Sports bottle as sippy cup stand-in

Travel tip from Sara:

I've seen people using bottle water with "sports caps" (the pull up tops like on dish soap) for small children instead of sippy cups. I think this sounds like a great solution for planes and road trips. (Not to mention they are easy to find in convenience stores.)

Tags: Parenting, Sippy cups

Comments

[Sara (too)]

We have started using Nuby strawcups for our one year old instead of sippy cups. Now Max (our baby) can use a straw which can be found pretty much anywhere too.

[Sara in Austin]

How did you teach Max to suck through a straw? I suspect you could teach it pretty easily if it was during the bottle transition, but I didn't do it then and now I haven't been able to get J. to do it!

[Pamela]

My daughter was over a year old before I introduced her to a straw, but she picked up on it right away. The hardest part for her seemed to be learning that you have to continue the suction until the fluid makes it into your mouth.

[Uly]

I agree - only problem with the sports bottle is that, due to the small parts, it's considered a choking hazard. So long as you're watching your child and everything's screwed on properly, this is unlikely to be a real problem, though.

That said, I prefer non sports-bottles. It's too easily for the other type to open and leak all over everything, and if you give them, capless, in the bathtub during baths (along with regular plastic cups), the kid will have fun while learning to drink... um... bathwater.

[Laura]

I agree that sports bottles drip drip drip all over the car/purse/kid. At three, my guys (twins) have moved to the little sports bottle with a wide twist off lid. I need to help them get it open, but they can close it well on their own.

Have you ever tasted water out of a sippy cup? It tastes like plastic! Yech!

[Serena]

They actually make "kid-safe" sports water bottles - poland spring sells them - there is no little plastic lid to choke on and the top is really touh to unscrew - we keep one in the diaper bag at all times - they're great but can get a bit messy. Noah also can drink from a straw (he tried it around 11 months and just "got it" immediately. Great skill for when you forget a sippy cup at a restaurant.