Stainless Steel Alternatives to Plastic Sippy Cups and Bottles

Update: Since this post was published, ZRecs has published reviews of seven Bisphenol-A-free toddler cups. Read the reviews here.

With the recent news about plastics in Nalgene water bottles, sippy cups and other baby bottles leaching Bisphenol-A (BPA) into drinking water is a significant hazard, I've been doing a lot of research to find the best affordable sippy cups and water bottles to wean our family from its reliance on plastic bottles.

The Klean Kanteen is the best-looking stainless steel sippy cup I've found. One of the things that I like about it is that once Z outgrows the sippy cup phase, we can just buy a sports lid or a loop top lid and she can keep using the same bottle. The only negative thing I've read about the Klean Kanteen is that there isn't a lot of insulation so our plan is to buy a Built NY insulated sleeve which will also protect the Klean Kanteen from dents by toddlers' dropsy hands. Make sure to use the link above if you want to check out the Klean Kanteen on Amazon - for some reason, their search doesn't turn it up!

The SIGG Aluminum Baby Bottle has toddler eye appeal, but I've heard from several owners of SIGG bottles that the baked on enamel just can't hold up to the dropping and throwing that toddlers can dish out.

New to the race is Thermos's Foogo line of stainless steel sippy cups (with or without handle), bottles with straws and food jars. The main difference between the Foogo and the other two is that the Foogo is insulated. Don't get us started on that.

We had a (plastic) sippy cup with a retractable straw once and it never really seemed like a great idea - how on earth are you supposed to clean out the straw?

Thermos' food jar looks nice but if you step away from the baby aisle and into the sports department, you can get a Thermos brand stainless steel food jar for $4 cheaper - identical except for the trim, which is black instead of blue, and currently selling on Amazon.com for $14 compared with the baby's $18 doppelganger. (Here's a link to Thermos Funtainers on Amazon - thanks, Jim and Adrienne!)

Thermos' sippy cups seem nice enough, but they are confined to forever being sippy cups - and when you're dealing with stainless steel, that's a pretty long-lasting sippy cup. It's more our style to spend the money once on a container for Z and just have to buy a lid or two to transition from sippy cup to water bottle like Mom and Dad's.

And speaking of plastic alternatives, if you're concerned about the BPA in your baby's bottle, try Born Free baby bottles. Born Free also makes a drinking cup which is a slightly cheaper alternative to the stainless steel and aluminum sippy cups mentioned above.