When GG was little I used mostly glass bottles
with her. I didn’t trust plastic. As she got older and a little more mobile I did use some plastic, but that was because there weren’t a lot of options. Once she started drinking from a cup we used the small cups that came with our Corelle dishes. They were six ounce cups and the perfect size, but I don’t see that you can buy them that small anymore. The girls still use those cups, even though we don’t have that set of dishes anymore.
But, back to sippy cups and bottles. Some of the manufacturers that make the stainless steel water bottles have added a sippy top to their other available tops. Kleen Kanteen actually had the best idea, as their bottles fit all of the Avent tops, which means you can even put a bottle top on them (but they aren’t designed for hot liquids, so you can’t use them for formula). That means you can use them for water or juice for an infant when out and about, though. Or as a sippy cup for an older infant or a toddler when out and about.
My girls currently use stainless bottles with sport tops, and I prefer the double wall bottles,
as there is no condensation, the water stays colder longer, and your hands don’t get cold holding them. But TT is still using a single wall, the last one pictured below on the far right, actually. Both schools allow kids to bring water bottles to school, and to keep them on their desk to drink from throughout the day. So the girls take these to school with them every day. Most kids take those plastic sport bottles, but I don’t trust them, not even the ones that claim to be safe now. After all, we were told the ones on the market five and ten years ago were safe, too. I didn’t trust them then, don’t trust them now.
As I noted above, I used glass bottles for formula. I would continue to do that now if I had an infant, but would use the stainless with an Avent bottle top for water once she started transitioning to food. If you are going to use a sippy, then once the child is old enough for a sippy then you’d switch out the bottle top for a sippy top. In our case, we used regular cups (no sippies) at mealtimes once the girls were no longer using a bottle, and used the Corelle cups to cut down on the risk of breakage. We used sport bottle tops and travel mugs
when out and about, but if you prefer sippy tops they are certainly available. Little bitty kids are capable of drinking from a regular cup a lot sooner than most people think they are. Sure, there will be some spills, but if you start with water, and only put a few ounces in at a time, it’s not that big of a deal.
And, of course, in China we used the Playtex Drop-Ins system
. It was only for a couple of weeks, and there is really too much going on to have to worry about washing bottles.
I should mention that GG had a Hannah Montana stainless water bottle
last year, but it literally fell apart in less than two months. The plastic bottom came off first, but it was still usable (the bottom was just cosmetic). But then the top just kind of fell apart and it was no longer usable. Very disappointing.
Below are links to the items shown or mentioned above. Kleen Kanteen and Eco Vessel do not have leakage problems. The Thermos one is double walled and has handles, but there are reports that it leaks after not too many uses.
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(what I use, mine is silver)
July 26th, 2009 at 3:32 pm
Oh yes, we LOVE our stainless Klean Kanteens! One of THE best purchases we’ve ever made.
We didn’t use bottles much, as our current children are bio and were breastfed, but we used the Klean Kanteens exclusively as sippy cups until they were around 2, then switched to the sport top.
I have a Sigg water bottle and its ok, but I like the wider top of the Klean Kanteens. I followed the link to the Eco Vessel’s too, I like those as well.
Our Klean Kanteens are 5 and 3yrs old, respectively, and both are still in wonderful condition and still going strong. I highly recommend them!
July 26th, 2009 at 6:14 pm
Yes, we too love our Klean Kanteens and our three kiddos take them to school.
Tip for the stainless bottles…When the bottom gets a little “denty” and the bottle no longer sits nice and flat, we take a hammer to the bottoms and flatten them out again – works like a charm!
Ziggy
LID June 6, 2006 (Hey remember when we didn’t have to put the year??? Ugh!)
July 26th, 2009 at 7:33 pm
Do the Klean Kanteens have thermal properties? If I left one in a hot car, would it keep my drink cool?
July 26th, 2009 at 7:41 pm
Just love these recommendations, thanks RQ.
We tried Sigg bottles and ended up discarding them because my daughter tended to chew to tops and given it is hard plastic thought it was not worth the damage on her teeth.
Many of these recommended bottles don’t seem to have photos of the tops. Which ones are more tooth friendly?
July 26th, 2009 at 10:37 pm
# Jess Says:
July 26th, 2009 at 7:33 pm
Do the Klean Kanteens have thermal properties? If I left one in a hot car, would it keep my drink cool?
**No.. if you leave them in a hot car, the drink will get warm. They are still great though, and you can get some neoprene covers for them that keep the drink insulated and cool. They work great.
July 27th, 2009 at 6:19 am
The Avent spouts are a rubber material and my kids have all chewed on them with no problem.
July 27th, 2009 at 7:05 am
As an adult, I’ve been using the Sigg for years now and love it. I dropped my first one which dented around the top so it didn’t seal well. Since then, I replaced it and bought the neoprane zip jacket and the thermos pouch/cover. I bring two Siggs to work each day. Both covers keep the water insulated and cool. I like the thermos cover better.
