Finding the Best Sippy Cup for Your Child

As your child begins to slowly wean off drinking milk they'll have a new found thirst for drinking water. Fortunately there's drink bottles out there known as sippy cups which are designed to make drinking from a bottle easy for your infant.

This article looks at the best sippy cups on the market. We personally recommend the  which is available from Amazon for .

When Should My Child Start Using a Sippy Cup?

From our experience, our twin boys begun using a sippy cup around the 8 month mark. But you may find your child may start earlier or be interested in trying it later. Don't stress if your child is late to use a sippy cup as they'll have better hand eye coordination the older they are.

Are Sippy Cups Bad for Teeth?

Colgate recommend not using sippy cups past the 18 month due to being potentially linked with early onset of tooth decay.

The best sippy cups will use a soft straw which is also nice and soft on their gums. Try to avoid cheap sippy cups as from our experience, they rely on a firm/hard style straw which only causes discomfort.

Things to Consider When Buying a Sippy Cup

Buying the best sippy cup is a relatively straight forward process but we wanted to share things we look for when buying new sippy cups based on our experience so far: 

• Leak Free - We originally bought some sippy cups that leaked all the time. It was super frustrating coming across a bottle sitting on the floor in a puddle of water from slowly leaking out all the water. Generally your more reputable brands like b.box and others are great when it comes to not leaking.
• Not Difficult to Clean - The last thing you want is a sippy cup that you need a fancy device to properly clean. Get something that's easy to clean with regular household cleaning equipment. We recommend getting a straw cleaner so you can keep the inside of the straw nice and clean.
• Will Take a Few Knocks - Your toddler is going to throw the sippy cup on the floor from time to time so you want something that can withstand being thrown on the ground without breaking. 
• Free of Harmful Nasties - Ensure the bottle you are buying is BPA free and also free of other nasties. You'll end up using the sippy cup for a while so the last thing you want is nasties making their way into the water.
• Easy to Use - Last and most importantly is looking for a cup that is easy to use. By this we mean, how hard is it for your child to open the nozzle? How hard is it for them to drink from the cup? The first sippy cup we bought was garbage as it was difficult to open the nozzle and when they did manage to open the lid, the water flow was unregulated and would rush out. The good brands like b.box regulate the flow of water so your child doesn't choke from too much water coming out. 

What are the Different Types of Sippy Cups

Sippy cups can vary from cup to cup so for this reason we put together this list of the different types of sippy cups you'll come across. These include:

• Spout - What kind of spout does the bottle use? Some bottles use soft straws while others use more harder plastic straws. We recommend bottles that use soft straws vs those that use more harder types.  The only down side to soft straws is that they do bend and move around a lot vs. a hard straw which doesn't flex around too much. 
• Lid - Does the bottle come with a lid to stop water from accidentally coming out? The last thing you want is the bottle being in your bag and leaking through it. 
• Valve - Does the sippy cup come with a valve that controls the flow of water to your little one? You don't want the water flowing too fast as this can cause them to choke.
• Cup Material - What's the cup made from? Obviously plastic works best at taking falls on the floor. While you also want something that uses durable plastic that won't crack easy.
• Handles - Your little one will need to be able to hold the bottle and for this reason, buying a bottle that comes with handles makes it a lot easier vs one that has no handles. 

Are Sippy Cups Hard to Clean?

This obviously depends on what sippy cup you end up buying but from our experience, yes they are and easier to clean than milk bottles. The best sippy cup will be one that's easy to keep clean. The last thing you want is a bottle that's difficult to keep clean seeing as how dirty it'll get!

We recommend buying a straw cleaner​ which will mean you can get into the straw and flush out any muck that's built up in the straw over time.