I am a collector of cups. We have a whole cupboard of sippy cups. If someone says “You must try this cup.” I do it. It does not matter that I am supposed to be the one recommending cups to paying customers. I must try every cup on my children while they are still in sippy cup stage. I must.
So I feel quite confident in my knowledge of all things cup related. Not just because I am educated and trained to know. Mostly because I am a mom. Let’s talk about cups.
If you listened to the latest Facebook chat, you would know I have a love/hate relationship with cups that have stoppers. The—-mom loves them, thespeech— hates them. Why and why? Well, the stopper cups don’t spill. My kids try their best to pour apple juice between my couch cushions and milk on the remotes, but no dice when those stopper cups are involved. And although I am saving time and money on not cleaning cushions and replacing remotes, I will probably take the hit later when I am paying for braces and speech therapy. Kiddos that drink from stopper cups exclusively are at a much higher risk to need braces and have a speech issue called a tongue thrust. A tongue thruster is one of those kids you see with their mouth hanging open and their tongue resting between their teeth. It isn’t that great of an issue to have. So that is why thespeechmom has a love/hate relationship with these cups.
What kind of cups do I love? I have three types that I recommend. My first recommendation is a cheap one. The Take-n-toss cups. They leak, just a little. (Mostly because my kids are trying really hard to make them leak.) I love them because they are low cost and because they don’t have a stopper. My children leave sippy cups everywhere. So, I don’t lose a lot of sleep wondering where these cups have been left.
My second recommendation is the 360 cup. The 360 cup is my absolute favorite. There are a few different brands out there. My two favorite brands are Munchkin and Wow Cups. These cups are amazing because some genius managed to make a stopper free sippy cup that allows a child to drink like an adult without spilling everywhere. Genius I tell you. The liquid is released when their sweet little lips press on the suction cup-like top. The liquid comes out in a relatively slow flow. Although I put this cup in the “sippy cup” territory, it really is more of a trainer cup. It’s amazing. Go buy one.
My third recommendation is a straw cup. So…. I am totally cool with most straw cups and I have one that I am way into. My favorite straw cup is a Lolacup. I like this one for a few reasons. One would be that it is super cute. I have legit reasons too. The bottom of the straw on this cup is weighted. So when a little one tips the cup towards them, the straw travels to where the liquid is. Aren’t cup designers smart? Also, drinking from a straw is an important oral motor skill for kiddos. They gain lip strength and use muscles they utilize in speech and feeding development.
If your little one is working on some occupational therapy skills, the Lolacup and the 360 cups both have double handle options. This makes holding the cup and lifting it to their perfect little face much easier.
Do you guys have any cup recommendations? I would absolutely love to hear what you love…or hate. Because my cupboards aren’t full enough I will probably run out and purchase every single one you recommend.
The Speech Mom 
We love the 360 Munchkin cups. I have 3 and they pretty much get washed every day because it’s all my 20-month old uses. She was a pretty easy transition from bottles, but we may have done a non-stopper soft-tip sippy for a little bit between. But pretty much at age 1 she started the 360. They use non-stopper take and toss-type at daycare. The only drawback is I don’t love putting the 360s in diaper bags where they can get tossed upside down and they are NOT good for throwers. When launched from a highchair, they splatter all over when they hit the floor. But we’ve dealt with that–helps the walls of the kitchen get washed where that otherwise wouldn’t happen 😉
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