Leak Proof?

There is about a million different choices of sippy cups out there, but here are the pros and cons of a few that I have tried.  My son has been using a sippy cup since he was about 8 months old.  At first we would just let him play with it, because he really didn't know what to do with it, but it wasn't long before he was tossing back water (and the occasional water/apple juice combo).  Once he turned one, we started giving him whole milk in the sippy with meals and throughout the day. 

We have tried a variety of different cups.  We started out with Avent brand because I used Avent bottles and the cup pieces are easily interchangeable.  For example, when Dylan first started holding and using his own cup, would use the sippy cup and handles with the bottle nipple.  It made it easier for him to know what to do with it.  As he became more familiar with holding his own cup, I replaced the nipple for the spout.  We never had any trouble with the Avent cups leaking until recently when Dylan developed this habit of launching his cup across the room.  The only thing I didn't really like about Avent was that the spout has a rubber round stopper to control the milk flow.  I have lost several of these because and I like to detach them and wash them in the dishwasher.  It's kind of like the disappearing sock in the washing machine...no one knows where those little rubber disks go in the dishwasher! 

We tried the Nuby cups and after the first few uses they all started to leak.  I looked online to see how to rectify this problem and most sites said to try to realign the cup and the lid.  I tried many times, but still a leaky mess.  I have found that these cups are very hard to screw and unscrew.  The nice thing about these cups is that the spout is very soft and spout portion detaches from the lid for easy cleaning. 

After complete frustration with the leaky Nuby sippy cups we tried Playtex.  We have not had any leak problems with these yet, but we haven't been using them long enough to tell for sure.  The plastic material of the cup seems a little more durable than the Nuby ones so it seems promising that they may hold up a little better.  I'll keep you posted. 

In addition to the Playtex we also bought on OXO brand convertible cup.  This cup is pretty cool because it come with a sippy spout and an additional slow pour lid, that makes transition to a regular cup easy.  The insert and handles are removable to convert to a childproof cup.  Pretty cool!  Also no problems with leaks...yet.  We will see how it holds up to the Dylan test of bouncing off the kitchen floor a couple of times.  Hope this helps you sort through the leaky cups.

Want more info on selecting a sippy cup?  Check out the following sites.
http://www.slate.com/id/2223016/
http://www.babycenter.com/0_sippy-cup-dos-and-donts_1439508.bc
http://www.bestsippycup.com/