The Search for the Perfect Sippy

by Marilyn on June 2, 2007

When Harry was a baby, I totally chickened out on the sippy cup issue. He’d been nursed exclusively (obviously, with jarred baby food as well) until he was a year old. Then, instead of getting him drinking out of a sippy like I should have, I gave him whole milk in a bottle. (And I would put him to bed with said bottle of milk. Don’t yell at me, I already know what a completely STUPID thing that was to do.) It wasn’t until he was TWO AND A HALF years old that finally got him drinking out of a sippy cup. It was murderous. And a mistake that I vowed to never repeat with any subsequent children. Hence, my frantic search for the Perfect Sippy. I remembered how difficult and lengthy that search was with Harry, so I knew that Liam wouldn’t necessarily go ape for the first sippy cup I brought home. And I was right. So far, all the cups I’ve presented him with have been met with lukewarm response. He’s shown more interest in them since I’ve started adding apple juice to the water I’ve given him in these cups, but he’s still not wild about any of them.

The Nuby cup has been tried often. He’ll drink out of it, but has shown no real loyalty. Same with the Gerber cup. It’s missing a valve so it’s “spill proof” properties aren’t entirely intact. However, that’s been actually helpful in training him to realize that something will indeed come out of these cups if he works it right. Of both of these, he seems to enjoy the softer spout to bite on, but that might not be a good thing to get him used to.

We also have one of these Playtex ones, but the spout is hard and he hasn’t been as impressed with that style. Again, it’s a take it or leave it sort of cup. We purchased on of these Nuk learner sippy cups (like you see to the right. It cost a fortune and for some reason has been sitting in our sink getting nastier and nastier and since Kile is supposed to do dishes, he just hasn’t washed it and I haven’t washed it because DUDE, that’s his job now so… yeah. But the one time or two we tried it, he seemed to like it better than some of the others. So I might cave and wash it tonight and try it out on him again. See what the verdict is. But it did cost a fortune, so I’d sort of like to find a cheaper option.

We also got one of these Nuby (is it Nubby or Nooby?) straw cups but he doesn’t seem to quite grasp the whole straw idea yet. But I think he’ll like it when he finally does. We also have a couple of Take n’ Toss style cups that we’ve tried when he’s sitting up in his high chair. Like the Gerber, it’s been nice for teaching him that something will indeed come out of the spout when he drinks from it. But it’s not a real viable option for grabbing and going. And eventually, here in a month or two, we’d like to get him off bottles for good. So something more durable is definitely a must.

Harry used to have some cups very much like these Munchkin cups. They were ultimately his favorites and he used to carry them around with him everywhere we went. When we went on the Great Sippy Search all those years ago, this was the cup that won out for us. So I’d sort of like to get my hands on one of these, see what Liam thinks. I also wouldn’t mind trying out the Dr. Brown’s sippy, since we had such a great experience with their bottles. However, considering how expensive those bottles were, I imagine these aren’t cheap either.

So my question to you, dear readers, is what sippy cups worked for you and your rug rats? I’m going to Walmart tomorrow but I’m smarter than to assume this search will magically end tomorrow with the holy grail of sippy cups. I imagine this is going to be a search that endures for weeks on end. So please, give me your advice and let me know what worked for you. Cuz I will have this child off bottles sooner rather than later.

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