Pros: BPA and phthalate free, spill proof, handles are attached to lid so no need to align with spout.
Cons: Hard to get any liquid out with valve in place, SB mainly just chewed on the soft spout instead of drinking from the cup, no measurement lines on the side.
The Playtex First Sipster Sippy Cup was the first sippy cup I purchased for SB. I got it when he was about 7 months old. It has a rounded, tapered spout that was supposedly designed for an "easy transition from a bottle to a cup." But for SB, it was anything but easy.
I chose this cup from the many options out there, because it is both BPA free and phthalate free and I liked the fact that the handles were attached to the cup. That means you don't need to take care to align the spout in between the handles, which is a handy feature. Also, I had read reviews that said that it is one of the few sippy cups that is truly spill proof. I tested that out, and it really delivered on the promise. You can turn it upside down, shake it around, and turn it on its side, and not a drop will leak out.
Unfortunately, that also means that it takes a lot of effort to get any liquid out of it. From the first time SB tried this cup, he had trouble drinking from it. He would suck on the spout, but I could see that very little would come out, and he seemed to find it frustrating. When I would try to get him to try to drink more, he would turn his head away (I tried with everything from water to juice to breastmilk). I actually tested it out myself to see how hard it is to get liquid out, and it was pretty darn hard, even for me! Eventually, SB just started to treat the spout as a teething toy. Instead of trying to suck, he would just gnaw on the spout. I think he figured he might as well get some use out of it. I didn't let SB gnaw on it too much, though, because I had read reviews that said pieces of the spout broke off after prolonged gnawing. The spout is made of a semi-soft rubbery material called thermoplastic elastomer or TPE (I looked that up on the web, and it is usually a combo of rubber and plastic). It is firmer than a silicone spout but softer than a plastic one, making it the perfect "teether" in SB's eyes.
I gave the First Sipster about a month to see if SB would take to it, but he never did. I've tried out other sippy cups on SB since then, and he has fared much better with them. I ended up getting ones with a hard plastic spout, so he wouldn't mistake the spout for a teether again, and that has worked much better. Also, he does seem to prefer a fast flow, so I ended up taking out the valves. That has worked much better, as well. He now drinks from sippy cups like a pro.
You're probably wondering why I never tried taking out the valve from the First Sipster to see if SB would take to it then. The reason is that the First Sipster has slightly bigger sip holes than most other sippy cups I've seen, and I was concerned that the flow would be too fast without the valve in place. But I did recently decide to give it one last chance to see whether it would work well without the valve in, but the liquid came out so fast for SB that he started gulping like crazy and ended up in a coughing fit. That sealed the deal for me. No more First Sipster for SB.
One other negative about the First Sipster is that it doesn't show measurements on the side. It is a 7-oz. cup, so you can estimate how much you put in the cup, but it's hard to tell how much liquid has been consumed without measurement lines, and I, for one, like to keep track of liquid intake.
Overall, the First Sipster gets points for being spill proof and its convenient lid/handle construction, but the bottom line is that SB never found it easy to drink from. I've read plenty of reviews that state that their child took to it pretty easily, while some others state that their child had trouble with it, so it seems to be a case by case thing. I personally think that sippy cups shouldn't be so difficult to use, especially ones that are supposed to be a trainer cup, but that's just me.
Retail price: $4.00-$5.00
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