Sippy Cup Recommendations Needed

Updated on September 22, 2008
L.E. asks from San Jose, CA
21 answers

I'd like to transition my 23 mo. old daughter from the Nuby 2-handle, very soft spout sippy cup to something with a little harder spout (although not too hard). Our daughter has gotten much more interested in getting the liquid to come out of her sippy cup than actually drinking it and the soft spout of the Nuby brand has gotten a little too easy for her I'm afraid (although I highly recommend it). In the past, she's had difficulty drinking from hard-spout cups (with or without the valve), so I'm hoping to find another 2-handle cup that's neither too difficult nor too easy to get the liquid out (and isn't too prone to leaking). Any recommendations?

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N.C.

answers from Sacramento on

At 23 months she is probably ready for a regular cup at the table, and my family has had good results useing straw cups. Hard sippies aren't that great for speach. good luck with the transfer.

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N.R.

answers from San Francisco on

My reccomendation is forget the sippy cup and move to one with a straw--we liked the Playtex Quick Straw.

Even better is a cup that Playtex make/made where they have to press their top lip against a valve and the liquid comes out. I can't find them online anymore so perhaps they have stopped making them. If you can find one, they are great.

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M.S.

answers from San Francisco on

Hi L.,

The Born Free Sippy Cups are great! They are not too hard and not too soft- they are also BPA free- which is so important~ You can buy them at Whole Foods, or online.

Molly

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K.C.

answers from San Francisco on

Hi L.,
My daughter uses the nuby soft sprout sippy cup for her milk
and she uses a cup with a straw for water. I recommend maybe trying a straw cup...
bye K.

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L.H.

answers from San Francisco on

Hi L.. I remember this happening, as well. My son's dentist recommended only using sippy cups with straws that are attached. Reason being the other sippy cups still let the liquid pool around the teeth. The straws keep that from happening. At 23 months, your little one is old enough to try it. The ones we use even have a gadget that closes off the straw when not in use to prevent spillage. They are also shake proof. Check out Safeway or even Babys r us for some fun designs. Good luck!

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E.B.

answers from Sacramento on

Hi L.,

Our speech and feeding therapists both recommend going from sippy cup to straw as soon as possible. Then to a regular cup. It has to do with the tongue placement. As a baby transitions from nipple to a regular cup, the tongue moves back into the mouth. Keeping the tongue forward with a sippy cup can have an impact on speech development. If you are afraid of spills, get the cups with the straw attached. My girls both prefered Playtex. Most kids love straws and it only takes a couple of trys to figure it out. Rather than spend money on sippy cups, go straight to straws if possible. Good luck.

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M.B.

answers from San Francisco on

I have raised four kids and I have always had great luck with the Gerber cup. Always the favorites in our house. Also for transition to eating by herself my husband designed a bowl to help control the food. check it out at www.calibowl.com
Let me know what you think.

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K.M.

answers from San Francisco on

We use Born Free as well, but my 15 mo daughter can now get the liquid out. We recently moved to a small SIGG container. I found a 2-handed handle for it at Elephant Pharmacy. I know a lot of kids this age drinking from these and I don't think any had problems transistioning to it. Good luck.

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L.B.

answers from San Francisco on

My son is now 2, but back when he transitioned off the bottle to a sippy cup we went to a straw cup with 1 handle. The straw was soft just like the nuby mouth piece. It was great that he developed the muscles to use a straw but as others mentioned he had to be upright to use this cup or it would leak. So we also had the Nuby cups with no handles and had the same problem as you, he got to smart and started turning it upside down and pressing it down on the table so the liquid would spill out. After that we went straight to the hard spout Gerber cups which don't leak at all and he transitioned completely fine. Good luck!

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E.E.

answers from San Francisco on

She's old enough for a regular cup with no lid. Fill it only a tiny bit at first in case she spills. As she gains skill you can fill it up a little bit more but I wouldn't recommend more than half-way.

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L.H.

answers from Redding on

Gerber Graduates has a transitional type. It's not a hard spout, but it's not really soft luke the Nuby. I use the Nuuby with me 11 month old, he never took a bottle, he's only been nursed, so the hard spouts are strange for him, buthe's done pretty well with the gerber cup, and it's made it easier took use the harder spout sippy's too!

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T.S.

answers from Sacramento on

She's almost two, so why not try a regular cup? IKEA sells great little plastic cups that are perfect for kids this age. The alure of the dripping sippy is removed because the drink is either in or out... not nearly as much fun to play with. Plus at 2 she'll probably be happy to be able to get a whole mouthful at once :-)

Good luck,
T.

