Product Review: Nuby Sport Sipper

Since we’re trying to encourage The Boy to drink his formula milk from a beaker instead of a bottle (without much success so far!) I thought we’d give the Nuby Sport Sipper a try to see whether it would help to bridge the gap from bottle to beaker.

RRP £2.69

What They Say:

Step 2: Silicone Training Straw

9 Months +

10 oz / 300 ml

1 Pack

For initial straw drinking

Touch Flo TM Technology which activates as soon as your child puts the spout into their mouth

Soft silicone training straw eases the transition from spout to straw drinking

Encourages natural drinking action and oral development

Sport sipper straw

BPA Free

What I say: I love the shape of this product – specially designed for little hands to hold easily, with two rubbery grips on either side so it doesn’t slip as easily as a plain bottle/beaker might. It doesn’t look like it will hold much, but it takes a massive 10 ounces, which is plenty big enough for his formula feeds. Unfortunately it doesn’t have markings on the side like a bottle does, so I made up the formula in a regular bottle and transferred it into the Sport Sipper. As well as putting one formula feed into the Sport Sipper, I put one in his blue Tommee Tippee beaker (no handles, standard shape, hard beaker spout, he’s always refused formula milk from it but he’ll drink water from it) and one feed in a regular bottle, as he’s used to. I lined them up in the kitchen together. I went to the front room and asked The Boy if he was sleepy as he was lying on his tummy in the play pen with his head on his hands, and we soon established that he was sleepy and wanted some milk & a nap. I took him into the kitchen and stood in front of the three containers of formula. I asked him which one he wanted. Now bearing in mind he’s always had his formula feed from a standard bottle before, and the only time I’ve tried it from a beaker he threw a hissy fit, he straight away smiled and grabbed the lime green Sport Sipper bottle.

I took him upstairs and we went through our usual routine of changing his nappy, pulling the curtains so his room wasn’t too bright, and the two of us settled into the chair for the feed. To begin with, he took it well, and we got about a third of the way through the feed before we had problems. The Boy is a creature of habit already, and it seems while he was hungry enough not to worry about the first bit coming from something different, after that initial success he stopped feeding and wanted to play with the spout instead of drinking from it. His little fingers went down the spout, releasing the valve, causing quite a lot of milk to be spilled around his face and onto the bib, which he thought was hilarious, but I wasn’t quite as entertained by it! I cleaned him up and tried again – this time he grabbed it and held it himself to take a few mouthfuls. Unfortunately again after a moment he stopped drinking and started playing with the top, flicking it and laughing at the noises it made, chewing on it and waving it around. Eventually I grew bored of his game and we were wasting time as well as formula, so I switched to a standard bottle to finish the feed & put him into the cot to nap.

I don’t want to be too disappointed, because I know that The Boy does like the comfort of his bottle, and perhaps I had high expectations that he would immediately swap over to using the Sport Sipper without any fuss, and to be fair despite the messing around he did, he had drunk about half his feed from it which is good for a first time. Added to this the fact that he was happily holding it himself I think this should be viewed as a successful first try of the Sport Sipper.

I’ve washed it up, and I’m going to put water in it so that he can drink from it throughout the course of this afternoon to see whether that helps get him more used to the idea, then if he does seem happier with it by this evening I can put his formula feed in it for him to have before bedtime.

I give the Sport Sipper four out of five, because I think the addition of the measuring markers down the side would be a brilliant idea as I had to make up the feed in a standard bottle and transfer it, which meant more washing up than necessary!