Isabelle meets food (neocate spoon...dairy free weaning)

Hello! We've decided that we're going to keep a little weekly dairy here of Isabelle's weaning for two reasons, firstly because Daddy is at work so he will get to catch up on things and not 'miss' anything from her weaning and finally to share with you, hopefully help someone else that is weaning or about to start weaning (and also some of you can hopefully help us too). We aren't going to be doing blw but I am going to be making 99% of her food.

steamer at the ready!

So as Isabelle is dairy intolerant she's going to be weaned dairy free using Neocate Spoon which we got on prescription, it comes in a sachet and you mix it with 60ml of cool boiled water - it looks just like baby rice. I've tasted it and I've made Michael too. I don't know why but I taste everything that she has for the first time... teething gel, new foods... crazy lady? I done it with Oliver too when he was a baby - I'm not still doing it though or I'd have to taste yucky antibiotics.

We were so excited to be sent some lovely products by Oxo Tot, I'm already a fan of the brand Oxo so to be able to introduce them to Isabelle at such a young age is great. I like using brands I trust with her and these are super convienent. I already have my eye on a few of their other items.

They sent us a bowl which is obviously essential to weaning, there is lots of bowls out  there to choose from so why is this bowl the best in my opinion? It's the only bowl we have and I think it's the only one we need actually because it isn't just your average baby bowl, this bowl is called 'divided feeding dish' which means you have two sections in one bowl. Ideal for if you've got two different things at meal time each section is a good size which is able to hold 120ml each (that's a stage 2 jar if you're going to use them, I'm not but it's still nice to know size wise as you can picture it better). It's ideal for pureeed foods with it's outer ring meaning you can easily get the food on the spoon and you can wipe of any not needed. There's also a lid which is fantastic for us because we won't be in every lunch time! So we needed something that could be used on the go, all of the bits come apart for cleaning and then fit together nicely again.. the bowl then the lid then the outer bit goes on top for compact storage. It's ideal for ontop of high chair trays with it's non-slip bottom, it will be harder for baby to push it away and also when little one gets to an age when they would like to feed themselves a little bit - or just give it a try, then the bowl won't slip away from them on the highchair tray. haha! Mummy's wised up second time around (on a few things). It's ideal for little ones that have two different foods for one meal but hate both touching each other, keeps them separate. Oliver went through a big phase of 'it's touching!' Screaming! so to avoid those Argghhh moments, I'd suggest this bowl. These retail for £8.17 and you can even find them on Amazon (I love it when things are on Amazon, I can order everything I need in one place! Lazy).

We were also sent a very clever little spoon, like the bowl it's ideal for meals on the go because it's got it's very own case. It's called the 'on the go feeding spoon' which has a shallow silicone spoon meaning baby isn't going to get too much in one go - ideal for beginners like Isabelle. It's compact in size and ideal for changing bags so you've always got a spoon with you. These are also available in three colour ways, green, blue and pink. We have the raspberry (pink) colour way, perfect for a little girl. These retail for £4.50 which I think is a great price considering it's a travel spoon and it's going to stay clean at the bottom of your bag, so if you're out and about at meal times atleast you know you've got a clean spoon with you if nothing else because you can pop into a shop and get something. What's really great is it can be popped in the dishwasher - so can the bowl actually, we have only recently started using the dishwasher and I now find myself thinking "Great!" when things can just be popped in there. 

The final thing we were sent is a something we haven't used yet, it's a 'sippy cup set with handles' again in the raspberry colourway. This will be ideal in a little while when she's having a little drink so I will tell you more about that soon.

So Isabelle was introduced to Neocate spoon... She's been really interested in what we've been eating, the lovely sandwiches, crisps and cakes so I feel a little bit bad just giving her this - she looked at it and then looked at me as if to say "would you eat this?" but then she started to try to 'suck' the spoon like she would if she was drinking milk and then I realised that this Neocate spoon isn't really for taste or look of it, it's just to get her used to having something different, a different texture in her mouth and get used to 'eating' rather than just drinking. Plus this doesn't last for long and we will be introducing something tasty (a carrot) soon. She got the hang of it after a few licks but then she decided that her feet needed to be involved and decided to eat them too so they got very sticky with neocate spoon all over them... lovely. We knew it would be messy but feet?

I really love the bowl, I think the two sections are really handy and the spoon matches it perfectly being able to get every bit out of the bowl, easily out of the corners too. I love that the spoon is metal, like a normal spoon underneath the baby safe silicone, meaning it's really easy to use. It's also fantastic for getting bits of food off babys face due to it's shape. Oliver had some really cheap plastic ones that just didn't feel comfortable in my hand but these are lovely to hold. My fav feature is still that you can take it out and keep it clean!

If you're about to start weaning I'll recommend having a look at Oxo Tot's items, they also have two lovely high chairs in their feeding range which look really good too. We still haven't sorted out a highchair, as you can see at the moment shes sat in her bouncer. You can find Oxo Tot on facebook too - Oxo Tot Facebook

I'll tell you tomorrow how Isabelle gets on with her next lot of Neocate spoon and I would love to hear from anyone else weaning at the moment too :) Have you got any reciepe ideas for first foods that don't have any dairy in them?

please note that the bowl, spoon and sippy cup were sent to us by Oxo Tot for the purpose of this review but all of the views are our own.
Mary-Kate, x