My almost seven year old has a child’s Sigg and loves it. She’s been using it for a couple of years. It has the kid cap (not sippy or baby). As for my two year old, I’m thinking about the Klean Canteen with the sippy for home and when we’re out as a family. I’m not sure if I would trust the daycare not to drop it when their dealing with a group of children.
July 27th, 2009 at 7:10 am
The double walled Eco Vessel’s do have thermal properties, but none of the single walled bottles are thermal, to my knowledge.
For a kid who can’t be taught to not chew on bottle tops, I’m not sure any bottle or sippy is going to be safe, no matter what it is or isn’t made of. With that being said, since you can use the Avent tops with the Kleen Kanteen, that might be the best way to go, as you can keep replacing them over and over if need be.
July 27th, 2009 at 10:13 am
At our house we use plastic sippie cups and I will assume that we will use the plastic bottles (depending on our daughter’s age). With my bio girls, they didn’t take a bottle, so we never discussed it, but at 5 and 2 they still use their Playtex sippie cups every day.
July 27th, 2009 at 1:21 pm
manxdjm mentioned the sigg
Be aware that if you are trying to avoid all plastic that the Sigg bottle has a plastic liner inside.
The bottle is aluminum and to prevent the aluminum leaching in the water there is a bottle liner.
Sigg does not disclose the makeup of the liner but states that it is “FDA approved” and BPA free
http://www.mysigg.com/images/assets/SIGG_bottle_liner.pdf
July 27th, 2009 at 4:10 pm
Two non-plastic options that worked for us were shot glasses and expresso cups.
When we were teaching my two to drink from a regular glass, the shot glasses were perfect for small hands, had less to spill and were hard to break.
Even at ages 7 & 5, they still love to have hot chocolate in the expresso cups.
July 27th, 2009 at 8:08 pm
I started to pay attention to plastic warnings quite awhile ago. I feel strongly that plastic has played a big part with medical issues of young children. I haven’t given up on plastic 100%; but am very careful that I hand wash all plastic sippy cups that my children drink or have drank out in the past. I use mild detergent and nothing that would scratch the surface. If my child is a chewer (baby #1), the lid was tossed immediately. Most of the dangers from plastic is (1) whether they are used how intended and (2) how they are cared for by the user or the washer. Dishwashers may have too hot of water. Scrubbing brushes my scratch the surface allowing for leaching of chemicals. Harsh detergents can break down the plastic. My Sigg has never been in a dishwasher and has only had the Sigg brush used on it when necessary. I only put water in my Sigg and no other beverage (although they say it won’t take on flavors of juices or teas). I would do the same with any of the containers that were listed in this RQ topic.
I notice a lot of people using plastic the wrong way. Reheating food in fast food containers and using an old bottled water container for numerous uses via fountain water. Most of the plastics used in packaging are to be used only once and then disposed or recycled. I am amazed on how little people know of the dangers of plastics that are misused.
July 28th, 2009 at 8:43 am
First-time parent here – about to pick up our 23 month old DD in 2 weeks! I have been advised to bring 8 oz bottles for her so I’m looking at that with the drop-in liners for China only (I have Avent ones for home if we need them). Can I then get away with bringing just ONE bottle or should I have more? We don’t even know if she still drinks from a bottle and the suitcases are getting filled up – would love to only bring one if I can do that with the liners.
Is Playtex the only one making the dropins? I don’t think I can find them for the Avent bottles that I already bought.
Any advice appreciated!
July 28th, 2009 at 9:59 am
espirer – Avent makes bottles with drop-in liners. We used this for our first daughter only for travelling in China. We used an traditional Avent bottle w/o liners for our second daughter during our Dec. 2007 trip. I prefer no liners. I supposed you could get away with a single bottle and two nipple caps. If you have to make a top bigger for the formula/rice combo, you will need a regular sized nipple opening for water, juice, milk, and formula w/o rice cereal.
July 28th, 2009 at 11:07 am
We used one 8 oz bottle and one 4 oz bottle with the drop in liners, that was sufficient for our 9 month old on the adoption trip. It gave us the ability to have more than one bottle for an extended outing. One for formula, one for plain water, which could have formula added if needed.
July 28th, 2009 at 11:26 am
One 4 ounce and one 8 ounce should be fine, I carried two 8 ounce bottles though, because I was paranoid one would break, or that we’d leave it in a restaurant somewhere and be lost without it. If you pack things inside the bottles, they don’t take up any room. Clean baby socks or even a little rolled up onesie will fit nicely into a bottle.
But, you need a lot of nipples. Different styles of nipples (some babies are picky) and several of each style so you can make the hole big and then gradually cut them a little bit smaller every second or third day.