Lifefactory Glass Sippy Review

Lifefactory is somewhat unique in embracing glass as their sippy cup material. Glass is naturally BPA-free and phthalate-free, and it is dishwasher safe. The cup comes with a silicone sleeve, that helps improve tactile feel and grippiness of the bottle for little hands, as well as cushion to avoid breakage. The mouthpieces are interchangeable, and can grow with your child from baby on up. The cup also includes a polypropylene (PP#5) cap, and silicone leak proof valve with steady flow control. This cup comes in a few different sleeve colors, and is available in some stores and widely online.

Performance Comparison

Likes

This cup did well in our tests for leakage. It was impressive for sideways leaking, and had only a few drops for upside down leaking. While upside down leakage wasn't the best score, we did feel it also wasn't a deal breaker. It did require some vigorous shaking to make it leak, which might be a problem in the car or similar circumstance, but we felt it wasn't enough to dislike the cup or say don't buy it.

This cup also scored well in eco-health with a 8 of 10 overall, losing some points for not being insulated. The eco-friendly borosilicate glass materials are

temperature and break resistant according to the manufacturer. They are also free of PVC, phalate, BPA, lead, and latex. All of which made this a standout cup in the toddler sippy tests we did.

We also like that Lifefactory offers a smooth transition from baby bottle, to sippy cup, to lunch box bottle by offering interchangeable caps. This means your investment in Lifefactory bottles gets amortized over more years of use than the cheaper competitors.

We love the design and feel of these sippy cups. Their silicon sleeve is easy for toddlers to hold, and the slim design means it will fit in most cup holders.

Dislikes

While glass is considered a safe and healthy material for storing fluids, it is heavier than plastic, and most of the stainless steel bottles we tested. This makes it a bit more difficult for a toddler to tote, and thereby break. This was one of the heaviest bottle in our tests, which did not bode well for its overall chances of being dropped and broken.

Glass has a singular challenge of being breakable. This gave more than one in-house tester parent pause before trying the cup. While the cup is more resilient than plastic, and it is somewhat cushioned from everyday bumps by the silicone sleeve, these cups can and do break. If a parent is not present when this occurs, it means little fingers and toes have a greater chance of getting injured than with the other cups we tested, that never break like the stainless steel Pura Kiki Toddler and the Klean Kanteen Kid Kanteen.

We also didn't really like the higher than average price tag this cup comes with. While they do sell it with silicone sleeve included, unlike the Pura Kiki Toddler, it was still on the higher side all things considered. It was

not the most expensive cup, but it certainly was not one of the cheaper cups. However, given the interchangeability of the lids this cup might be worth the extra investment if it lasts longer and doesn't break.

This cup was also easy to clean. It had few parts, was quick to take apart and reassemble, plus it didn't require any special tools beyond a bottle brush to clean properly. The silicone sleeve can be left on, or taken off for cleaning, and it is dishwasher safe, which is safe to do since it is not painted or plastic like other cups in our tests.

Conclusion

Overall, this cup offered a unique design, in an inert material, that was safe for kids and the environment. It was on the heavy side, could possibly break, and leaked a bit when held upside down. However, for the most part we liked this cup. The included silicone sleeve is a nice touch for grip-ability, and cushion, and the cup scored well for ease of use, and cleaning. While it didn't win any awards, it did score well overall and placed 4th out of 21 cups tested. We would recommend this cup to parents looking for an eco-friendly, and health friendly option other than stainless steel. Our only caution is to keep in mind that the cup can break, and only allow children to use it when supervised.