The Safe Sippy

Well, we made it through our first week. After exactly one year on maternity leave, I had to return to work this Monday, which meant my little man had to spend the entire week (at least the work hours) without his Momma. We are fortunate enough to have family caring for the boy three days a week; he is attending a daycare just blocks away from my work the other two days. I'm confident this is going to be a good balance for him, giving him lots of time to bond with his family and yet still allowing him to run and play and learn from other children.

I wish there was one amazing item I could review this week, an item that made the transition back to work effortless and seamless. If such an item exists, I didn't find it. I am however going to review an item that both my son and I are very fond of, the Safe Sippy.

The Safe Sippy by Kidbasix is made of stainless steel, which means us Momma's don't have to worry about BPA or any other plastic nasties in our babies water bottles. The bottle has a soft silicone sleeve that can be removed and cleaned, which ensures no mold or other unwanted friends are growing on the bottle; the sleeve also functions to protect the Safe Sippy from all of the drops that the poor bottle will inevitably endure.

The plastic handles are easily removable, which will be great when my little guy gets a little older and no longer wants a BABY water bottle. That being said, at this point we LOVE the handles at my house, my little man can grab and grip them easily and they don't seem to shift when he shakes the bottle. There is a valve in the Safe Sippy which is easily removable for cleaning and although it does minimize messy spills it does occasionally drip, especially during those shaking episodes my son loves.

The spout on the Safe Sippy resembles a straw, but functions like sippy cup. There is research that indicates the use of wide spout sippy cups rather than regular cups can cause physical and speech development problems, however the narrow straw shape apparently helps little developing mouths. The boy can use a straw quite effectively, so I had no concerns that this would be a problem for him, and since the cup needs to tipped like a sippy cup, I wouldn't be too concerned if your little one can't use a straw yet. In fact since he can use a straw I think there is sometimes a little confusion for him, it took him a while to realize he had to tip the bottle.

Since the Safe Sippy is made of stainless steel, it is absolutely heavier than a traditional plastic water bottle and that does pose some difficulties when my little one tries to drink out of the Safe Sippy on his own. I often hear a soft squeaking noise when he tries on his own; the valve squeaks when there is no water moving through the valve, which means I usually need to help him out a little bit, though he does make his way over to the bottle on his own. The angle of the spout adds to this problem as he often lifts the cup (like a straw) and then the bottle can't even be lifted up to get the water into his mouth without rotating the bottle all the way around. Despite these problems, Cole seems to really love his Safe Sippy. He drinks more water than he used to, and he's always on the lookout for his Safe Sippy so he knows where to go to get a drink.

While perusing the Safe Sippy Website I see that they now have a Safe Sippy 2 which includes features such as a cap, a straw and adapter and a travel plug all of which would be great accessories for our family.

The Safe Sippy costs $18.99 at my local Zellers, though apparently you can buy it from the website for $12.95 USD plus shipping. I personally got mine from Green Baby Bargains, so it cost about $13 with shipping. Although I had looked at the Safe Sippy in Zellers many time, $18.99 just seemed a little steep for something I wasn't sure my boy would like. Now that we've been using it for about a month however, I think the bottle is well constructed and worth the price.

I give the Safe Sippy 4/5 - its a great product and although I have a few complaints, they are not all within the control of the company to fix, such as the weight of the bottle (which can't be controlled since its made of stainless steel) and I imagine within another few months the weight of the bottle, the resulting squeaking valve and the straw confusion my son seems to experience will all be a thing of the past as he gets bigger, stronger and more coordinated.