Feeding babies and young toddlers can be a lesson in patience and understanding and it can quickly turn into an all-out food fight. Our Baby & Toddler Mealtime Essentials Checklist will help you choose the products that will help develop the feeding skills of your kids, whilst keeping you safe from flying food!
Here’s our ultimate Baby & Toddler Mealtime Essentials checklist…to help you best prepare a list of mealtimes ‘must haves’ for your growing family.
#1. Tableware Sets
Messy eating is part of every child’s development. Parents and carers all over the world watch in horror together as their once beautifully decorated homes are often redecorated with egg, tuna and spaghetti by little ‘Picasso’.
Although it can be frustrating, messy eating is actually very important for kids because it develops fine motor skills and helps them learn about food and the world around them.
As parents, we all want to buy the safest products for our family when it comes to feeding but finding an eco-friendly FDA approved tableware set for your kids can be daunting with so many options available online.
Thankfully, we have brands like Eco Rascals to help us out. Eco Rascals were founded by two British Mums with a mutual desire to keep the majority of the food they lovingly prepare for their children off the floor. Focused on producing a stylish range of baby & toddler mealtime essentials made from bamboo, these kids Bamboo Tableware Sets from Eco Rascals are eco-friendly, biodegradable, and most importantly non-toxic.
These beautiful plastic-free bamboo tableware sets are a fantastic starter set for encouraging kids to eat independently. Each set comes with a spoon, cup, bowl and a very cool car or elephant shaped plate. The cup has a silicone straw feeder and arrives with two straws.
The sets are eco-friendly and made from bamboo and 100% silicone with no plastic, BPA, PVC, lead or phthalates. They are very safe for your child, easy to keep clean and come in fun, bright designs that look absolutely beautiful.
You can choose a set with either a Car or Elephant plate design and in whatever colour you fancy and they can be used from 6 months +
#2. Bibs
How do you feel about a messy house? Do you mind if your little one covers themselves with food at mealtimes? What about when they throw and drop food all over the floor?
Getting messy is an important developmental phase for babies and toddlers as they start to learn about food. When you allow your little person to play with their food, crush it in their hand and make a good old mess, they are learning about textures and sensory cause and effect.
Have you ever watched in horror (or more likely laughed your head off) as you child deliberately dropped (threw) food off the side of their high chair and watched it happen with a big grin on their face? If so, don’t worry you can always get a dog, but if you'd rather avoid that we suggest checking out some Bibs from Done by Deer first! Done by Deer is a Danish company that combine modern Scandinavian design with features that are fun and playful for children.
A bib is a great if your little person tends to leave a lot of food on their lap. Bibs also help to keep food off their clothes and are a Baby & Toddler Mealtime Essential. The Done by Deer Velcro Bibs are Deer Friend themed and come in in Powder Pink or Blue.
All Done by Deer products are designed in-house in Denmark and naturally tested thoroughly to comply with strict European safety standards.The bibs are waterproof and quickly pop on & off your child - perfect for enthusiastic eaters, drinkers and dribblers! They also have a handy front pocket and are amazing at catching food for all those messy little diners!
The velcro bibs are a great size for infants Weaning-Off and self-feeding and can easily be wiped clean.
#3. Sleeved Bibs
Children from 0-6 months benefit most from standard drool bibs, because they’re usually not being weaned until they reach around six months of age.
Once your little person hits the 4–6-month age group, you will need to start looking for feeding bibs. Lots of parents like velcro bibs because they snap on and off easily, especially with droolers, but learning to eat on your own can be a very messy business.
To make sure you fully protect your little eater (and home) you can invest in a long-sleeved bib. These Long-Sleeved Bibs from Done By Deer have practical elasticated sleeves and are encased with a Velcro closing. They are super easy to wipe clean so you can make mealtimes less of a mess for your dining room and your precious little one.
The sleved bibs are from Done by Deers 'Dreamy Dots' range and come with elasticated sleeves, are comfortable and lightweight and can easily be wiped clean. As expected from such a wonderful brand, these sleeved bibs make our toddler mealtime essentials checklist because they are safe for your child.
Thebibs are also oeko-tex food grade, waterproof and made from 100% polyester with PU coating. Best of all the long-sleeved bibs come in three wonderful designs, Blue, Grey and Powder (pink).
#4. Snack Pots
The benefits of having a snack pot for babies and kids are huge.
When you first start thinking about feeding your baby solid foods (weaning) it can be stressful working out how much food to feed. Many families wean their babies around 6 months but if you are thinking of weaning your baby before 6 months, it’s very important not to decrease their milk intake. Snack pots are perfect for when you first start to wean your baby, and need to think about three meals a day because they help you portion your baby’s food.
For older kids, snack pots allow them to take control of when they want to eat. They no longer have to ask for food because it is readily available for them at all times. Snack pots help take the guesswork out of snack time for your kids which is why they appear on our baby & toddler mealtime essentials list!
These handy Bamboo Snack Pots from Eco Rascals have a base of bamboo and a non-leak silicone lid and arrive as a set of two. The lids are made of food-grade silicone and are free of BPA, PVC, lead and phthalates. The snack pots are also FDA approved and safe for your children.
These cute eco-friendly snack pots are made for dry snacks like raisins, nuts, crackers, and fruit and vegetables. The snack pots come as a handy two pack and you can choose from a range of bright designs that look absolutely beautiful.
Final Thoughts
It can be overwhelming discovering Baby and Toddler Essentials and trusted must-have items so we hope our Baby & Toddler Mealtime Essentials Checklist helped you locate some affordable and practical products to stock up on!
You can read more of our Parenting Tips for Babies and Toddlers here.
