazy about this cup and did at times refuse to drink from it altogether, and J loves his water, so I needed to try something else that he would accept more readily. It is also a bit of a pain to put together because there are so many parts (just like the bottles); that said, it is 100% spill proof and has a soft silicone spout that you can interchange with a harder plastic spout.


Some of my fellow May mommies on whattoexpect.com suggested a Nuby soft spout cup which is only about $2 at Walmart so I thought, I would give it a shot. J did accept that cup but destroyed the spout, rendering it a cup that leaked often so I didn't stick with it for long.

After J turned 1, I decided to try some hard-spout sippy cups, knowing that I wouldn't know if he would accept them if I never tried them. I picked up a 2-pack of Nuk Gerber Giggle & Grin sippy cups that was on sale for half price at the super market and they were great! I could easily toss them into my purse or the diaper bag with no risk of leaking or spilling. Plus they had a pretty cool shape to them that made it easy for J to hold them since that was the first non-handle cup I had purchased for him.

With only a couple of other cups in rotation and needing more sippy cups for milk and water, I went to Target for more sippy cups. I picked up a bunch: Munchkin Mighty Grip, a Disney insulated no-valve cup and Playtex Insulators. I honestly am not a fan of the Munchkin Mighty Grip. The spout is soft and there is no valve, which is a plus; however, it is a pain in the rear to put the thing together. The notches on the side of the spout need to be aligned perfectly with tabs in the ring that the spout is pulled through, otherwise it'll leak. Not only that, but the cup will leak from the spout if it isn't upright. The Disney cup is nice in that it actually changes color when there is a cold drink in it, and changes back to a different color when the drink becomes warm. It is also so simple to put together than anyone can do it since there is no valve. One problem is that it will leak if not upright in the diaper bag; I'm not a fan of finding milk or water all over the inside of my purse. The Playtex Insulator is a fabulous cup because it keeps drinks cold, does not spill at all (with the exception of when J throws it), and has a locking feature so that you turn the lid until you hear it click and you know it is on securely. I've actually invested in 2 more of the Playtex Insulator cups.

Out of all the brands that I have tried, I now stick with hard spouted Nuk cups and hard spouted Playtex cups. The benefit to my sippy cup obsession is that I have lots of info on so many types of them for anyone who wants to know :)

4 comments:

  1. I know what you mean about sippy cup obsessions,I had to buy a lot of different cups before finding one that my daughter could use and liked.When we started my daughter on a cup,we tried various cups with valves but she couldn't get the hang of valves,so I took the valves out but she would just dump the milk out, so that didn't work.One cup had a valve that you couldn't remove(I don't remember the name)We then tried a NUK soft spout cup but she couldn't get anything out of that either, so we tried straw cups,which she loved and could use,so we stuck with those.

    We tried a few different straw cups to see if we liked one better than the other and they're all great but I like the Playtex Straw cups best.You just have to make sure that when you put the two pieces of straw into the cup,that the bottom straw isn't pushed in all the way or your child can't get the liquid out as well.(We were at Mark's grandma's house,the other day, for his birthday and Chloe kept handing me her cup instead of drinking it and I thought she just wasn't thirsty but later when I got home,I decided to test the straw by sucking on it myself and discovered that I couldn't get much out,so I pulled the bottom straw out a little and it worked fine.When we were at grandmas, I thought maybe the straw might be not working but I didn't want to test it there and get my germs on it,so I waited until we got home.)

    We use a rotating supply of straw cups now-Playtex straw cups,Nuby straw cups(these leak a little from the straw)and Take And Toss straw cups(These have a hard straw and are best for toddlers,not as beginner cups.You can also dump out the milk,if you tip it upside down.Chloe doesn't really do that anymore but we only use these in her highchair.)

    She's now o.k with other cups,as well.We have some Take and Toss spout cups,a Playtex spout cup that I took the valve out of and a couple Nuby soft spout cups,that she likes and can use well.It's funny because I had a Nuby soft spout cup and the cups with non removable spouts in a giveaway bag and she discovered them,pulled them out of the bag and was sucking on them,so I decided to try them again with her.She still couldn't get the hang of the non removable spout ones but liked the Nuby soft spout, so I bought her another one.

    We probably have about 15 cups or so,in our rotating stash,which means there will always be a clean one handy:)

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  2. Oh wow, good to know! I haven't tried straw cups because J will only drink from straws in restaurants. I have no idea why this is the case, but I wasn't sure if I should invest in straw sippy cups since he basically just drinks from my water cups with a straw in restaurants.

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  3. I forgot to say that the Playtex straw cups and Nuby straw cups have soft straws and handles.They make various Playtex straw cups but we haven't tried those yet,only the soft straw ones.I'm not sure how your J would do with those,since you said he bit off the soft spouts.

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