Anyway up cups leaking - how do you use them?

[LizC]

I'm trying to switch my dd onto anyway up cups, but when I tried them this afternoon (I've got 2) they both leaked. Not from the spout, the valve obviously worked, but from the top - seemed to be leaking at the point of the end of the screw thread and both cups I've got did it (I think one is a 4 month and one a 6 month cup, but both same colour and can't tell the difference). I bought them ages ago (dd wouldn't suck strongly enough at the time) and I've thrown away the instructions (stupid, I know). Everyone says these cups are wonderful, so I can't believe both of mine leak and I wonder if I'm doing something wrong? I seem to remember something about priming them by pressing the top - do you do that to make it easier to drink from or the reverse and does this stop it leaking? Any advice would be great.

Message withdrawn

All child cups are designed to send you to the funny farm. IMO. I think ours is an anyway up cup and dd uses it because she can suck stuff out but yes it leaks too. If anyone knows of a cup which doesn't leak and doesn't need a vacuum cleaner to suck the liquid out do tell us.

We used the Anyway up Cup with DS1 and yes it leaked, we did the priming thing but I don't know whether that helped with the leaks or not. This time for DS2 we have the Avent Magic Cup and surprise, surprise it leaks too! I also have one of those Tommee Tippee cups that are approved by the BDA but DS2 can't drink from it.

Very much agree with Elf, they are designed to send you to the funny farm.

I've used Anyway Ups for years. When dd was a babe (6 years ago) they had screw on lids and the newer ones are snap on. If you put a warm drink in them, the pressure created will cause some liquid to escape at first. Priming by using the button on top will help. IME, they don't leak if turned upside down or left lying on their sides but do leak in your bag or on the floor of the car (in motion, in other words). They do need a strong suck though. Not much good for young babies. They get easier with use. Great invention IMHO.

Ours often leak, I thought it was our fault for forgetting and sticking them in the dishwasher. we bought some great ones in the states, made by playtex. easier to suck and dont leak plus screw on lids. Only fiddly bit is a little plastic valve bit that fits in the lid- too easy to lose in the washing up!

We tried a couple of these and I could never stop them leaking. DH and me even sat down with the instructiosn together to try and figure it out - didn't manage it then either. Gave up in the end! Besides you had to suck to hard to get anything out.

We use a Doidy cup instead - no lid, no spout. At 13 months Dd can use it really well with very little spilling. She also uses normal cups and glasses too now she can manage the Doidy on her own.

Thanks for all the input - rather depressing though, obviously all cups do leak! Having said that priming by pressing the lid did seem to stop it I think - but what is the priming supposed to do? Are you supposed to prime the cup before they drink from it or does priming make it more difficult to drink from ? I'm certainly confused! Also, my cups do have screw on lids rather than press on, although I did buy them in the last few months.

I found that with the snap on lids you had to press the button in at the top whilst sucking any spare air out of the spout. It did the trick every time. Obviously then had to wipe the spout when they were quite little. DON'T ever take them on a plane - the presure made the top pop off one of mine and spilled chocolate milk all over the floor (where ds had dropped it)!!

I despise Anywayupcups. Particularly the snap on lids which I snapped onto the one cup we had and never managed to snap the s***g thing off again

I love Avent Magic cups. Mine generally don't leak and if they do, just removing putting the spout back together again usually sorts it out. They are, obviousy, still tough to suck through though.

I agree with Edgarcat about children learning that drinks spill and they need to be careful but DS2 enjoyed shaking his drink drop by drop all over whatever he was sitting on. He thought it was a great game and the only way I could stop him was with a Magic Cup.

Miggy - we've got one of those Playtex cups too. Somewhere, we also have the little plastic valve and somewhere else, we have the lid

Are you not supposed to put them in the dishwasher? Whoops!! We are using Magic cups at the moment and having got so many of them I'll probably stick with them for her milk, but wanted to swap to anyway up cups for her water as she loves to shake the water out of the spouts of the magic cups. The magic cups don't leak if you just hold them upside down but they do if you shake them as dd loves to do to get drops of water all over whatever it is she's decided to get wet! I'll try pressing the top and seeing if that does help. Thanks again for the tips - liked the one about planes Lara2!

Piece of advice if new to Anyway up cups: When washing them up, do not fill with hot soapy water, put on lid and shake - lid will explode off, hot soapy water everywhere!!! I speak from experience ...

I found that DD (9months old)did not have enough strength to suck her drink from an Anywayup Cup. I now buy bottles of water with sports caps and fill them with juice when empty. Shje loves this as she doesn;t need the same suction to get anything out.