- As an occupational therapist,
I often get asked by parents whether or not
they should buy food dispensing spoons,
like the Boon Squirt or the Munchkin Squeeze Spoon
or the Nuby Squeeze Spoon.
In this video, I'm gonna talk about the pros and cons
of the spoon and why I wouldn't necessarily
think it's the best product out there
and why there's a more suitable option
that I think would be just as good
and more beneficial for you and your bub.
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If this is your first time here, my name's Emma
and this channel's all about
helping you become a confident parent
by giving you the tips and tricks
I've learned along the way
practicing as an occupational therapist
and also being mum to two children.
So if you want to make your life as parents
significantly easier,
make sure you start now by subscribing to my channel
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So firstly, it's really important to know
that looking at, smelling and touching food
is really important when a baby's learning to eat food
and if you don't give your baby those opportunities,
they're more likely to become fussy eaters in the future.
So if you're purely looking at a food dispensing spoon
because you're trying to limit the mess
then the answer is no,
you should not get one of these spoons.
What you should do is embrace the mess.
So you might want to invest in a really good
baby paint smock that your baby can put on
during meal times and put something on the floor
and let your baby explore the food.
But if you're wanting a food dispensing spoon
for when you're out and about
so it's something that you can put in your nappy bag
and then use when you're visiting friends or family
then it might be something worthwhile considering.
But what you need to be aware is
that these food dispensing spoons
are only able to kind of manage,
because of the size of the hole, really finally pureed food.
And generally when your baby's starting to eat food
they might be on fine puree for about a month.
So if they start solids at six months,
they're definitely gonna be on a mashable food
by about seven months
so then that spoon's no longer gonna work.
So the spoon will only be beneficial for four weeks.
The design of this food dispensing spoons
also means that the spoon, when it's in your baby's mouth
is an angle which then means
that when they're clearing food off the spoon,
generally they will be using the top of their lip
to clear it off, which isn't great.
We want them to work on lip seal,
which has been able to close their lips fully
and then remove the food from the spoon.
With the food dispensing spoon, they are at an angle
so it doesn't work on that great lip seal for your baby.
And therefore they're not developing that vital skill.
Also when the food's placed in these food dispensing spoons,
it's really difficult to heat it up.
So if you're looking for an option to carry the food
when you're out and about,
and you're not necessarily using it all the time,
so at home you are gonna work on that spoon-feeding
then I would recommend using reusable pouches.
So that's because these are dishwasher proof,
they're also, it's really easy to reheat the food
when it's in the pouches.
The other thing is, which is great,
is it can handle pureed food as well as mashable food.
So it's gonna last your baby significantly longer.
And it's also able to,
you're also able to seal it really well,
which is sometimes an issue
with those food dispensing spoons.
The other benefit is with these kind of pouches,
you can just use a spoon.
So when you're out and about you just take a spoon
or you can get attachments
but I'd prefer just to take a spoon
that you could put the food on
and then your baby's still working
on that lip closure and clearing food off a spoon
which is a skill that they need to learn.
Now, if you're not quite sure what spoons
to get for your baby when you're first introducing solids,
make sure you check out my video which I made,
which covers what spoons are most beneficial.
And then also the do's and don'ts of spoon-feeding.
Also if meal times are a bit overwhelming for you
or just bit confusing and you want some tips and tricks
go check out this video
which will be extremely helpful
because it covers what you could do in mealtimes
to make it easier for both you and your bub.
Also if your baby starts storing food
which is something I find really exciting
because it tells me they're learning amazing skills
but as parents, I know it's extremely frustrating.
Check out my video, where I covered the strategies
that you can use to stop your baby
doing this annoying behavior.
Make sure you check out that free PDF document
in the description box below
which covers the developmental milestones
that you can be expecting for your baby
in their first year of life.
This will give you an invaluable peace of mind
as you'll know what to expect and when to be concerned.
If you haven't already, make sure you subscribe
to my channel to make your life
as parents significantly easier.
And if you've enjoyed this video, hit that like button
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when I release a new video every week.
And hopefully I'll see you next week
where I'll share more parenting tips and tricks.
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