Doidy do or Doidy don't (Bickiepegs Doidy Cup)

Member Name: cmh4135

Product:	Bickiepegs Doidy Cup
Date:	14/11/07 (1128 review reads)
Rating:

Advantages: Meant to be good for young children

Disadvantages: Messy and not sucessful for all

The transition from breast or bottle to a cup is not an easy one. Most health visitors, speech therapists and dentists seem to recommend that you get a young child onto a cup as soon as possible. One of the things that seems to be in vogue at the moment is the Doidy cup.

Contrary to the beliefs of many (health visitors included) a Doidy cup is not a new thing. I certainly recall my sister having one almost 30 years ago. The concept is simple. One of the biggest problems for a parent trying to feed from a cup is that you can’t see where the liquid inside is. You either end up drowning the baby or you simply fail to get any liquid to their mouth. The Doidy cup remedies this by being slanted.

The slant of the cup also has other benefits. The slanted rim means that there’s a narrower curve that fits to baby’s mouth much better than a standard round cup. As the baby can see what’s in the cup it encourages the baby not to tip their head down and forward to drink. Furthermore, in theory, the child is spending less time with the cup in their mouth when compared to a bottle or spouted cup thus lessening the potential problems for teeth associated with prolonged contact with bottles, teats and sugary drinks. Getting a baby onto a cup is also meant to prevent some speech problems.

My son was very difficult to get from the breast onto anything else. Having tried various bottles we decided that he might just be one of those children who manages to go straight to a cup and so, when my son was 5 months old, I acquired a Doidy cup to see if that would work.

Undoubtedly, the Doidy makes it easier as a parent to see what is happening to the liquid in a cup as baby tries to drink. Unfortunately the “natural lapping action” that I was told would happen just didn’t and after many hours of perseverance we decided to stop.

We returned to the cup several months later when my son had finally given in and would drink from bottles and spouted cups. The idea we had was that drinks at mealtimes would be from an open cup and that the Doidy would be perfect for this. We were wrong.

The Doidy has two very thin and narrow handles. Double-handled cups are meant to be easier for children to hold and control. Well, my son (along I’m sure with countless others) has not read the manuals and doesn’t know this. No matter how often we tried we could not get him to hold it and tip it up just the right amount. He either went thirsty, ended up drowned or simply refused to hold it. Having mummy hold the cup for him was kind of defeating the object of getting him to be a bit more independent. Swapping to a traditional open beaker without handles and a normal rim saw brilliant results. My son controlled the standard beaker so much better and could drink, unassisted from it.

To my mind the handles are very awkward. I'm an adult with bigger hands but they don't seem easy to grip at all.

Doidy cups are made from sturdy plastic and are top-rack dishwasher-proof. They used only to available by mail order when they were relaunched but I’ve noticed that they’re available in Tesco and my local chemist.

I think that they’re a good idea but they’re just not for everyone. My son does far better with a regular beaker but I do know other children who seem to get on well with them. For us it just wasn’t worth the effort.

Summary: A cup recommended by heath professionals but is it a step too far?