The Quest for the Ultimate Toddler Bottle

Since Gavin was a baby, he has never liked bottles – milk bottles, that is.  He started drinking from cups before he even learned how to use a sippy cup.  Nevertheless, the convenience of having spill-proof bottles and cups so I can offer him fluids without having to keep a close eye on him has led me on the hunt for the ultimate toddler drink bottle.

The first bottle we ever started with was the Avent Sippy Cup:

It was pretty handy but not exactly “spill-proof”.  Initially, Gavin would have a huge wet patch on his shirt front from drinking water out of this bottle.  After a while, when he got the hang of it, it was a little better.  Then he developed a bad habit of tipping the bottle upside-down and tapping it on the table – which clearly it wasn’t designed to do because water would leak out.

My main problem with the Avent bottle was that whenever I left Gavin on his own to sip fruit juice from this bottle, I would find little droplets of fruit juice around the house.  Thus, I continued my search for another bottle that would truly be “spill proof” and I found this:

Manufactured by Munchkin, I bought it from Jusco for about RM20.  Incidentally, it might be worth me pointing out that this cup can only take cold or room temperature liquids.  I had to retire it when Gavin had gnawed the straw until it was peeling.  Unfortunately, I didn’t see any replacement straws available, so I bought this cup instead:

I found it in Anakku, also for about RM20, but I’m afraid I don’t remember who the manufacturer was.  My biggest gripe with this bottle was that you can’t serve orange juice with pulp in it because the pulp gets trapped in the straw which makes it difficult to drink and to clean.

After hearing about Bisphenol-A in plastics, I bought Gavin a Kleen Kanteen stainless steel bottle (incidentally, Avent sippy spout has the all clear from bisphenol-A):

We dented the bottle by dropping it so I bought another one with a sports spout – after discovering that Gavin was quite adept at using the sports spout (although it should be noted that dented stainless steel bottles are still fine to use):

Then when I was in Australia, I discovered that Gavin would drink any fluid from a cup or container with a picture of Thomas on it, so I bought him these “take-and-throw” Thomas cups:

I wanted a permanent bottle but couldn’t find one, except this one which I discovered in the Puffing Billy souvenir shop (this plastic is also bisphenol-A-free):

Because it is difficult to clean the inside of this bottle, I only use it for holding water.  For a while there, it seemed like I was stuck with the Take-and-Throw Thomas cups which had to be replace quite often because Gavin would bite the spout which caused the plastic to flake off after a while.  Unfortunately, the Take-and-Throw Thomas cups come at a rather pricey RM21.90 for two at Parkson:

Aside from the price, I didn’t think it was environmentally friendly to be using disposable plastic cups at home.  I thought all my problems were solved when I spotted this bottle at Mom’s Care in 1Utama:

Manufactured by The First Years, it costs RM20.  The cup design is pretty similar to the straw cup on the left with one major flaw – it leaks.  It’s not just a few drops either.  I took the bottle out and Gavin tipped it upside-down by accident and spilt Milo down the entire front of his shirt.  Thankfully, I had a spare shirt in the bag, but I never took this bottle out again.  The leak is due to the seal inside coming undone on its own.  I don’t know why but after carrying the bottle around for a little while, the seal works itself loose.  Even if everything is properly in place, the straw will leak fluid on its own if you tip the bottle upside-down.

Now I only use it at home, but even then I still have to keep an eye on Gavin in case he drops the bottle or tries to turn it upside-down.

Conclusion: I have yet to find the ultimate toddler bottle, although the Munchkin bottle comes pretty close (missing out on the ultimate bottle title because they don’t have a Thomas design).  But it IS PVC- and BPA-free so maybe I should get a new one or start looking for replacement straws.