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S.R.

answers from Redding on

The ONLY cups I have ever used that DON'T leak are the gerber cups. The Gerber Graduates Fun Grips are awesome. I used these with my 2 1/2 year old son and he tosses everything, these cups are really great and really leak-proof. The smaller ones with the handles have a soft silicone spout. I also recently emailed the company to ask about the presence of BPA (the stuff that has caused concern, found in some plastic items) and these cups do not contain any. I have tried every other cup out there (just about) and these are the only ones I will buy now. Hope this helps

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C.M.

answers from Salinas on

I want to second the advice from the poster who suggested moving away from a sippy cup all together. We go to Adult School classes where they have development specialist on hand to assess children for all types of delays and one of the things they suggest to parents is to get away or do not use sippy cups at all because it is not good for the speech development. We taught our son to use a straw and he also drinks from a normal cup fairly well. You can get toss cups with super tight lids and straws. We use a sports type bottle for when we are in situations where we just absolutely don't want spills - like on a long car ride. HTH

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A.K.

answers from San Francisco on

L.,

My son (13 months at the time) refused to drink out of a sippy cup so his pediatrician recommended a cup with a straw to wean him off the bottle instead. Playtex and Munchkin sell the two that we use for him (now 15 months) and they work great. Munchkin has the straw that makes it a little harder to get the liquid out but the flip top on the Playtex leaks less. Neither have handles, I'm afraid but just wanted to give you alternatives! :)

C.C.

answers from Fresno on

Hi L.,
We use these fantastic Playtex sippy cups - I think they are labeled as Stage 4, for kids 2+ or something. They don't have a spout, per se. They look more like a travel mug that you would use for coffee (except of course that they come in kid-friendly colors). They have a plastic valve that DOES NOT LEAK at all. I use them for the car or if we're going to be out and about. If they are sitting still at the table, then I just use a small plastic cup without a lid (although sometimes they do spill).
I hope that helps!

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K.G.

answers from San Francisco on

Hi L.,

We received advice from the occupational therapists at CPMC feeding clinic a little before our son was this age (he was very slow to eat solids -- long story, long since eating solids, no other developmental issues) that we use cups with built-in straws. The development experts told us that sippy cups don't develop new motor skills (same basic ones as sucking from a bottle), whereas drinking from a pop-up straw cup does. So, don't worry about hard spout sippy cups (I could barely drink from one of those things!) and just switch to cups w/ built-in straws. They do not leak when the straw is down. When the straw is up, they can leak a little (as long as an adult is nearby, there will only be a few drops before the cup is picked up). There is no need for your daughter to deal with a hard spout cup.

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C.V.

answers from San Francisco on

Hi L., my son started a sippy cup at 6 months old with no problems. He only got a bottle at bed time till he was 15 months and then i tossed the bottle. I used the playtex sippy with the built in straw but those are only good for the day not night time as they will leak if not up right. I used the Dr Brown's sippy cups which are by far the best I have ever used. The only issue I had with those was my son loved to chew on the soft rubber part on the spout. hHat was nice with those is you can take the handle off as they get more advanced. My son is now 2.5 and we use a regular cup and the straw sippy in the car or when we are out as he will still spill his regular cup. Also, keep in mind when kids drink from a straw they fill up faster and won't want to eat. So at meal time i give my son a regular cup with a small amount of liquid so he still has room for his meals and it takes them longer to drink that way.

Good luck.

SAHM, 39 with a super busy 2.5yo son & 3 month old son that doesn't like to sleep at night. UGH! Love being outdoors on the water with a good glass of red wine.

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J.H.

answers from Sacramento on

Your daughter should be able to handle a cup without handles. Also, as previously mentioned, go with one of the straw cups. The brands with the straws that have to be pinched open leak the least. Playtex brand does leak a little.

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H.C.

answers from Sacramento on

I really like the avent cups.
-They do have 2 handles but the handles come off so you can use them either way (we use them without the handles and my 15 mo old does fine with them).
-They have both soft spouts and hard spouts and they are longer so I think easier to drink out of than the shorter spouts.
-They have a circular valve so it doesn't matter if they hold the cup with the spout on the bottom (the "right way")or not.
-I bought a couple different brands of the sippy cups in the beginning and tried drinking out of them myself and these took the least amount of suction to get the liquid to come out.

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M.W.

answers from San Francisco on

Hi, I am not a fan of sippy cups. My first son used them constantly, and I think it contributed to his articulation issues. He has seen a speech therapist since he was 4 years old-he's 9 now.

My next 2 children went from breast to either a regular cup or a cup with a built in straw if I need to keep things tidy. The speech issues are not exclusively due to the sippy cup, but the cups do hinder proper muscle development says the speech therapist. Using a straw actually helps muscle development in the face. I have a variety of brands: Gerber, Thermos, and Rubbermaid.

They figure out how to use the straw pretty quickly if they don't already know how.
Have fun!

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