Sippy cups are a cornerstone of modern parenting. Like a gift from the gods of the parenting universe, they prevent spills, are conveniently portable and promote independence for toddlers and young children alike. You can find them with various types of spouts, straws and spill-proof lids, in a variety of sizes for a multitude of ages and abilities, and made from many different materials.
But as with all things parenting related, reality had to come and ruin it. The baby sippy cups that make our lives so much easier can actually be hazardous to the health of our precious little ones. As more and more science emerges shining a light on the possible health risks associated with many plastics, it’s becoming more challenging to mesh the conveniences of modern parenting with our instinct to protect our kids from anything that might harm them or make them sick.
There are safer and healthier options out there than the standard plastic molded cups these days. Find what’s safe for your little one so you can set your parenting guilt down for a hot minute and relax, you know, at least until the next crisis pops up.
Safest bet
As it stands right now, the safest sippy cups are more like high end water bottles with a sippy cup style valve or straw. There are many companies making the canteen (the part that hold liquid) from glass surrounded by a silicone casing, which is ideal not just for reducing risk of exposure to toxic chemicals but because these types of sippy cups are easy for little hands to hold.
If you can’t find glass, stainless steel is your next best option. Another good choice is a biodegradable, eco-friendly baby sippy cup made from rice-husk fibre material.
Look for:
- Stainless steel
- Glass
- Silicone mouth piece/straw
Steer clear of:
- Plastic – even those “BPA-free”
- Aluminum
Proceed with caution
Aluminum is not as safe as you might have been led to believe. Since aluminum is not considered food safe (confusing, since all these years soft drinks have been sold in aluminum cans and aluminum foil has remained a household staple, but true) all aluminum canteens are coated to create a barrier between the liquid and the metal itself.
Go ahead and guess what is used to coat the canteen. That’s right, plastic. While this amount of plastic is much smaller, there is still a risk of exposure. If you’re hard pressed to find glass or steel, aluminum would be the lesser of two evils in a pinch. Be sure that you only use cold liquids in an aluminum canteen, just to be on the safe side
Forget it
Plastic cups are getting worse, not better. Although you may notice that nearly every plastic sippy cup boasts being “BPA Free,” that doesn’t even matter anymore. Recent research shows that the sister chemicals Bisphenol B (BPB) and Bisphenol F (BPF), the current common replacement chemicals in plastics, aren’t any safer. In fact BPB was found to to be an even stronger stimulant of breast cancer cells than BPA.
The moral of the story here is that plastic is not food or drink friendly like we thought and the sooner you can get out of the habit of using it, the better.