The invention of the sipper (spouted non-spill) cup allowed parents everywhere to encourage their babies and young toddlers to drink "like a big kid" without the hassles of spilling. Keep in mind, sipper cups have been around for about 50 years or more in one form or another, but today's problem is that many kids suck on these spouted cups all day and kids as old as 5 and 6 are continuing to use them. They were invented simply to teach children to drink from a regular cup without spilling before transitioning to a regular open cup.

Speech therapists will tell you that drinking from a spouted cup (though convenient and less messy for parents) can actually have an adverse effect on your child's speech, swallowing and oral motor development. We aren't saying you should immediately throw all your sippers out. Certainly sippers are useful in the car or in places were spilling would be an absolute no-no, but therapists recommend that parents move their children from the bottle to the open cup or straw cup rather than a sipper. But why?

A sipper cup promotes tongue protrusion rather than tongue retraction and you will see many children that rest their tongues beneath the sipper spouts. To drink from a straw or an open cup a child must retract his tongue to suck, whereas with a sipper (especially the non-spill types) a child "suckles" pushing the tongue in and out much like they did with a bottle. A straw or open cup promotes lip closure, while a sipper can sometimes hinder lip closer due to the thickness of the spout (Tupperware sipper cups have thinner spouts). Open cups and straw cups promote more mature patterns of oral motor movement needed for speech and feeding.

Long term use of a sipper cup can sometimes interfere with sound production, including some consonant sounds and blends such as /th/ or /st/ or lead to other articulation errors due to difficulty with tongue placement.

Aside from therapists, pediatric dentists will also warn parents that daily use of a sipper cup can lead to cavities because often kids are drinking juices and other sugary liquids around the clock from them. Many parents know not to send their child to bed with a bottle, but don't think about a child carrying a sipper cup to her room during naptime or bedtime.

There doesn't seem to be definitive research stating that sipper cups are "bad" or hinder speech development, but rather the evidence comes from therapists who work daily with young children. The good news is that typically developing children who use a sipper cup will probably not suffer any long terms effects from use.

Tips for using the sipper and moving to straw/open cup:

• Clean cups thoroughly to inhibit bacteria from growing under lid or within spout.

• Do not let children walk around the house toting a sipper cup for long periods.

• At naps and bedtime fill the sipper cup only with water.

• Use the sipper only in the car and use a straw/open cup when seated at meals

• Start teaching straw drinking to your baby around 9-10 months of age

• Practice with juice boxes so that the adult can hold the box and control the amount of liquid that enters the straw by squeezing the box

• Place a block on the straw by using a cork or other material that you hollow out and place on the end of the straw so that a 1/4-1/2" of the straw is available to suck on, which discourages a child from biting on the straw or placing their tongue under the straw.

• Use a "nosey" cup, meaning a small plastic cup with an oval piece cut out of the top on the opposite side so a child can drink without tilting their head backwards.

• Look for non-spill regular lip cups as an alternative to sippers.

This is a great cup for children learning to drink from an open cup 

Example of small nosey open cup 

Spill proof straw cup 

Playtex also makes flip-up spill proof straw cups for travel.

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