Introducing the Hegen Straw Cup for Tots!
Introducing Hegen's Straw Cup
After a long wait, we proudly present our brand new and much anticipated Hegen Straw Cup for toddlers!
As the newborns in our community become toddlers and preschoolers, we have received countless requests for products that would allow them to continue their Hegen journey in the years ahead.
This got us thinking about what we could add to our ecosystem that would support and extend the Hegen mission of helping babies receive breastmilk exclusively for a longer period of time.
As many Mummies have remarked, a natural extension of our feeding range would be a straw cup. As such, we created a new straw spout with the same Press-to-Close, Twist-to-Open™ (PCTO™) design that current users can easily attach to their existing collection of Hegen bottles and containers.
Voila! Little ones can immediately learn how to suck naturally while continuing to benefit from the safety of Hegen’s patented design and PPSU materials. PPSU, or polyphenylsulfone, is an FDA-compliant, food-grade material widely used in the manufacturing of medical appliances due to its superior toughness and high-temperature resistance. It combines the advantages of both glass and plastic, being BPA-free and lightweight. PPSU is naturally amber-coloured and contains no artificial pigments.
Hegen PPSU is free of BPA, BPS, phthalates and PVC.
Good for kids and for Mama
The design of the new straw spout is in part inspired by our Founder Yvon Bock’s own experiences with her children when they were just starting to drink juices and water on their own. “When my children were little, they often used straw cups during the day, while out and about, at school or during playtime at home,” shared Yvon. “The pain point for me was flipping open the cover and getting sprinkled in the face with juice or residual content from the straw!”
To solve this, Hegen designers created a patent-pending 2-step anti-burst safe opening that blocks sprinkles of liquid when the bottle is opened and locks the cap in place while the child drinks, preventing the cap from touching their nose. With minimal parts for easy assembly and cleaning, the overall design minimises the trapping of dirt and saliva.
Yvon explains: “A good straw also means the child can sip naturally, as studies have shown that sipping is a skill required to progress from bottle feeding with a teat to an open cup.
Though straw cups with a valve prevent spills, they require a child to use more strength when sucking to draw the liquid. That is why The Straw Cup is easy to sip from, allowing a child to learn this important skill. This new straw spout also has a built-in air vent and easy-to-wash components with no hidden or hard-to-reach nooks and crannies, ensuring hygiene and safety.”
The lower portion of the straw can be trimmed to fit various Hegen bottle sizes. As a new attachment, The Straw Cup also helps develop a child’s fine motor skills, as they learn to hold a bottle or cup independently from the outset.
What the experts recommend
Both the World Health Organisation (WHO) and the United Nations Children’s Fund (UNICEF) recommend that babies be breastfed within the first hour of birth and receive breastmilk exclusively for the first six months of life.
The two organisations also propose that infants be breastfed on demand, without intervention from bottles, teats or pacifiers. From six months of age, children can begin eating safe, complementary foods and continue to breastfeed up to age 2 and beyond if possible.
While this may be possible in an ideal situation, there may be circumstances in which a Mum is unable to breastfeed exclusively or for as long, perhaps due to medical or personal reasons. Our team understands this, and our aim is to support the needs of baby and mother as much as possible, from birth to toddlerhood.
Whilst there is no specific age to wean your child from a feeding bottle, the American Dental Association recommends transitioning away from the bottle by your child’s first birthday, as prolonged bottle use may cause cavities in baby’s teeth¹.
As such, introducing the straw cup from 9 months of age may help prevent tooth decay and is the first step towards teaching your child how to sip and eventually drink from an open cup. Toddlers naturally progress from suckling to sucking. This is a new motor skill that a toddler needs to learn, and a straw cup is one of the best options to encourage them to acquire this new drinking skill while seated upright.
“Our focus is to provide an easy-to-use way to support them in their secondary nutrition feeding, from drinking milk to water, juices, yoghurt and more,” says Yvon.
Works Cited
1. American Dental Association. (2004, March). From baby bottle to cup: Choose training cups carefully, use them temporarily. JADA, 135, 387.