Advice on Sippy Cups

Updated on July 23, 2008
L.R. asks from Saint Louis, MO
32 answers

I am having trouble finding the right sippy cup for my 7 month old son. He has a really strong suck, so when he drinks out of the cup he chokes on the water coming out too fast. I was wondering if anyone had the same problem and found a sippy cup that had a "slow flow".

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R.D.

answers from Kansas City on

Take n Toss would work great for you. My son doesn't suck hard enough and gets too little water out. The vacuum is strong enough that he doesn't get much (I even tried one to see how much sucking I had to do). They are cheap enough to lose if I forget at a restaraunt, and most importantly they are BPA-FREE!!!!!

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N.K.

answers from Kansas City on

Nuby makes a straw like sippy cup that is really hard to suck and can be a little difficult. It sounds like it would be perfect for you.

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S.H.

answers from Killeen on

I use the Gerber cups that come in the 2pack. They're a litle expensive but worth it. They are honestly spill proof and my son loves them!

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W.H.

answers from Springfield on

Hi - I found a Nuby sippy cup that is made out of hard plastic lid and a stopper insert that allows you to choose slow or fast flow. I purchased mine at Walmart. Good luck!

1 mom found this helpful
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E.M.

answers from Kansas City on

Have you tried the Nuby cups? Not the plain ones from Wal-Mart but they have another style with handles on the sides. They are orthodontic cups and as longs as he is not allergic to latex he should do pretty well with those. I have seen them at Babies R Us but do not remember the price. Also sometimes he plain original cups from Playtex are pretty good. Just keep trying out cups until you find one that works for him. We just bought one at a time with my first until we found one she could use. By the time my second came along, he was not picky and was able to use anything we gave him. Each kiddo is different.

1 mom found this helpful
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C.F.

answers from Topeka on

L.!

I sell Tupperware, have you tried our Sipper cups and seals. Ours does have a slow flow, because of the design, and has been around over 60years, they are a very proven product. Let me know if you are interested. Not sure where you live, I am located in Topeka,KS but I do have them on hand if you are interested in purchasing, otherwise I can ship anywhere. Contact me at 785/969 3866 or email me at ____@____.com you are interested. C. Freeman

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S.T.

answers from Kansas City on

The Nuby cups you can get at Wal-Mart have a slow flow valve. One side of the valve is fast flow, the other side is slow, so you just have to look on there to figure out which is which. And they're pretty cheap too.

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J.T.

answers from St. Louis on

Walmart sells the 'Nuby' ones that have the valve for fast or slow flow and I think they cost under a dollar. Good luck:-)

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N.H.

answers from Wichita on

Nuby has a sippy cup that has a valuve that allows you to choose fast or slow. I got mine at walmart.

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K.B.

answers from Wichita on

Good morning L., I probably should of read the other posters as it's probably the same information. Wal-Mart has several types of sippy's and alot of them have the reversible inserts. Fast flow and Slow flow. That is what we use for our 7 mo old gr son.

Lucky you!! You get to gooooooooo Shopppping :)
K. nana of 5

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J.H.

answers from Kansas City on

Have you tried a straw? My daughter (now 4) loved her sippy cups, but I wasn't able to find them when it was time to start my son on sippy cups. I had kept a couple of the ones that she really liked and even bought a few new ones. He didn't like drinking from ANY of them! Eating out one night he really wanted a drink, so we started with just a little water in a straw then slowly allowing it to drain from the straw into his mouth. By the end of dinner, he was drinking from the straw! Just a thought.
Hope you find a solution that works for him and you.
Good luck! J.

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J.P.

answers from Kansas City on

I feel like we have every sippie cup out there. Try the Playtex one that is usually bright colored with lots of graphics on it and is sold as a single or double. I also found that the Take and Toss cheep-o cups are pretty good because they don't have a return air hole. You can find either of these at Walmart or Target.
Good Luck!

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B.W.

answers from Kansas City on

Try using a sippy cup with a straw instead of a spout... it is better for them and they can regulate how much they "suck" out of it... Nuby's is BPA free by the way.

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R.H.

answers from St. Louis on

I have found that the Munchkin brand of sippy cups with the "insulation" are hard to get stuff out of so that may work for you, the only problem with them is that they are kind of expensive. You will probably pay about $6-$7 for 2 cups and they come in a 2 pack. I initially bought the solid colors for my daughter and they were a bit cheaper, but I have not been able to find the solid colored ones anymore. Now they come with characters on them, I have mainly seen the ones with Dora and Diego on them at places like Wal-Mart and Target. I bought some Diego ones for my almost 1 year old son and he has a hard time getting anything out of them so I have decided to wait a bit to move him up to them. The package states that they are for like ages 2 and up and Intermediate or something like that but he has done so well with the other cups that I thought he was ready. I really like the Gerber toddler cups for him, they are little more advanced than the "baby" sippys, but your son may be sucking harder than what one of those is able to hold back on. Hopefully this helps, good luck!

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J.W.

answers from St. Louis on

Hi L.,
I have a 20 month old daughter who is very smart, she learned how to get the tops off the regular sippy cups and spill it everywhere. She would also choke so we switched to the ones with the straws and we love them. Good luck and enjoy they grow really fast.
J.

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A.P.

answers from Kansas City on

Check out Babys R US for the best selection. We had a hard time weaning our 18 month old from the bottle and ended up using a Nubi trainer bottle that had handles and both a silicone niple and sippi cup type spout. Gerber (I think) also has cups that you can change the spill proof lid from slow to rapid flow.

