7 Best Baby Utensils Set That Are Perfect for Toddlers to Learn Self-Feeding
When your child reaches one-year-old, development accelerates in rapid fashion. Your toddler begins to assert relative independence in doing things. Aside from toilet training, one awaited baby milestone is self-feeding. Even before their 1st birthdays, children will start feeding themselves using their fingers. The period of 12 to 18 months is usually the best time to teach your child self-feeding using the best baby utensils.
Unlike in hand feeding where your baby’s action is instinctive, picking up the food with a spoon is quite a challenging task for kids. You can help your child discover the wonder of self-feeding by teaching her early on how to use utensils.
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How to Get Your Baby to Eat with Utensils
1. Choose the best spoons for baby
Get your child her own set of baby utensils. It is not recommended to have your child use the adult or metal utensils during the learning curve. She won’t be able to grip and handle heavier gears. She might even hurt her frail teeth and gums.
2. Spoon-feed your baby while you teach using it
Put your hand over her hand holding the spoon. Move her hand beginning from scooping up the food and then guiding it to her mouth. Make the movement slow so she can observe the entire process. Give your child time to adjust to the feeling of eating with a utensil.
3. Have your baby practice with the utensils
Place a measured amount of food in a bowl and have your toddler practice using her spoon. At the start, expect food spills and flipping of the bowl accidentally. Add more food when the quantity is less or the bowl is empty. Do not mind if your baby consumes small portions. Your objective is to get her to learn the mechanical process.
4. Eat beside your child and supervise mealtime
You will delight in the way your child will quickly learn the technique with proper supervision. For better results, eat alongside with your child during meal times. Toddlers are very observant. Your child will imitate her mother’s eating style and spoon handling. Be patient as your child will likely be a messy eater before she can polish her eating skills by the age of 2.5 or 3.
5. Introduce the use of fork with a spoon
Just as soon as your baby can handle a spoon, introduce a fork to complete the utensil pair. The baby fork should have blunt prongs but strong enough to pierce and pick up the food.
What to Look for In Baby Spoon and Fork Combo
The baby spoon and fork combination is specially designed for your child to develop her hand coordination skills further. It’s also the best gear for children to mimic parents’ and enjoy meal times together.
Matching Pair
Choose the best baby utensils that come in a matching pair. It has to be always of the same size for balanced handling. The utensil combo sometimes comes in a matching set that includes baby bowls and plates. The purpose is also for easier identification by your child.
Perfect Grip
Your baby spoon and fork combo should have the perfect grip to counter their clumsiness. Usually, the pair with rubber grips or easy grasp plastic materials is excellent for stable handling.
Bright Colors and Attractive Designs
Bright colors and attractive designs will never escape your baby’s attention. Meal time will always be enjoyable and outright engaging for your little one. It will be so much fun for a baby to hold, play or eat with colorful utensils.
Lightweight
The weight of the baby utensils need not strain your child's hands during the self-feeding learning stages. Heavy-handed utensils will only demotivate your child from using them, or you end up spoon feeding her. Utensils made of plastic are the usual choices.
Shape Matters
For the spoons, you can check if the shape is deep enough to scoop the food from the plate or bowl easily. When it comes to forks, you can protect your baby from harm if the fork does not have pointy edges. Baby forks usually have blunt or round prongs for safety reasons.
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The Best Baby Utensils
Toddler Fork and Spoon Set by Lullababy
- The top-pick fits the ideal criteria for baby utensils. The spoon is not too deep and the fork’s prongs are rounded not pointed. The length is just right for your child to handle. It’s best to use for feeding or teaching self-feeding.
- The fork can double as a spoon as well because it has a deep scoop shape too.
- The utensil material is soft yet sturdy. The pair lay upright when placed on the table indicating balance.
- The bright colors simply add up to your baby’s eating excitement and appetite.
- What’s more is that the utensils are dishwasher safe.
Description | Rating / Grade |
|---|---|
Editor Rating | |
NCS Grade* | A+ |
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Kiddobloom Stainless Steel Utensil Set
- This three-piece set (spoon, fork, and knife) is ideal for training your preschooler the basics of self-feeding.
- The lead-free and high-grade stainless steel material is CPSIA and FDA compliant.
- The set is spot-on in terms of quality, shape and look.
- While the size is comparable to a salad fork, it is slightly heavy but still manageable for a baby.
- It is durable to withstand daily use.
- Toddler knives are hard to find so the knife is the catch and suited for baby practice too.
Description | Rating / Grade |
|---|---|
Editor Rating | |
NCS Grade* | A- |
OXO Tot Training Fork and Spoon Set
- The OXO set is preferred because of its softness and easy grip handles. The handles are curved, so it won’t slip into the bowl or plate.
- It’s a combo of stainless steel and plastic handles. The metal portions are larger and the handles are wider.
- The spoon is deep and the fork tines do not have sharp edges.
- The heft and the curve of the pair are perfect for the little hands.
- You will notice the material is durable and will last longer.
Description | Rating / Grade |
|---|---|
Editor Rating | |
NCS Grade* | A- |
Other Worth Considering Best Baby Utensils
Description | Editor Rating | NCS Grade* | Price Range* |
|---|---|---|---|
A | $ | ||
B | $ | ||
C | $ | ||
C | $ |
*For more information about NCS (Net Customer Satisfaction) grade, click here. (Price range: $ = $1 - $25 / $$ = $26 - $50 / $$$ = $51 - $100 / $$$$ = $101 - $150 / $$$$$ = $151 - $200 / $$$$$$ = Above $200)
Our Pick
We went through hundreds of product listing at Amazon and also study the ratings left by previous buyers to find the best baby utensils for you. On top of that, we also calculate the overall net customer satisfaction (NCS) grade because we want to see how happy the previous buyers are with their purchase of the product.
From our findings, we can say that Lullababy, Kiddobloom and OXO Tot are the best baby eating utensil brands. These brands are popular and received many excellent ratings for their products.
Also, the baby fork and spoon set by Lullababy, Kiddobloom, and OXO score favorably for the ratings as well as the NCS grade compare to the rest. We believe that you would find these baby utensils a good buy too.
Learning Curve
It is true that practice makes perfect. In due course, your baby will be crafty using the best baby utensils. Her sensory processing skills will develop during training. You will delight watching your child eat meals independently. Don't worry. The learning curve will be short, but the enjoyment is lasting.
