Pigeon Training Master Drinking Cup Series Launches

PIGEON SHANGHAI CO., LTD, Asia’s market leader in baby bottles, has unveiled its new all-in-one Training Master Drinking Cup series at the 22nd Children Baby Maternity Expo (CBME 2023) in Shanghai. The innovative modular cup system has been conceived by successful British inventor of baby feeding products, Mandy Haberman, in liaison with leading medical experts from around the world and in collaboration with her formidable design team comprising highly-respected designer, entrepreneur and inventor Sebastian Conran, and baby products design engineer Paul Bottomley.

When PIGEON SHANGHAI CO., LTD., commissioned Haberman to develop a new range of premium cup products designed to position the Pigeon brand as the authority on infant weaning skills, Haberman knew that to become a market leader in the infant drinking product market and to stand out in a highly competitive, crowded marketplace, two things would be necessary. Firstly, a seed-change in technology in order to support best-practice medical recommendations, and secondly world-class design to reflect the authoritative technology and premium market position. Haberman’s industry and medical know-how enabled her to identify the need for an alternative to cups with sucking spouts, and the team set to work on the technology behind the new Pigeon range.

The exclusive, patented Training Master Drinking Cup series is the result - a modular feeding system currently comprising four cups each designed to follow the characteristics of a baby's oral development and guided by best practice medical advice (**see references below).  This staged cup series adapts to every phase of learning to drink, it encourages active feeding and the development of a baby’s oral muscles, enabling step-by-step oral muscle training to support a baby’s progress from suckling, to sipping and to learning to drink independently, just like mum and dad. It provides convenience to parents whilst avoiding the oral and development health risks associated with spouted trainer cups.

• The Nipple Cup is the first step in weaning from breast or baby bottle.
• The Training Cup introduces and develops skills in drinking from a cup rim, without the risk of choking and spills.
• The two Straw Cups teach a child the correct way to suck and control fluid by sucking.

Commenting Mandy Haberman said: “We are excited with this unique feeding system that feature patented technology. As the cups respond to a real need we believe they are destined to be must-have feeding products for all infants, allowing them to gradually transition from suckling (breast/bottle feeding) to mature open-cup drinking, whilst avoiding the oral and developmental health risks associated with sucking from a spout.”

“The Training Master Cup is very special for this reason as it teaches mature cup-drinking skills, sipping from the cup’s rim. For centuries, children’s training cups have been provided with spouts from which the baby sucks fluid. Spouted cups became the popular standard, because they control fluid flow and limit spills. However, medical practitioners are now strongly against traditional spouted cups because they do not provide a significant development step and often impede the natural movement of the child’s tongue and palate, resulting in oral and speech complications.” 

** Bahr, D. (2018). Feed your baby & toddler right: Early eating and drinking skills encourage the best development. Arlington, TX: Future Horizons.

Bahr, D. (2010). Nobody ever told me (or my mother) that! Everything from bottles and breathing to healthy speech development, Arlington, TX: Sensory World/Future Horizons

Bahr, D. C., (2001). Oral motor assessment and treatment: Ages and stages, Boston: Allyn & Bacon.