At what point do you banish the Sippy cup?

Do I need to be concerned about using a sippy cup for another 6 months? I remember reading an article not too long back in the WSJ about dental problems and sippy cups. I think it was addressing preschool age children. I saw that Costco had the playtex sippy cups with the straw. Would these be any better? Anyway- we don't use the sippy during mealtimes, she is getting along well with the cup. However, we are on the go quite a bit. I usually bring 2-3 sippys of milk along to the park, zoo or library. I guess I was a little alarmed when after spending 6 hours w/my in-laws, she only drank 1/2 small cup of milk. Her sippy cup of milk was never offered. They didn't say it, but I can tell they disapprove of using a sippy at age 2. I never thought that it was a big deal. What do you think? :)

I will say that if I had to do it all over again, I would never have used a sippy cup and would have gone straight to the straw. My DD has oral motor delay, and one of the things the early intervention folks had us do was move from sippies to straws.

We use those Playtex straw sippies. They work very well and there is very little mess.

Its probably not an issue for your DD, but with mine, I'm sure that prolonged sippy use would have been detrimental.

HTH,

We interchange between sippy, straw and regular cup. We very rarely use the spill proof sippys, rather we like the "disposable" ones (that we have never had to throw out, LOL), so DS is never drinking for a prolonged period of time. I think part of the problem is that kids carry their sippys around with them and "sip" all the time - much like using a paci or bottle for extended periods. DS also likes juice boxes, so I take a juice box with me if we are going out. At meals he often gets a real cup. I find that variety is probably your best bet - if you offer all kids of options, there won't be oral/dental problems and kids can adjust pretty well.