Goals? Goals of a sippy cup? It’s obvious, right? To drink out of. Well… that really isn’t the goal of a sippy cup. The main goal of a sippy cup is to teach. 9 months, or earlier but for our sake, 9 months you have graduated to super duper sonic speed bottles. I don’t know if they actually still have to suck when they get to that point. I think they just tilt their head back and the bottle just pours out. For the last couple of months they have been either drinking out of a bottle or still nursing. The mechanics of drinking have not been granted to them, they must learn how to drink. So this is where the sippy cup comes in. A transition from bottle or nursing to a cup.So if the Goal of a sippy cup is to drink, then why don’t we just give them a cup and tell them, “Drink!” If you have ever seen a 9 month old in a bath tub with some toys or cups or bowls, you know that they can’t keep 10 gallons of water in a bath tub that is 4 feet by 2 feet. What in the world would make us think they can get 7oz of water from a cup to their little tiny mouths? We don’t. That is where Goal #2 comes in, help keep them from making a huge mess.
So to re-cap, we have 2 goals of a sippy cup.
Help teach the mechanics of drinking.
Help keep them from making a huge mess.
Sippy cups, until we offered our tilty cup, currently only cover one area. The mess factor. There are sippy cups with valves, without valves, that screw on, that snap on, that are leak proof, spill proof, drip proof, proof proof.
You might be thinking, “That’s not true.” They teach them how to drink also. I have a different opinion on that. I think you will too. Have you ever seen the 12 month old sitting on the ground staring at the sky with a sippy cup in their mouth. While your first thought might be, “Oh they are looking at the clouds.” We then realize they are trying to finish their sippy cup. A motion that quickly becomes the normal position for drinking. It is a simple action-reward system. Since the only time they can tilt their head slightly is when the cup is full, they only do that motion once. As soon as they take a drink, they have to tilt a little more, and then more and then more. So they finally, because they are smart enough to see the pattern, go straight to the max tilt position anytime they are handed a cup. This is also the motion that creates the dreaded DUMP. Some only tilt to a certain spot and then stop. They probably are thinking, “This is silly. I have to look at the sky to drink.” These little ones never finish a drink, because they don’t tilt as far as they need to finish it. So you constantly fill up the cup to make sure they can get the drink out, essentially waisting the final third of fluid every time.
Ah… and then back to the leak proof sippy cup thing. Fill any leak proof, spill proof, proof proof cup with milk and after it finds its way under your seat in the car for a day, I bet that proof proof cup is no longer any proof. Why? Because the milk creates a gas when going bad. That gas creates pressure. When that pressure equals the amount of vacuum required (sucking) to get the drink out, then the proof part goes poof.
Let me cover the straw “sippy cups”. I don’t really consider cups with straws sippy cups or transition cups. They achieve the goal of feeding. That’s it. Nothing wrong with them, they just aren’t in the same realm. They don’t teach the mechanics. Actually they teach some bad mechanics. The straw cups are so spill proof that when the little ones tip the straw cup upside down it doesn’t spill. Not even a drop. So they can drink a straw cup upside down. No let’s all imagine that we are at Costco, we get them a little pink lemonade because it is hot and we are feeling like it is a special day. They grab that lemonade with the straw and… DUMP! Of course they do, the straw sippy cups can handle that motion why can’t the restaurant ones?
Quickly I will cover how Tilty™ achieves these goals and goes beyond what anyone expected from a sippy cup.
Second, Tilty has a “snap” on lid. It doesn’t actually make the snap noise, you just push the lid on the top until it has a tight fit. That controls the huge mess part. The holes in Tilty™ are a little bigger than other cups to help with the reward factor. This reinforces the drinking part and moves them away from the sucking part.
Third, because Tilty™ doesn’t require as much tilt, Tilty™ is more comfortable to use. Tilty™ creates a better drinking experience. Sounds kinda funny, but it is true. Tilty™ sippy cups are the best sippy cups ever.
