Crying over spilled milk? (Anyway-Up Cups)

Member Name: Vicki H

Product:	Anyway-Up Cups
Date:	23/11/01 (292 review reads)
Rating:

Advantages: Encourages indpendence, Cheap, Durable

Disadvantages: Straw tricky to clean

The cup that I bought Joe from Tesco is slighlty different from the one photographed on this page. All the same it is a cup by Tesco that claims to be the anyway up variety so I hope this op is in the right place!

I became quite concerned when Joe refused to use drinking cups, preferring his bottle. I have read about bottles causing speech and language problems if used regularly when babies develop into toddlers. I have also read reports about bottle users having problems with their teeth and therefore dentists recommend that children be encouraged to use cups from at least 12 months.

I introduced a cup at around 9 months afer I saw one of Joe's chums using one quite easily. You know what it is like - you see a child the same age doing something that you consider to be more advanced than your child is doing and you become obsessed that your child has a problem! At this point Joe wouldn't even hold his own bottle although he could.

I tried every type of cup under the sun. All claiming to be leakproof but the claims were false! We had Boot, Avent, Mothercare, Babies R Us and the list goes on . . . . That is until I discovered the Tesco cup.

Joe's cup is transparent and does not have handles. It has the cut out middle which mean that babies grip the actual cup. Any parent will know what I mean by this - sorry if you don't! He holds this cup in a much more controlled way than the ones with the handle that he used to enjoy launching across the room!

The cup has a pale blue lid with a spout. Inside is a strong, see through straw which is detachable for cleaning purposes. The child has to suck for the fluid to leave the beaker meaning that there really are no spills. Sometimes if a little liquid is left in the straw and the cup is laid down, a little milk may trickle out but nothing excessive.

The health visitor is not too keen on these cups as she says that they do not encourage a child to
drink properly - they are still relying on producing a sucking action. I therefore also use a Doidy cup at meal times. These are like a beaker with a spout. You need to give your child a drink from them as they do not have any lid at all! The health visitors are actually promoting the use of this instead of cups but realistically a child could not be independent with one of these until around 3 years of age and then there would be accidents.

The Tesco cup is ideal for my situation. Joe has some independence, there is little mess and it is durable too! Hope this might save you pounds on testing the cups out.

Thanks for reading.

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