- Why I Bought -
While I was pregnant last year I went a little crazy in Sainsbury's when there was an offer on baby feeding equipment and came away with a variety of items I wouldn't need for a good few months. One of my purchases was the Tommee Tippee First Beaker.

- The Beaker -
The beaker is very simple in design with only two parts. The cup itself is made from transparent light green plastic (also available in pink or blue). It has two handles for the baby to grab onto. The lid is also made from light green plastic but it isn't transparent. The spout is made from the same hard plastic so it is quite different to a bottle teat. This particular beaker has a free flow design rather than a valve. The spout can easily be pulled up allowing baby to drink or pushed down which stops any liquid getting out. The lid is easy to put onto the cup and remove again as the lid is not perfectly round so there is a ledge of plastic to pull up. Once the lid is on it is well secured. Of course it could be used without a lid for when baby learns to drink from a cup. Over all it looks simple but attractive and the range of colours are nicely suited to boys and girls.

- Drinking from the beaker -
I first gave the beaker to my son when he was four months old as this was the recommended age to use it from. I knew I would be weaning him onto baby food soon so I wanted him to get used to drinking water from a beaker. He instantly liked the cup and wanted to hold it all the time! He quite quickly got used to holding onto the handles and they were easy for his little hands to grip onto. The cup is light so it is reasonably easy for a baby to lift up, although this took my son a while to get the hang of. The free flow spout makes it easy for my son to drink out of but unfortunately it also makes it easy for him to soak himself! I don't mind this if we are at home but in a restaurant or at someone else's house this can be irritating. This is made worse by the fact that my son really enjoys shaking the beaker and throwing it on the floor! But overall he does get on well with the cup as has found it much easier to drink from compared to some of the valve beakers.

- A parent's view -
There are quite a few things I like about this beaker. Firstly it is transparent so it is easy to see how much liquid is left in it. It also has measurements up the cup so you can keep track of how much the baby has drunk (it holds just under 200 ml). I really like that I can put the beaker into the changing bag to take out with us and it won't leak. When the spout is down it is very good at stopping liquid coming out and as I have already mentioned the lid stays nicely secured to the cup. I also like that it is easy for me to take the lid on and off and to move the spout up and down but my son can't do this himself. I find the beaker very easy to clean, especially compared to the valve beakers, and it has survived the microwave steriliser too.

- Price and Availability -
I have seen these in most of the supermarkets as well as Boots and Wilkinson's. Prices seem to vary from between £1-2. I think it is worth this price. It does seem to be cheaper than many other beakers available.

- Would I Recommend? -
I would recommend this beaker as generally I have been pleased with it. It is easy for my son to hold and drink from which is the most important thing. It is also easy to clean, assemble, take apart and it doesn't leak in my bag. The only downside is that the free flow spout makes it easy for the liquid to freely flow all over my son! At under £2 I think it is certainly worth a try.