As our little girl has been growing up, we have become far more savvy when it comes to finding the best products to support her as she develops her own eating and drinking independence.

Having decided to go down the route of baby led weaning, it has certainly been a messy experience at times (especially with dishes like cous cous!) but it has been a very rewarding process. With that in mind, we have been fortunate enough to try out some great products from OXO Tot that have really helped our little girl to develop her independent eating whilst keeping mess to a (relative) minimum!

We were sent a flippy™ Snack Cup With Travel Cover, a training plate with removable ring, a roll up bib and a sippy cup (all in glorious pink for our little girl!). We set out to let her test out the products as only an enthusiastic little one can!

Perhaps the biggest revelations were the amazing roll up bib and the snack cup. I had previously lost serious parenting points by walking down to Valley Gardens in Harrogate with my little one eating peas out of a plate in her pushchair (a late afternoon snack of choice for a while!). I realised there had to be a better way to help control the mess that snacking can create while keeping it interesting for her as I attempted to brush off crushed peas from our pram! The snack cup is the better way.

After a short period of time teaching our little girl the idea behind it (hand goes in, food comes out!) she quickly grasped it (she was just 12 months old when we first tried it out). It has been a revelation since. As you can see from the video, she can easily get at the food but the contents are far less likely to spill out on the move. Of course, it can’t help with that lovely experience of little ones just choosing to throw things on the floor!

The roll up bib was a revelation because it actually does roll up properly as you can see in this video:

The velcro at the top is far, far more effective at keeping bibs on and secure compared to the other bibs we have tried (including bibs from the likes of Ikea and Tommy Tippee). It is also very easy to clean by wiping down and you can even put it through the wash to get it fully clean. These two products on their own were fantastic and we would go out and buy them again in a heartbeat.

We have to confess that we were already converts to the sippy cup before Oxo Tot sent us one to use, so had a fair bit of experience using it! With the no spill feature, easy to use handles, and the fact that it is dishwasher safe, we have been very impressed with it and our little girl uses it with ease, especially as the grip handles enable her to tip the cup further to be able to drink fully from it.

With the training plate, we appreciated the grip it has on a table so that it doesn’t suddenly get shoved off by mistake (or with too much ease!) by our little one. This has saved us a whole load of cleaning up from the floor as well as a fair few meals! We haven’t really begun to introduce cutlery to our little girl yet but when we do, the curved lip should be a real help as she tries to scoop up items with a spoon.

Overall, the OXO Tot products we used were very impressive. At reasonable prices (the snack cup is a steal at £6 and the bib is worth every penny at £12) and with all the robustness that you would expect from a company like OXO, their products really are worth a try. If you fancy taking a look yourself and discovering that not all of their range is pink(!) you can do so here. Let us know about your experiences using OXO Tot products by commenting below.