Which Sippy Cup worked for you? (Canada)

[Sinfulia]

We're battling on-going constipation with my 7 month girl.  I'm trying to get her to take in more fluids with a sippy, but we're having limited success.  I've tried Born Free, Nuby, and Avent (with and without the valve).  At the moment, I'm pushing Avent as I like the fact that the spout fits into many other drinking systems (i.e. kleen kanteen, etc).  I let her play with the sippy with the valve in all day, but during every meal I give her the sippy without the valve.  I've been at it for a month now.

For the most part, she chews on the spout.  Sometimes she even blows into in, making the water sputter out from the air-release hole!!  When I manage to get some in her mouth, she just spits it out like it's a game.  I always demonstrate to her how it's done before giving it to her.

My questions are:

- which Sippys did you try and which one did you end up using?  I'm in Canada, so keep in mind brands available here
- does putting juice into the Sippy make it more appealing?
- did anyone have more luck with the straw cups?

I know this topic has been posted before, but I guess i'm looking for specific recommendations on which brand people had the most luck with.

[~inbalance~]

Hello!  I tried all of the same ones you mentioned, and the Born Free is the biggest hit with DS (it is not spill proof though - we never had luck with spill proof ones, he had to work too hard!  ).  But TBH, he did not get the point of a sippy until about 9-10months, no matter what I tried.  I think it takes awhile for them to figure it out.  Up until then he chewed on it as well.  I'm guessing your LO just isn't ready.

I asked the same question about the juice too.  Overall though, I don't think it makes it more appealing, and juice is really best left out of your LOs cups.  It's probably not something you want to go introducing prematurely, lots of sugar!  I doubt it would make a difference in making her drink more.

I never tried the straw ones so no help there.

Have you tried letting her drink out of a regular cup, preferably plastic?  Obviously you couldn't just let her have it, but you could hold it for her and I'll bet she'll take more fluids that way.  DS would drink out of a regular cup long before he would a sippy, so if you just want her to get more fluids in then offer water at mealtimes out of your cup and see how she does. 

I wouldn't worry about her not drinking out of the sippy yet, it's still early.  Keep trying everyday, she will get it soon enough! 

I'm in Canada too btw!  HTH

[Mimi 2]

With dd, we started with a regular cup.  I had to hold it for her then I added a straw.  It helped that I used a clear straw so she saw that the liquid was being sucked up.  If then I introduced the Take & Toss sippy cup but she preferred using the Rubbermaid straw juice box.

With ds, he went straight a straw cup & Rubbermaid straw juice box (wanted to be like big sister).  As for milk, he would only take that from a soft spout or soft straw (both from Nuby or Munchkin). 

I think that with most sippy, the valve makes it too hard form them to drink.  Try a free flowing one first or take the valve away until you have success.

Good luck

[Mashi]

We also went through several sippies in an effort to get DS to drink water.  In the end, the only thing that worked was time.  I gave him water at every meal every day, and through the day at least twice, for about three months before he started actually drinking small sips.  And, in the end, the cups that he likes best are the first ones we tried (Tommee Tippee).  It wasn't the cup that was the problem, it was that he didn't know what to do with this "stuff" in his mouth (water). So he spit it out, let it run out of his mouth, poured it on his hghchair, etc.

When he got constipated or needed the water for other reasons (sweltering summer heat for instance) I put water for him in one of his bottles and at least that way he got the few ounces of water he needed. Didn't "interfere" with his ability to learn how to use a sippy, either, if anything it seemed to encourage him more - once he had figured out that the water was to drink, he started swallowing it from his sippy.

[~*Nicole*~]

DD would take sips with a straw cup but did not do well with the other type until 9-10 months.

[lukemom]

I introduced the Born free sippy cup at the same time I did solids (at 6 months)  My DH and I tried to get the water out of the sippy cups ourselves cause we thought it wasn't working and boy was it hard!!  LOL  I thought DS would never get the water out, but I just persisted with it, making sure to offer it  with every meal and now he is a pro!!!  Has been for awhile and he will be 9 months next week.  So I guess I agree with the pp, just give it time and practice and they will definately get the hang of it.  I love that sippy cup cause of the soft spout.  Ds has teeth so I can just picture him slamming his teeth with the hard spout ones.
As far as the constipation goes I read once on this site (I think)  To add a little bit more water,say 1/2 oz -1 oz to the bottle of formula if you LO is formula fed.  I've tried it in the past and it has worked for me. 
HTH!  I'm from Canada too!!!!!

[~ Vik ~]

We have had success with the take and toss (by First Years) and a soft straw cup (by munchkin).  I got both of them at Zellers   The take and toss are more 'free flowing' sippies, so a little messier (ds loves shaking them up and down and spraying everything around him with water, lol) but he did well with them from a younger age.  The straw one is much neater, but he only recently got the hang of it (he's 11mo now). 
I agree with pps, the best thing you can do is offer it consistently!  She'll get the hang of it eventually

[Sinfulia]

Thanks everyone.  Sounds like many had luck with Born Free...maybe I'll switch back to that brand this week.

Guess I just have to keep trying!

[scucci1979]

We have tried Nuby, Avent and Playtex. She seemed to like playtex.

[jana224]

Playtex worked well for us, the stage one sippy.  It has a soft spout and little handles for easy holding.  We gave DD the sippy every day from 6 months on, but she really only "took" to it close to 12 months when I started weaning her.  I think it has more to do with when a LO is ready to use the sippy and less to do with the brand.

[Tweakster]

Just gave Finn the Nuby for the first time.  He picked it up and drank out of it without issue lol.  I was shocked that he knew what to do - it's like he has been doing it forever.  Full of surprises this one.

