Sippy cups - straw vs spout. Opinions please :)

[Plinky]

I have a dilemma, in that I just don't know which way to go in terms of sippy cups...straw or spout?

Straw cups seem to be very popular. But then with a spout cup, I would have thought the action of tipping it up would make it easier to transition to a cup later on?

DS can drink from both, but just not sure which to use for when we move away from teats for his milk...what does everyone else use?

[Mum2Romone]

a regular plastic cup

DS used a cup for 12 months, it's the best thing I could have done and ALOT more convenient....

[tellytubby]

I just use whatever is clean! haha!
Straws, sippy cups, poptops, whatever is available

FWIW - straws are a PITA to clean

[sloane]

FWIW - straws are a PITA to clean

that was my MCHNs advice when it came to a sippy cup for milk - she suggested the less parts it has to clean, the better!

we use a straw one for water - DS never really got the hang of the no-spill spout ones. he's quite happy to use a cup/glass though - which we often do at home. if i make him a smoothie i usually give it to him in a glass (plastic one) with a normal bendy straw which he thinks is lots of fun.

[*TripleJ*]

DS uses a spout one the take and toss ones u get from woolies they work well here they have straw ones but i havent tried them

[Plinky]

Ohhhhh, I didn't even think of cleaning the straw ones! Yeah, it would be much easier with a spout wouldn't it?

How did you girls move away from teats for milk? Did you just do a straight swap to a sippycup? I'm worried he won't drink as much with a sippy cup, and that maybe he gets comfort from sucking the teat? I dunno, guess I'm just not sure when to make the move...

[Taurean]

Trial and error really. DD wasn't a fan of the spouts and took to straws from a very young age - a lot earlier than most. It was by accident we found she liked straws as she stole one of older friend's straw cup and sculled it!

We have a selection of sippy cups but her favourites are the Nuby flip straw ones with the handles. We haven't had a problem with leaking and I don't find them hard to clean at all. She only has water in them usually and the few times she's had milk or juice, I rinse them straight away. I hand wash all DDs bottles and sippy cups. If the straws needed more cleaning, I'd just soak them in really hot soapy water for a while first.

DD has the large and small Heinz sippy straw cups as well and they are good too. We also have a Tommee Tippee flip top one which looks cool but leaks like you wouldn't believe - just drips out when held upside down which is DDs favourite trick in the pram or car seat

[Frangipani]

I agree - the straws are a pain to clean.

Plus I also found DS1 would get frustrated with the straw ones because he would keep tipping them up (though he did eventually get the hang of it over the last year or so- he will be 3 end of May).

I also found with my DS1 that he use to chew the straws too to the point they had to be thrown out. I haven't got any straws left now for DS2 to try now and wouldn't waste the money as he seems happy with the sippy cups and pop tops - he has just turned 1. Both my 2 boys usually drink their water out of one of those metal drink bottles (i think the brand is 'smash') or I have refilled some pop tops (that usually would have juice in it) with boiled water - DS1 usually goes to the fridge and helps himself - which is quite often as he loves his water...and it appears DS2 does now too.

[sloane]

i forgot to say - it really does seem to be a bit of trial & error. we have a few different ones here that we've tried, i guess it's just a matter of what is a good fit for your DS

and fwiw, my DS was faster at working out how to drink out of a cup/glass than he was with the spouts

[Pandora]

They will get used to either, but be sure it's a screw top not one they can bite off and upend at will.
It gets messy

Good luck

[Ozziehoffy]

I had straws but found they split and don't end up being "spill proof" anymore... then I came across tommee tippee discovera which are newer ones out... there are 3 different ones... I think one is a straw, so wasn't interested... then there is what I think they call sports? It's like a little hard straw/spout type thing... then there is one which is like a cup edge. THESE ARE SOOOOO AWESOME!! They are really spill proof more than anything I've ever seen before. We use the sports one and have the cup one but Elijah doesn' tlike that one.

Just checked and if you go to their website tommee tippee dot com dot au... they have them there under discovera. They seriously rock and I have a WHOLE cupboard of cups I've now ditched for these. You can get them at Woolies, Big W.. not sure where else and about $14 but so worth it! I've got 2 for Elijah so I can wash/rotate daily and had them about a year probably.

[berrme]

I had straws but found they split and don't end up being "spill proof" anymore... then I came across tommee tippee discovera which are newer ones out... there are 3 different ones... I think one is a straw, so wasn't interested... then there is what I think they call sports? It's like a little hard straw/spout type thing... then there is one which is like a cup edge. THESE ARE SOOOOO AWESOME!! They are really spill proof more than anything I've ever seen before.

Love these too! The little non spill thing on the inside is easy to clean too, some of the others we have tried just get gunked up and are hard to clean.

I just changed the boys day milk feeds over to cups first and left the night one for a bit longer. Once I knew that they would drink it out of a cup then the night one became a cup feed too. FWIW, they didn't fight it as they had been drinking water and juice from a cup for a while. I think as mums we expect things to be more difficult than they end up being.