I recently received an
EIO Kids Cup for my 2 year old daughter to try out. And I have to say, it is absolutely AMAZING!!!! Hands down the best cup I have ever used for this age group (the cup is recommended for 18mth to 5yrs). Through the power of the written word, I will endeavor to describe this miraculous, awe inspiring cup to you.
Wait for it, wait for it... {insert drum rolllllllllllllllllllllllll}... It's a glass canning jar, with a silicone sleeve, and a plastic (BPA free) screw on cap. "That's it?", you say and scratch your head. "Yep, that's it", I reply with a knowing grin.
So why am I making such a big fuss about this very simple cup? Well it's the simplicity of this cup that makes it pure genius. First of all, it's glass. Yes, glass. As in that substance created from heating sand and other natural minerals together. The stuff that has been around for thousands of years. The stuff that does not leach BPAs, into your child's milk or juice. That glass. And that glass comes in the form of USA-made canning jars. You know, those super-cheap jars you can find just about anywhere and probably have some in your house already.
Now this is not the first glass kids cups we have tried. The particular ones we had previously also had a silicone sleeve, but the glass was much thinner and we had 2 break within a month. As I'm sure you know, broken glass on the floor with little kids and their bare feet is scary! Besides being thin, the shape of this "other cup" was strangely tall and thin, making it impossible to find a replacement glass (I do believe the manufacturer sold replacement glass cups, but after spending a fair amount of money plus shipping costs, I really didn't want sink more money into these cups). With the
EIO Kids Cup, even if the glass breaks, you can easily replace it with a low-cost canning jar which you might even already have. That being said, I don't think breaking is something you will have to worry about. The glass of the canning jar is thick and the protective silicone sleeve very generously envelopes the majority of the glass. My daughter has actually dropped the cup several times now (twice in one day - oy vey, that was a crazy day!) and not even a crack. Score for simple materials!
However, I think the true beauty is that it transitions with your child. Once they have taught themselves to properly sip from the cup, you just remove the trainer portion (cap) and voila - a regular, big kid cup. And speaking of the cap - it is simply wonderful too! It easily screws on to any 8 oz. canning jar which makes my life so much easier. We have a no juice after lunch rule, so if my daughter hasn't finished the juice in her cup and it's after lunch, I just move the cap to another canning jar filled with milk or water and she's back in business! The remainder of the juice goes back in the fridge for the next day. Most impressively though, is that the EIO cup's cap is so very easy to clean. There is no spout, or straw, or anything that can harbor mold. And don't pretend you don't know what I'm talking about! I remember the first time I noticed there was mold in my daughter's old sippy cup. I was absolutely appalled! I ran the lid and spout through the dishwasher twice on super high heat, and scrubbed the dickens out of it, but I still didn't feel like it was completely clean. Gross! With the EIO Cup, there are no crazy crevices and thus nothing can hide. Major score for reducing the need for a multitude of cups and keeping things clean and healthy!
And lastly, this was not something that I was aware of, but prolonged use of "traditional" sippy cups (those with spouts), can cause speech and dental problems. Who wants to inflict that on their child? Score for smart design to promote healthy development!
The only down-side is that the cup is not spill-proof . The EIO website considers it "spill-resistant" and on their
Frequently Asked Questions page, responds that "Neither is a plate, but we teach our children to use it. EIO encourages healthy habits and seeks to teach children mealtime skills". True! The first time my daughter drank from the cup, she did douse herself, but ever since then, it's been smooth sailing.
I also love that these cups were created by an inventive mama who had had enough with messy, plastic sippy cups. She wanted to create a simple, healthy, convenient and economical cup for toddlers. I think she succeeded. What do you think? Is this a product you would like LSF to carry? If so, let me know!
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Post-script:
I wrote this a while ago but have held-off posting because my daughter suddenly refused to drink out of the cup. I of course didn't want to post about something that I could no longer say was working for us and was ready to scrap the whole article. As it turns out, my silly little two-year old just didn't want to use the top anymore! She wanted to drink like a "big kid", with just the jar and silicone sleeve. In essence, she had taught herself to drink! While I am not completely at ease with her using a lid-less cup yet, I am so happy that the EIO cup gave her the confidence to drink like a big kid. Hats off to EIO cups! Or should I say lids off?
