Sippy cup

[1] The Sipster spill-proof sippy cup was invented by Richard Belanger, who licensed the design to Playtex.

Belanger was tired of cleaning up drink spills caused by his son decided that he would solve the problem with his own hands.

[4] Modern day sippy cups and recent models differ from the original prototype by Richard Belanger.

[8] Julie Dunne, from the University of Bristol, was lead co-author of the study, the results of which were published in the journal Nature.

Additionally, some of the vessels were shaped like animals, which Dunne believes was simply to make children happy.

[8] Researchers further tested this theory by creating a recreation of one of the vessels, filling it with diluted apple sauce, and giving it to a 1 year old infant, who intuitively figured out how to suckle on the spout.

[6] The presence of these artifacts implies a shift from a hunter-gatherer lifestyle to a more sedentary lifestyle with more reliable access to milk, as well as potentially having facilitated a baby boom with the ability to wean children off of breast milk earlier, allowing women to have children more frequently.