Friday 15 January 2016

WEANING: Encouraging Independence with Oxo Tot

 
Oxo Tot have a fantastic range of children's tableware and accessories, all of which have helpful features to encourage independent eating. We've now been weaning Isabella for 4.5 months and she's been loving it! There's almost no food she doesn't like and it's really bought out her desire for independence.

We started weaning her with purees, moving onto textured food at seven months then adding in plenty of different finger foods. Feeding herself finger food has meant she always wants to feed herself the 'main meal'. Aside from the mess created this has been such a positive learning experience, as Isabella learns to hold a spoon, pick up food and guide it to her mouth. She's exactly the same with drinking water and milk, it all has be done by her now! The Oxo Tot weaning range has been ideal for this transition to independent eating, as each item is specially designed to support children feeding themselves.
 
The Oxo Tot Training Cup in Raspberry* (£6.60) has been an absolute essential for the past few weeks because Isabella started to refuse drinking from her bottle or sippy cup. About a week before Christmas she just decided that she only wanted to drink from a 'normal' cup; I think this was because I always offer her to drink water out of my glass. To begin with I was really concerned as she wasn't drinking very much, so we were trying different teat sizes and putting milk/water into a sippy cup but nothing was working. However she'd drink lots from my glass, we were so confused and conscious of not discouraging her wanting to drink from a 'normal' glass as she'd eventually have to one day. 
 
This is when we decided to try the Oxo Tot Training Cup and we've not looked back! It's similar to a normal cup but it has a translucent lid insert with perforations around the outside allowing water to flow through. This gives Isabella the experience of drinking from a regular glass but when she inevitably knocks it over not all of the water spills out at once. This can then be removed once Isabella is able to drink confidently. We've been using this every meal time with water in and Isabella has been drinking so much more, which has been so reassuring. The soft, non-slip grips help her to keep a grip of the cup allowing her the independence she so desperately wants.
 
How cute is this Divided Plate in Raspberry from Oxo Tot* (£8.50)? I love the divisions allowing Isabella to have what we call a 'picky tea' where she has little bits of different foods, for instance mini sandwiches, homemade hummus, carrot sticks, homemade muffin and cut up chunks of fruit. They're my kind of favourite meals too! The centre piece is perfect for dips and sauces, while the three outside sections can either be used for the food items displayed on the base of the plate or whatever you fancy. It's also been ideal for the finger food Isabella has each meal, as it allows me to plate it up while she's napping so it's ready to go when she's hungry. Nothing goes soggy and there's no waiting around so I have a happy baby...win win!
The Divided Feeding Dish in Raspberry* (£8.50) has been designed to make feeding two different foods at a mealtime a lot easier. The two sections mean you can separate foods and minimise the need for more than one bowl per mealtime. At dinner time I've been putting Isabella's main meal that I feed her in one half and her pudding in the other. The dish's outer ring and lid can be removed, then just the ring put back on to allow support when children are feeding themselves. At the moment Isabella generally feeds herself the finger food and I feed her the 'meal' part. However recently she's been wanting to hold a spoon while I feed her, which I've been encouraging her to put into the food in the Divided Feeding Dish (only at dinner times when it doesn't matter if she and I get completely covered in her food!)
A fantastic set to buy once your little one is more established at eating independently is the Oxo Tot 4 Piece Feeding Set* (£18) because it has a specially designed plate, bowl with lid, metal fork and spoon. The plate and bowl have non-slip bases making it easier for children to feed themselves. Having a lid with the bowl makes it perfect for reheating meals that have been made previously, which is something we do a lot of. I like to keep the freezer full with meals, allowing us to quickly reheat each meal as and when it's needed. We've also found the bowl really helpful for taking meals out with us, as it's a good size now that Isabella eats more.
The Spoon and Fork have soft, non slip curved handles that are ideal for little hands and reassuringly the fork has no sharp edges. I also love that the Plate grows with Isabella, as the outer ring can be removed once she's got the hang of scooping the food onto her spoon/fork. I didn't appreciate how hard this can be but watching her trying so much is agonising!
 
Does your little one like feeding themselves? 
Feel free to leave a comment :)

Helen x
Mummy and MonkeysBinky Linky
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16 comments

  1. I've barely heard much about OXO as their ranges became available after my children had been weaned. I particularly like the idea behind that sippy cup though.They look super cool! I know where to look if I ever have another child!

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  2. These look good. I have been keeping an eye out for some tableware for Lexie. We did Baby Led Weaning with Lexie so she feeds herself everything so up until now she's been eating straight off the highchair try to avoid the food being thrown across the room but now i think she could just about manage these. #PicknMix

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  3. That cup is genius! I wonder if I can find something similar in Australia!

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  4. The training cup looks great, I'll have to look out for one. Marianna is feeding herself finger food, etc, but we've been slower on cutlery just because of the mess. Whenever my mum comes round she keeps saying how we should let her do every meal herself, but she's not the one scraping baby mush off all the surfaces... Lol. #picknmix

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  5. We love love love oxo total such good quality products

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  6. The cup looks brilliant and a fantastic range thanks for linking to the Binkylinky

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  7. Love these! Especially the training cups. Great review. Thanks for linking up to the #BinkyLinky

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  8. These look great. I've seen them but never picked them up, think I will now. Great review. Thanks for linking up to #justanotherlinky xx

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  9. I've heard so much about OXO tots and I've never heard anything bad. Those plates look fabulous! Ray xx #triedtested

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  10. We have some of these when my son was little almost 5 years ago now and we still have the spoon and fork cutlery which my one year old daughter is using now :) Brilliant and really durable. Hope the weaning journey is going well so far?
    #TriedTested

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    1. That's good to hear! Our weaning journey is going really well - I absolutely love cooking Isabella little meals and she enjoys eating them...win, win :)

      Helen x

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  11. I really want the Oxo divided plates as I have heard so many great things about them. The trainer cup looks fab too. Thanks for linking to #PickNMix

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  12. What a great set, I wish I'd had these when my boys were small! Thanks for linking up to #Picknmix
    Stevie x

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  13. What a great set, I wish I'd had these when my boys were small! Thanks for linking up to #Picknmix
    Stevie x

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  14. Oh now these products look fab! I will definitely look into this range when I start weaning Baby next year

    Thanks for linking up with #justanotherlinky

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  15. The training cup is fab. I love the idea of the divided plate - my ch' love a "bits and pieces" plate so this would be ideal.
    Thanks for sharing your review on #TriedTested this week :)_

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