Monthly Archives: August 2009

Again with the cups. I know. But I have to do it. It’s for the greater good of moms like me across the country.

I don’t typically review and talk about specific baby/kid products. There are plenty of sites out there with that exact aim. But, I found a hole in the internet revolving around reviews of and options for BPA-free straw cups.

I’ll keep it as short and to the point as possible with tons of bullets rather than blathering text.

I was forced to find another straw cup for Lolo because the ones we had been using (the Playtex Insulator Sports Straw Cup) became bloated at the bottom from the volcanic-like heat in our dishwasher (even when using the top rack). Aside from the fact that they could no longer stand on their own, they were pretty good soldiers for us. I drew the line when Lolo started to assume all cups acted like weeble wobbles and held out her hands to catch a cup after she placed it on a table. (I will say that I know a lot of people who use these cups and have not had the bloated bottom issue because they have safe and effective kitchen appliances.)

Here’s where I break it down.

What I want:
• Insulated straw cup.
• Something that doesn’t leak excessively. (I learned long ago that there is no leak-proof cup. There are only leak-a-little-less ones.)
• Not alot of parts.
• Cup with valve that makes it pretty easy to obtain liquid.
• Cheap.
• BPA-free. Phthalate-free would be nice too, but there are fewer options down that road.
• It would also be nice if it could stand on its own.

What I found:

I found a few options, mostly at Babies-R-Us. I tried a few and returned what didn’t work for me.

1. My first purchase was the Insulated Straw Cup by Munchkin with the Backyardagins theme.
Pros:
• They’re kinda cute for a hot second, and then those little animated dudes started to bother me as a collective group in my cabinet.

Cons:
• One cup from the two-pack was easy to suck from, but the next one kept being handed back to me with the exclamation “empty” even though it was filled to the brim with water. So, I tried it myself and nearly popped a blood vessel trying to extract liquid.
• I didn’t use them long enough to find out how much they might leak especially with milk since milk seems to instantly expand once confined to a kids cup. But, I will say the assembly was totally annoying. You can’t reinsert the straw through the top without taking apart the flip-top mechanism, otherwise know as the orange-thingee pictured above.

Bottom line: I would never try these again. Too hard to suck.

2. Next, I pondered the Insulated Straw Cup by Nuby but thought better of it once I remembered what it was like to clean a Nuby cup after a friend left one at our house. They have two straws that make up the cup assembly and one is so super short that it was eaten by my dishwasher. I put it in but it never returned. I knew I could never keep track of the parts so I didn’t even consider it as an option. The other thing I don’t like about Nuby is that the kids actually have to bite the straw while sucking and now is not the right time to re-teach Lolo how to use a straw. They are cheap, though.

Bottom line: Small cup parts make me lose my mind.

3. I also thought about but didn’t try the Playtex “Baby Einstein” Insulated Straw Cup. I really do like Playtex cups and the construction of this one made it seem like it could stand up to my dishwasher. But, at $5.99 a cup in-store, I couldn’t bear to buy the 5 or 6 I needed. They also seemed a little hard to handle and baby-ish for an 18-month old. I dare say that I would have tried this if she was much younger and just starting with straw cups.

Bottom line: A little too expensive per cup when she is on the down-slope of using kids cups.

4. Then I moved on to the “Meal Mates” Insulated Straw Cup by Learning Curve. They seemed like they would fit my needs and have worked out pretty well.

Pros:
• They have a slip grip texture on the outside for easy handling by a toddler.
• They fit in traditional cup holders and pouches.
• The packaging states that they are BPA-, Phthalate- and PVC-free.
• Insulated so cool drinks stay cool.
• Only two parts to keep track of.
• No obnoxious characters to look at

Cons:
• They aren’t perfect, liquid does leak. But, I knew that would happen and it’s not the top of my wish list. I just try to keep it upright in my purse and away from my phone.
• The shape of the straw is different. It’s oblong so you can only use it from two directions. But, she’s adapted well to this change.
• The silicone valve that attaches to the cup top doesn’t have a super tight fit and I wonder if that seal will falter over time.

Bottom line: It’s the best option for me now with the cons that I am willing to live with until the next phase of Lolo’s beverage life.

5. As a last hurrah, I bought and didn’t return another variety of Playtex straw cup, the “Lil’ Gripper”. It’s not insulated, but it has the same basic innards as the Sports Insulator one we decided to ditch.
I love it except for one fatal flaw. Yes, fatal. The straw that attaches to the valve inside isn’t long enough. It’s maddening. Lolo would have an inch of water left in the cup and the straw couldn’t reach it. So, I tried out the straws from the bloated cups mentioned above and they were too long for this one. After a few scissor snips, I modified my old Playtex straws to make these cups usable. Otherwise, I would have returned them in a flash.

Bottom line: Had these come with straws that were long enough, I probably would have chosen these over the “Meal Mates” ones even though they aren’t insulated. I think they leak a little less, they are so easy to grip, I love the valve and overall cup construction, and they are less expensive. But, for now, we need something that is insulated. These don’t fit in every cup holder either as they are a little too wide at the bottom.

6. Another option out there that I did not try simply because I couldn’t find it in the stores close to me is the Fun Sip Insulated Straw Cup by Evenflo. It looked promising but I ran out of steam hunting down the cup options.

And, finally, for those of you who think I have way too much time on my hands or space in my brain for something as trivial as a straw cup, try spending a day with a thirsty toddler. Go ahead, throw a cup of milk in your laptop bag all day and see if you don’t care about the cup’s performance. Just think of it as my mid-year marketing report on juvenile products minus the PowerPoint presentation.