CamelBak Eddy Kids Water Bottle 12oz

After seeing all the reviews about mold on EVERY brand of kid's water bottle, I just had to come review this so I could say my piece. First, we had children's CamelBak bottles for 3 years now and they are great water bottles. For an inexpensive price I bought a package of replacement bite valves because my kids will chew on the valves and eventually they leak. This is normal wear and tear people. Second, any object that is subjected to bacteria is going to eventually grow something. It's not poison people. Just clean the darn thing. Get one of those little bottle brushes and really examine the bottle parts and make sure it's clean. If need be, dunk it briefly in a mixture of water and bleach and let it air dry. CamelBaks are great bc they really don't have a ton of parts so if you are of moderate intelligence you should be able to clean it. I know the big thing is to be scared of BLACK MOLD but it's often just the color of stuff growing.. You will find this happens on bath toys, those bulb nose snot suckers and anything that doesn't dry off between use.My experience with this water bottle is:It's durable! Kids fling it, drop it, drag it everywhere, chew on it, what have you and they don't break.It holds a nice amount of liquid. It's a great size at 4l (someone wrote that that is 14 oz). Many cups for kids are 10oz and that's just too small.It's cute and there are many designs to choose from.It's pretty leak proof. Sometimes through wear and tear on the bite valve or user error putting it back together, it has leaked a bit. But overall this thing is very leakproof.

My daughter is 3 she loves the designs of the cup. My son is 1 1/2 he is super picky when it comes to cups and this is the only cup he likes to drink from. We have about 6 of these cups and used most of them for over a year and some for almost 2.They are not leak proof. My son pushes the bite valve in to spill water out and my daughter loves super ice water (maraca water as we call it) but the pressure from cold to hot makes it leak. We only use for water because we would rather have water leak then anything else and our kids love water so it doesn't bug them.The bite valves will get bitten but I have replacements ready. My son bites hard on the cups and my daughter did at his age too. So I recommend buying replacement valves (they have kits with valves of all colors and some kits with extra straws) when getting the cups.The best thing about these cups is that they are so easy to clean. With and without dishwasher, we've done both. I never worried about them not being clean and with replacement pieces for almost everything (bite valve, straws, and caps) it is easier than other cups.Overall, we have used some of these cups for almost 2 years and bought more over time. They are the number one cups for our children and I dont see that changing anytime soon. They do have flaws but all things do just be prepared with extra bite valves and straws.

We have been using a few of these basically since we transitioned from bottles, its so easy for kids. Literally the only hiccup we have encountered with TONS of use is that eventually the mouth piece will start to leak as your kid beats it up by biting down on it all the time. However they make replacement mouth pieces you can get for cheap so I am completely fine with it. But we trust it not to leak enough to leave it in bed with him at night and when he is running around the house, get to have him carry it since its tough and leak proof.. and unlike some baby things, the straw/lid/mouthpiece/cup all come apart for easily to clean in the dishwasher

Updated Review after 1 year of use:Pictures- pink plastic Contigo bottle w/ new style Eddy+ white lid; glass bottles with older Eddy lids - 20 oz Contigo & 24 oz Camelbak Eddy water bottle. All 3 bottles have Eddy+ silicone spouts. Second picture shows the tabs off 2/3 bottles.This listing is the older style 12 oz Eddy kids water bottle (Eddy + 14 oz is the newer style). I bought this kids bottle for just the lid because it fits my glass Camelbak Eddy water bottle and Contigo glass water bottle. The newer lid style doesn’t fit. I hand wash the plastic lids and they have held up well. I do recommend considering removing the tab covering the air outlet every now and then to clean or just leaving it off all of the time (this is what I do and it does not affect the spill proof feature) because dirt can accumulate under it over time (2nd picture shows the newer style white Eddy+ lid and white/grey Eddy lid have the tab removed and the black/gray lid has the tab on). The Eddy and Eddy+ kids water bottle lids are very similar but there are some differences.-Straw spout: this Eddy style has a less durable silicone spout. The newer straw spout is thicker, has an indent and thicker silicone at the bite/sip point which makes it less likely to split straight down the middle with repeated use, and it doesn’t keep the liquid at the top of the spout like the older version does. The older version is easier to suck but more likely to split down the middle over time. You can replace silicone spouts at needed with either model. This comes with an Eddy spout. The Eddy+ spout (newer more durable version) can be used as a replacement spout with this older style Eddy bottle too but you will have to push it harder to get it in and out for cleaning and use a thicker straw.-Inner straw: This older version uses standard width straws that most brands do such as Hydroflask. Eddy + uses a wider straw which can make finding replacements difficult unless you buy from the brand. Silicone Bubba straws and thick silicone Kleen Kanteen straws can fit the newer model.-Compatibility: older lid style is compatible with glass Eddy water bottle, Contigo (glass and plastic bottles), and Nalgene. It will twist on a wide mouth Hydroflask bottle but it won’t fully seal (likely because it doesn’t have a silicone sealing ring), so it will leak slowly id left on its side. It seals fine for the kids cup and other brands mentioned. New Eddy+ lid is not compatible with any other brands except for plastic Contigo bottles.Handle - older style has a narrower handleOriginal ReviewDisclaimer - this is the older Eddy bottle style. The lid is compatible with Contigo water bottles and the retired Eddy glass water bottle.My reason for purchasing - I actually just needed the cap of this bottle for the retired Eddy glass water bottle, but they don’t sell just the lid. I prefer the kids bottle top bc you can totally take it apart to clean. This bottle would be good for a child who needs more oral input from biting down on the spout. I am a pediatric occupational therapist, and I caution anyone from buying this for a child under 18 months of age because this spout could potentially promote a tongue thrust (the tongue would move forward and rest under the sip spout). Straw cups and open cups are best for babies from 1-2 years of age bc they facilitate moving from an immature swallow (suckling motion of a bottle) to a mature swallow where the tongue elevates to the roof of the mouth. Hard spouted sippy cups are the worst bc they force the tongue to stay low and forward in order to suck the drink out. By the age of 2, most toddlers have developed a mature swallow so long as they have been exposed to open cup as and straw cups.