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B.H.

answers from Kansas City on

We have a Boon one that might work. My daughter had the same problem. I got ours from Amazon, search for Boon Fluid, it's only 4.99. After she got used to it I had to cut the hole bigger so she can get more out of it. It's also a nice shape so she was able to hold it better than the other ones.

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J.B.

answers from St. Louis on

Tupperware or cups with straws are best. Should never give sippy cups that he has to "suck" real hard. It's just like giving him a bottle. He will learn to slow down on his drinking. He is used to sucking.

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V.C.

answers from St. Louis on

The avent sippy cups take a lot more than regular cups to draw out. There are a lot of pieces, but it might be worth it.

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S.W.

answers from St. Louis on

I have some AVENT sippy cups that seem to have a slow flow. They have a really thin spout that makes it a little harder to suck on, I think. My son actually doesn't like it because it is too slow! We use Munchkin cups because they are faster - so don't get those!

Both of those brands are the B-Ph FREE types, so no worries about the plastic chemical stuff.

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K.B.

answers from Kansas City on

Hi, L.. I would just make sure the tippy cup has a valve inside. That should take care of the fast flow, and since he is a strong sucker, he should have no problem getting the water out. I am pretty impressed your son is drinking out of a cup already!

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H.H.

answers from Kansas City on

my favorite cups for not leaking were the Playtex cups. Not sure how fast the flow was as far as the choking. I also used the nuby ones with the insert that switched to slow or fast flow but if they get dropped the insert seems to fall out easily and is floating in the cup so the cup would leak a lot when the insert fell out. I don't know how those new nuby silicone top cups work. I think they are close to how a bottle works but those weren't out when my kids were babies. I see a lot of people use them for first cups until their child starts biting them off then buy the cups with hard plastic lids.

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J.K.

answers from Topeka on

The take and toss work realy well.

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L.E.

answers from Kansas City on

Thermos has a great sippy cup that has a valve on it that will make the flow slower. You can also opt to take off the valve if you wanted to. And, it's made of aluminum which is safe for your baby!

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K.S.

answers from Springfield on

It looks like you have lots of recommendations from others about which sippy cups that might work for your son. But I thought I would add my experience from years ago. My DD is 31 y/o so my experience is only intended to provide insight not necessarily advice. Back then cereal was started at 2 weeks of age, using a spoon not a bottle, and new foods were introduced every 2 weeks until they were eating anything. I started offering formula out of a cup at the same time I started offering her solid food, 2 weeks. She was also given a chance to nurse after she got the solid food. By the time she was 5 months old she was no longer interested in nursing and was weaned. I found that she also had a problem with the sippy cup but since she was not able to hold it herself in the beginning, I simply took the lid off so I could see and regulate how much liquid was coming out while I basically poured into her mouth. I, also, sometimes let her use a straw with me holding the cup and straw. Because she was used to sucking hard to nurse, the sucking on the straw was natural but she did suck too hard the first couple of times but the liquid only had to come out her nose a couple of times before she quickly figured out not to suck so hard. *smile* I was naive and guess I had high expectations but she met the challenge. It wasn't until later when friends were asking me how I "taught" my dd to use a straw that I realized not all babies were exposed to sucking straws at 3 months of age. By the time she could hold the sippy cup herself, she had no trouble with the flow rate. Her first 4th of July family picnic she was 7 1/2 months old and she didn't have a tooth in her mouth but that didn't stop her from eating anything she got her hands on. And just for the record, her pediatrician was a friend of my mother's and was at the picnic and handed my dd a chicken leg and several other food items to eat. Unless your son has special needs, don't under estimate his ability to learn and adapt and meet the challenges. Enjoy watching him learn and grow. It is a wonderful experience and they do it so fast.

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C.G.

answers from Columbia on

Here is a website that has a list of bottles and sippy cups that are BPA Free (ya know that harmful chemical that has been in the news lately that leeches into liquids from the plastic container?).
http://safemama.com/2007/11/22/bpa-free-bottle-and-sippy-...

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A.T.

answers from Kansas City on

I went through a ton as well. My daughters favorite is the Gerber beginners cup. They have green handles with a sail boat on them.

C.B.

answers from Kansas City on

i agree with gale - the gerber ones had the slowest flow that i found, with the little stopper thingy in there. also very sturdy, if he's a hard sucker they'll start to fall apart on you so watch for that, mine tears them up in a matter of a month or two, and i'm always worried he'll inhale a piece of the plastic. and another plus, they fit on the bottle bases. good luck!

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M.

answers from Wichita on

My daughter had the same problem until I bought the ones with the small flexible straw on them. You can find them at Wal-Mart for about $1.50 a piece. I think they are Playtex brand and come in a variety of colors. Good luck!

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C.M.

answers from Kansas City on

You can get cups that have a two way valve, one for fast and one for slow. I'm not sure who makes them but I'm pretty sure that I got them at Walmart. I know that they are not the Gerber cups. The valve has a little turtle for slow and a rabbit for fast. I hope this helps.

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M.K.

answers from Kansas City on

My son had the same problem with the choking. I don't know if the problem is a strong suck, or a strong valve. Maybe he is sucking so hard to GET the liquid out because the valve is stiff and new, and then when the valve finally opens, it shoots in, choking him. The valve on the cups you have might just need to be broken in so that it doesn't take so much effort to get the liquid out. We use the walmart little einstein cups, and it took a while for the valves to break in (of course, not to the point of leaking!)and now there is no more choking!

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G.N.

answers from St. Louis on

You can try the Gerber cups and make sure the rubber piece inside the cover is in good. Other than that not sure what cups you can use.

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