Why we created Big Sipper

Learning to drink independently is another one of those skills adults make look deceptively simple.

Pick up the cup. Bring it to your mouth. Tip it just enough. Take a sip. Bring it upright. Put it back down.

For a baby or toddler, every part of that sequence needs to be learned.

That’s why we created Big Sipper™ — an open cup designed to give little drinkers useful stability while they practise, without taking away the challenge that helps their skills develop.

And importantly, your child doesn’t need to be an experienced open-cup drinker to use it.

Big Sipper™ can support babies and toddlers beginning open-cup practice as well as children progressing from a smaller first cup such as Bibado Sippit™.

Why practise drinking from an open cup?

An open cup gives children the opportunity to control the whole drinking process themselves. But it’s not only their hands that are learning.

Open-cup drinking also asks the lips, tongue, jaw and cheeks to work together to take in and control liquid, helping strengthen and refine the oral-motor skills used for eating and drinking. Unlike bottles and many valved sippy cups, which rely more heavily on a sucking action, an open cup encourages children to develop a more mature sipping action. These skills continue to develop well beyond those very first sips, making open-cup practice just as valuable as babies grow into toddlers.

At the same time, they’re learning to grasp the cup, judge where it is in relation to their mouth, coordinate the lift and work out how the amount they tip affects the amount they drink.

Then they need to reverse the whole process and put it back down again.

That’s a lot of learning from one sip.

And, as with eating, those skills develop through repetition. Small opportunities to practise add up.

The cup changes when you lift it

One of the challenges with drinking is that the cup behaves differently throughout the movement.

Sitting on the table, it’s stable. Lift it and the centre of gravity changes.

Tip it towards the mouth, and it changes again.

Then your little one has to reverse the movement, bring it back down and somehow place it onto the table without sending it flying.

For inexperienced hands, even the final part can be tricky.

That’s where the removable SteadySip™ base comes in.

A little wobble can be a useful thing

Big Sipper’s SteadySip™ base gives the cup a wider, more forgiving footprint.

Put the cup back down a little off-centre and the base helps it recover rather than immediately toppling.

It’s deliberately not designed to remove every wobble or every challenge.

Because the goal isn’t to make independent drinking something your child can’t get wrong.

The goal is to give them enough support to keep practising it.

They still have to lift. Tip. Sip. Control. Return.

We’ve just given them a slightly more forgiving landing.

Familiar success builds confidence

There’s a really important principle behind Big Sipper™.

When a child has already started learning a skill, the next stage shouldn’t suddenly make them feel like a complete beginner again.

That’s why we wanted to create progression rather than simply hand them a bigger standard cup and expect them to work everything out from scratch.

Big Sipper™ offers a 125ml capacity, an easy-to-hold shape and anti-slip ridges for little hands, while SteadySip adds support at the base.

If your child is moving on from Sippit™, the core skill remains familiar: real open-cup drinking.

If Big Sipper™ is their first open cup, the same design features can give them useful support as they begin working out the movement.

Either way, success can build on success.

When should you remove the SteadySip™ base?

When you feel your child no longer needs it. There’s no test and no need to rush.

Keep the SteadySip™ base attached while the extra stability is useful. As your little one becomes more controlled and confident at lifting and replacing the cup, simply remove it.

Big Sipper™ then becomes a straightforward open cup.

The support reduces as the skill increases.

Which is exactly how we think good developmental products should work.

Drinking is learning too

At Bibado, we talk a lot about what babies learn while they eat. Drinking deserves its place in that conversation.

Open-cup practice brings together grip, hand-eye coordination, controlled arm movement and the gradual ability to adjust a movement based on what just happened.

Too much tip? They learn.

Cup missed the table? They learn.

Perfect little sip followed by a proud look across the room? That's all the motivation they need to stay locked in for learning. 

Frequently asked questions

Can Big Sipper™ be a baby's first open cup?

Yes. Big Sipper™ is suitable for babies and toddlers starting to practise open-cup drinking as well as those progressing from a smaller training cup. Its SteadySip™ base provides added stability while the child develops control.

Why choose an open cup for a baby or toddler?

Open-cup drinking helps babies practise a more mature sipping action, using the lips, tongue, jaw and cheeks to control liquid rather than relying on the sucking action used with many valved sippy cups. It also supports oral-motor development while building hand-eye coordination and independent drinking skills as babies learn to grasp, lift, tip and control the cup themselves.

What does the SteadySip™ base do?

The removable SteadySip™ base widens the cup's footprint and adds stability as children learn to put it back down, helping to make small inaccuracies more forgiving while still allowing them to practise the full drinking movement.

When should I remove the SteadySip™ base?

You can remove it when your child is consistently managing the cup with greater control and no longer benefits from the additional support. There is no need to remove it by a particular age.

What's the difference between Sippit™ and Big Sipper™?

Sippit™ is Bibado's smaller first-sip cup, while Big Sipper™ provides more capacity at 125ml and room to progress. Big Sipper™ can also be used independently of Sippit™, so children do not need to have used one before the other.

Explore Bibado cups for every stage of independent drinking