So your little is ready to move on from the bottle but is not yet ready to drink from an open cup. Or maybe you just don’t WANT them to have access to a big kid cup yet. After all, there is some amazing entertainment to be had from knocking cups over and watching the liquid contents go everywhere. Especially when you can use your hands to make an even bigger mess. So what to do? You start looking for sippy cups of course! Now back in the day this may have been fairly straight forward, but now a days, this is no simple task. First of all, you have to decide what “type” of sippy cup you want. You have the spill proof sippy cups and the transition sippy cups. You have cups with handles and cups without handles. There are cups with straws and cups with spouts-and then there are soft spouts or hard spouts. The list goes on and on, and oh my goodness, should we even be using sippy cups, I read an article that said they could cause tooth decay!
I have tried every kind of sippy cup under the sun, and most of them are totally useless. Most of them your kids won’t like or won’t even be able to drink from. It’s such a headache, but it doesn’t have to be. So here is my two cents on sippy cups and then, I’ll tell you my favorite and the one I recommend to everyone. These tips can save you a lot of stress and a lot of money.
First of all, don’t even mess with the transition cups. They are pointless. All they are, are bottles in the shape of cups. It is a waste of time. If you want to move on to a sippy cup, move on to a real sippy cup or just stick with the bottle a little longer.
Second, watch out for spill proof cups. Now, I know what you are thinking. “What? It’s spill proof!!” Yes, the spill proof ones are spill proof, but they are also drink proof. Most of the spill proof sippy cups have valves. I can’t remember how many of these stinking things I have tried, but all the spill proof ones are the same. Go ahead, get one and try it. Even YOU will have a hard time drinking out of the thing. So if the cup has a valve, just put it back on the shelf. Trust me on this one.
Straw cups are okay. But then again, you have to check the straw. A lot of them are rubber “valve type” straws and are extremely hard to draw liquid up from. Sometimes you can use scissors to cut the piece inside the straw that is making it so difficult to suck from. You’ll know it when you see it. Just test the cup yourself. If you can’t drink out of it, they won’t be able to drink out of it. Personally, I gave up trying these cups because I had to destroy them to make them usable.
Finally, my go to sippy cup, and end all be all of sippy cups everywhere, is The First Years Take and Toss Spill Proof Sippy Cups. I know what I said about spill proof stuff, but these are legit. These are the ONLY “spill proof” cups that I have found to be successful and they are AMAZING. Granted, if your kid takes the cup, turns it upside down, and starts shaking it all over the place- yeah, you are going to have a little bit of a mess. But here is why I love this cup: They are CHEAP! You can find them at Target, Walmart, and just about anywhere. They are EASILY washed in the dishwasher. There are only two pieces-the cup and the lid. You just pop them apart and in they go. Same applies for when your toddler needs a drink IMMEDIATELY!! Most importantly, they are EASY to drink from and they won’t spill when tipped over. (Take and Toss also has the straw kind, but I find those to be more annoying because my daughter yanks the straw out and voila, no longer spill proof.)
My advice here is if you want a flawless (or at least easier) introduction to the sippy cup, don’t go out of your way to find some custom, miracle, expensive cup. Give the simple ones a try. I think you’ll find that you AND your little will like them a lot.
and P.S.
sippy cups don’t cause tooth decay. Sugar causes tooth decay. Use sippy cups at meals and your children will be fine.
