Everything these days is a “culture,” an indispensable part of life. So in the “Who Made That?” innovation column in the New York Times, we learn that there is a “sippy cup culture” and that the sippy cup was designed in 1988 by a father, Richard Belanger, also a mechanical engineer, who was tired of cleaning up his children’s spills. Wow! This Grandma knew we did not have sippy cups when I raised my daughters. I do remember that cleaning up spills was a problem. I love sippy cups.
However, Pagan Kennedy, the author, also interviews Sara Keim, an assistant professor of pediatrics at the Ohio State University College of Medicine, who tells us of hazards of sippy cups. These I did not think of:
Every four hours in America, a child is brought into an emergency room for an injury involving a bottle, a pacifier, or a sippy cup. . . Most of the injuries were related to falls. Usually the children end up with lacerations on their faces, suggesting that they were walking or running with the product in their mouths.
It seems fairly clear to us that hard plastic pieces would be the kind of thing that would most likely cause injuries, as opposed to soft plastic cups. Recently, there have been a couple of product recalls of sippy cups that were marketed around holidays like Easter – one had a rabbit’s head that stuck up toward the child’s face.
Kids really should transition away from a sippy cup to a regular cup. . . .
It seems that internet recommendations are to start a baby on a sippy cup at a year and wean them off by age two. Now we get to an issue where this Grandma says to the parents that they should relax about how long children are drinking from sippy cups, other than safety concerns. The grandchildren will not be drinking from a sippy cup at their wedding.
Well, according to the article, maybe they will! There is an adult sippy cup. It is perfect to protect white wedding dresses from red wine spills (this is more common than you think at a wedding) called: Vino2Go Adult Sippy Cup. Click here to buy this product which seems to be highly rated by folks who recommend them for parties.
I guess there really is a “sippy cup culture.” Who knew!
Joy,
Mema
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