My daughter Niamh is fourteen months old and has, until recently, treated every training cup I've offered her as an object of mild suspicion. She would examine them. She would occasionally chew the spout. She would not drink from them in any consistent or useful way.
I'd been through three different cups by the time I found the Mamajoo. The first had a hard spout she didn't like. The second leaked — not catastrophically, but enough that every bag I put it in ended up damp. The third she simply refused, for reasons she declined to explain. I was starting to wonder if independent drinking was something that happened to other people's children.
Why This Transition Matters
At fourteen months, the move from bottle to cup is something health visitors and paediatricians consistently recommend. It's better for dental development, it encourages independent drinking, and it's a step towards the kind of self-sufficiency that makes mealtimes significantly easier for everyone involved. I understood all of this. Niamh was not interested in the reasoning.
What I needed was a cup that met her where she was — something with a soft straw rather than a hard spout, something she could grip herself, something that rewarded her attempts to drink from it rather than frustrating them with a flow that was too fast or too slow.
Why I Chose the Mamajoo
The Mamajoo Non-Spill Training Cup addressed every issue I'd had with the previous three cups. The soft, transparent silicone straw was the first thing that caught my attention — Niamh had consistently rejected hard spouts, and a soft straw is closer to what she was used to from bottles. The flow control — liquid only flows when the child sucks, at a pace controlled by the child — meant she wouldn't be overwhelmed by a sudden rush of liquid when she figured out how to use it.
The non-spill, leak-proof design was non-negotiable after the second cup. The Mamajoo is leak-proof even when tipped over, which with a fourteen-month-old is not a hypothetical scenario but a certainty. The anti-colic valve system reduces air intake, which matters for a child who was prone to wind after feeds.
The ergonomic shape and broad base were the practical details that completed the picture. Niamh is still developing her grip and her coordination. A cup she can hold herself, that doesn't tip over when she puts it down, is a cup she can use independently. That's the whole point.
BPA-free, phthalate-free, food-grade materials, dishwasher safe and suitable for sterilising. Everything I needed to know about safety and maintenance, covered.
The First Time She Used It
I put the Mamajoo on her highchair tray at lunchtime with some water in it. She picked it up — the ergonomic shape clearly helped, she got a proper grip on it immediately. She looked at the straw. She put it in her mouth. She sucked. Water came out at a pace she could manage. She looked surprised, then pleased, then did it again.
She drank about 60ml of water at lunch. That was more than she'd drunk from any cup in the previous two months combined. I tried not to make a big deal of it, which was difficult because I wanted to celebrate quite enthusiastically.
Six Weeks On
Niamh now drinks from the Mamajoo at every meal and between meals when she's thirsty. She picks it up herself, drinks what she needs, and puts it back down. The broad base means it stays upright when she puts it on the tray. When she inevitably knocks it over — which happens regularly — nothing spills. The non-spill design has been tested comprehensively and has not failed once.
The cup goes in the dishwasher after every use. Six weeks of daily dishwasher cycles and it looks the same as it did when it arrived. The silicone straw is intact, the valve is functioning, the green colour hasn't faded. It's a well-made product that's holding up to the kind of daily use that reveals the difference between good and cheap.
What It's Changed
Mealtimes are easier. Not dramatically — Niamh still has strong opinions about what she will and won't eat, and those opinions change daily — but the drinking part is no longer something I have to manage. She does it herself. That's one less thing to think about, one less intervention required, one more step towards the independence that makes parenting a toddler progressively more manageable.
I've also stopped carrying a damp bag. That's a quality of life improvement I hadn't fully anticipated but am genuinely grateful for.
My Verdict
If your toddler is resisting training cups, the problem is probably the cup rather than the child. The Mamajoo Non-Spill Training Cup gets the details right: soft silicone straw, child-controlled flow, ergonomic grip, non-spill design, BPA-free materials, dishwasher safe. It's the cup that finally worked for Niamh after three that didn't, and it's held up to six weeks of daily use without any issues.
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Saoirse Hennessy is a solicitor on maternity leave based in Cork. She is fourteen months into parenthood, has strong opinions about training cups, and is no longer carrying a damp bag.
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