Following this post because we are in Canada too :-)

[bennysmama]

Tommy Tippee worked really well for us.  It has a little fold down spout and handles on each side.  It comes on 4 colours (and -- perhaps I should have seen this coming -- stuff from the blue cup is ALWAYS tastier than whatever is in the orange cup, lol). 

[Mashi]

Same sippies as in my avatar - mean for 4+ months, at 13 months they are still the best ones. I just wish you could get them in larger cups to hold 8oz

[koe2moe]

We tried Avent and Nuby.  Avent was very difficult as I tried myself.  DS just chewed on it like yours.  I then switched to Nuby and thought it made sense to have teat like spout.  Tried for 3 days straight, no luck and then I tried Avent without valve, just got DS choking all the time.  Then tried Nuby again a week later, and DS just sucked at it, no problem at all.

In order to get more fluids in, have u considered just using bottle?  At least she gets the moisture.  I heard some friends (not BW) who let their kids drink everything from bottles even when they are 5 yo.  Not that I recommend it, it just works for them. 

HTH  and good luck

[csmith13]

Carter has no interest in the sippy cup.  But a wine glass on the other hand...

[*Fiona*]

My DD is almost 8months and we, too, had big issues with her taking a sippy (also a bottle when I weaned her off the breast), perserverence is key - just keep giving it as an exploritory and a functional cup as you are doing. I first tried at around 4months, and kept trying daily. Even giving her the cup empty just to explore and realise it's not such a bad thing to chew/mouth on!

I find DD will chew on the spout when I give her the cup freely to hold herself, and will only drink from it if I hold it. The only thing she accepted initially was a bottle with a soft spout instead of a teat (like the MAM Trainer Bottle:  http://www.amazon.co.uk/Trainer-Soft-Spout-Handles-BLUE/dp/B002JUXUQA), I have just moved her onto the Tommee Tippee Explora yesterday. She still plays with it, waving it around but she also very nearly aims her mouth now. She just hasn't figured the tipping it up brings the liquid to the spout! We never had any success with the Nuby Straw Cup - I tried to drink from it and it's really difficult to get anything out of it!!!

DD would not drink any juice at all, nothing flavoured. She had constipation issues at around 5/5.5 months and in an attempt to get any liquids into her I tried all sorts of juices, to no avail. After a few weeks I went back to cooled boiled water and this was when she started drinking better.

[MarzipanBell]

My LO is using the Avent one now (he is 9 months) he has been sipping from it for about a month now.  He doesn't really drink a lot and I think it has more to do with his readiness as I have tried playtex as well and he does the same thing with it.  It seems to take a lot of persistence to get them on to it so instead of buying several brands I would just give it time.  My MIL rolls her eyes at me that I tried two sippy cups with him...she reminds me about the days of no sippy cups :-p

[SylvieA]

We tried all kinds here for DS and DD, sippy and straw, Playtex won both times. The take and toss are also working pretty good.

[calebsmama]

I found the Playtex cups that teamed up with "Baby Einstein" worked the best. They have the double handle and worked like a charm for Caleb. I introduced the cup at 6 months and he drinks from it every day. To begin with I took out the 'plug' from the inside so he'd figure out how to use the cup and have since replaced 'the plug' so it doesn't spill everywhere. It's my plan to use the cups for weaning instead of a bottle. I found mine at 'the great canadian superstore'

[teilvnav]

We are using one by Heinz called Baby Basics. It is for 4+ months, but there is no way my babe would have been ready for it back then. He is 6.5 months now, and we have been offering it with every solids meal for about 2 weeks now. I mix half apple juice and half warm water, since he will not drink it if it is too cold. I took the little valve out of the lid and just help him hold it and pull it out of his mouth so he can swallow. Half of it still ends up on his bib, but it is totally helping with his constipation! I think my DH either got it at Walmart or Superstore. I know it took him 25 minutes to pick it out because he read the label of every single sippy cup there to find what he thought would work the best. It has two handles, and a rubbery kind of spout that DS likes to chew on when he is not drinking from it.

[Mashi]

We use a NUK sippy cup, after trying pretty much all on the market. The Tommee Tippees were great but the NUK still wins hands down ... to the point where we have to avoid them in the shops or DS begs for a new one. Last week he tried to shoplift one, I found it in his cosytoes when we got out of the shop and had to go back in and try to explain to them and pay for it.     He carried it all the way home, stopped to show it to all passers by ... hilarious, and I had to get over my hygeine phobia and let him drink out of it straight home from the shop

Anyway on the German website it is labelled as a bottle but it is in fact a soft-spout sippy cup:

http://www.nuk.de/produkte/mahlzeit/esslern/fctrinklern/learning_to_eat_and_drink.html?lang=en

Its the "NUK First Choice Learning Bottle" on the left hand side in this list. 

[HRSMum]

I'm in Canada too and both my sister who has two little ones and I have found the really cheap sippy cups that you buy in packs of six at The Real Canadian Superstore work reall well.  I tried another sippy cup for my little guy when he was about 10 months old and he couldn't seem to get a handle on how to use it - I tried and found it really, really hard to get any liquid out of when you sucked.  The Superstore cups (they may be available elsewhere as well) are really simple, have three little holes that the liquid comes out of and as a bonus they are BPA free.  It says disposable on the package but you can re-use them many, many times before the lid begins to fit on improperly.  At that point I just huck them and buy some more. 

If constapation is the problem with your little one - I totally hear you on that one.  My little guy was getting too much milk and had constipation.  Now I put about a 1/8 cup of prune juice in a sippy and fill the rest with water and it seems to really help get things moving agian.  I NEVER give him 100% of any kind of juice because I'm concerned about his teeth and don't want him becoming addicted to super sweet things (like his mother! LOL).