We’re in full-on ‘greening’ mode around here. We have some sort of water problem in our house that we’re trying to solve. It’s not just a little thing either, I’m talking sponge baths for the girls and drinking from filtered pitchers type of problem. After Everly’s 2 trips to the hospital for bronchiolitis (and almost another over the weekend!) we’re pinpointing our water and speicifially her bathroom which always has a strong chlorine odor. We also use this water to fill up her humidifier that we run day and night. It’s scary and exhausting and all 4 of us right now are sick, drained, and ready for things to start looking up. All of the research I’m doing along with just trying to keep the girls well has me looking into some of our day to day life to see where I can ‘green up’ where I can. Sigg sent me some aluminum kids water bottles a few weeks back that we’ve been using. There was something about those plastic sippy cups I never really liked, but I wasn’t sure what else to use. These bottles aren’t for babies, I’d say a year and up or whenever they can hold the bottle and drink from different hard tops and straws. Regardless of what you choose, really look into those ubiquitous plastic sippy cups and consider these reasons that prompted me to make the switch. 1. The tops are exposed: For me this is the biggest problem. On a sippy cup the spouts are raised and exposed which means they bump into and collect every gross germ out there. Sigg’s kids bottles have flip tops that cover the water spout, look for something that does the same to keep the area where your child’s mouth goes as clean as possible. 2. Hard to clean: The surface of the plastic is porrus so they stain easily. Also the chamber leading up to the spout is so narrow that it’s hard to scrub especially after smoothies or juice.
3. BPA-Free doesn’t mean safe: Most plastics made for children’s products are now BPA-free which I thought meant safe until I started reading how there really isn’t such a thing as a safe plastic (good read HERE.) When it comes to something they’re consuming and putting in their mouths daily, it might not be worth the risk. 4. Small: Sippy cups are tiny so we’re constantly filling them up which is hard when we’re out.
The only drawback was the lack of handle, so I’ll probably buy one of these to convert it to something easier for Everly (16 mos) to hold, but for Harper (2) it’s fine.