Juice cups are not all the same, as we found out when we purchased the Gerber Juice cup. Although they are considered and marketed as almost leak proof, they aren't. I have many times discovered leaks when it is tipped over, held upside down, or even placed on its side.

The Gerber juice cup is made of durable, rigid plastic with screw on lids. As the cup is ribbed and grooved for the screw on capability, I would not recommend using the cup without the lid since many infants learning to drink from a cup will find the ribbed and grooved edges uncomfortable to drink from. The juice cups come in a variety of colors and designs. They can come in a solid color or transparent with imprinted on the outside with designs of various cartoon characters. We purchased ours with Warner Brothers' characters. The lids of the cups can be interchangeable between the different designs, thus you can coordinate the colors of the lids to whatever cup design you choose within the lineup of Gerber juice cups. The cups can be filled up to just a bit over 8 ounces if filled almost to the rim, although it's probably not a good idea. If filled up to the top of the transparent imprinted design label (or to the top of the lid when screwed tight), it will hold about 7.5 ounces. Compared to other reviews in this category, I'm wondering if we are talking about the same thing since I tested it and it holds up to just over 8 ounces. Oh well.

The juice lid is mainly composed of the durable, plastic, solid colored lid with a protruding 3 holed mouth piece that fits comfortably in a child's mouth, to give a an almost similar feeling of drinking from a nipple or to reinforce that the child can understand that there is something to suck from. Flipping over the lid, there is a removable, oval shaped plastic part fitted over the back of the mouth piece that is meant to prevent leaks and only allow liquid to pass through when sucked. There is a sizeable extension or protrusion on the plastic part that allows for easy removal for cleaning. At the top of the plastic part, there is a circular translucent, curved (towards the direction of the liquid) , silicon valve. Upon closer examination of the soft, silicon valve, it is discovered that a small cross cut in the middle of the curved valve enables liquid to go through. Sucking the mouth piece of the cup will cause the curved valve to move in direction of the sucking and thus, allow the closed cut silicon valve to open somewhat and thus allow liquid to pass through and be sipped. The silicon valve can be easily cleaned with a soft toothbrush or Q-tip. The cup is quite durable as mentioned as my son has thrown and dropped it many times and it has retained its shape quite well.

As long as the juice cup hasn't been sipped or sucked, the cup will retain the liquid and no leaks occur. But, once the liquid has been sucked, I find that the liquid will leak out either through the sides of the lid (regardless of how tight it's screwed), or through the 3 holed mouth piece of the lid. Since our purpose of buying this cup is in hopes of using a juice cup that is suitable for infants, teaching them to drink from a cup, and also hope that the cup is spill and leak proof, I would not recommend it as a leak proof juice cup. The Playtex Spillproof cup is a much more reliable leak proof cup that only allows liquid to pass through when sucked and not when placed on its side, turned upside down. The Gerber Juice cup is dishwasher safe and suitable to be washed in the top rack. There are replacement valves available and they are purchased in packs of two. The valves are also dishwasher safe.

Due to the ability of the cups to leak, I would not recommend this product. Although they are much prettier and well decorated with cute cartoon designs when compared to the boring designs of the translucent Playtex Spillproof cup, I would strongly discourage any parents from using this product for its inability to prevent leaks.

Thanks for taking the time to read and rate my review.

Recommended: No