Good for smaller babies, don't rely on them too much though (Tommee Tippee Heat Sensor Weaning Spoons)

Member Name: i_am_joy

Product:	Tommee Tippee Heat Sensor Weaning Spoons
Date:	05/04/09 (151 review reads)
Rating:

Advantages: Good shape, flexible, kind to baby's mouth

Disadvantages: Too small for toddlers, the heat sensor isn't as accurate as I'd like or expect

I was sorting out my kitchen drawer yesterday when I found a couple of my 21 month old granddaughter's baby spoons at the back, this reminded me that I had a half written review about them which I started when she was a baby and had not long begun the weaning process. Giving her her dinner and a yogurt with one last night prompted me to finish the review so here you have my experiences with these Tommee Tippee Heat Sensor Spoons based on feeding an eight month old and a greedy toddler.

When my granddaughter was very small these spoons were the ideal size for her mouth, she could easily get her food off the spoon and soon began to use her tongue and lips in the correct manner to actually get the food inside her rather than all over her bib and clothes. I noticed this wasn't the case with some more rigid spoons I had for her and some Hipp ones I was using at the time actually had to be tilted sidewards to enable her to eat, this was partly because of the rigidity of them but also because they were a strange shovel shape and basically too wide for such a young baby's mouth.

The Tommee Tippee spoons are a much narrower shape, as they are made of a rubber material they are flexible and bend to the shape of my granddaughter's mouth which makes them easier for her to use and also kinder on her sensitive gums.

I wasn't impressed with the heat sensor, but really I bought these based on them looking like good baby spoons as I would never completely put my trust in a product like this. I did take notice of the spoon changing colour, indicating food is too hot, but didn't find it particularly accurate so tended to stick to the age old method of testing the temperature on my top lip. Plus very early on one of my spoons stopped working, the rubber stayed the normal colour even when I stirred a cup of very warm hot chocolate with it. Now this could have been disastrous for any baby whose parent relied on the spoon as a safety measure, I wrote to Tommee Tippee and they very kindly refunded my money and sent a parcel of nice goodies to my granddaughter to apologise.

Now if I may fast forward a year, my granddaughter is feeding herself almost all of the time now. Last night she ate sausage and mash using one of these spoons and I must say straightaway that they are not terribly practical for a toddler. Practically instantly she realised that she could flick food off her spoon by gripping the flexible rubber bowl between her teeth, she made a real mess with her gravy and eventually I gave her the metal spoon she has been using for a while now. The handle of the Tommee Tippee spoon was too short for her to get a proper hold, it's long enough when an adult is feeding a baby but my granddaughter couldn't seem to hold it comfortably enough to get the food into her mouth.

Also there's the annoyance of the bowl just being too small for my granddaughter to get a decent sized amount of food onto it. This might be an advantage if you have a toddler who puts too much in their mouth at once, but my granddaughter found it very frustrating.

To be fair to Tommee Tippee these are meant as baby weaning spoons and are not designed for babies who feed themselves, when my granddaughter was smaller they were great (apart from the insensitivity of the colour changing aspect) but now she's bigger she needs a proper spoon and not this bendy one!

I can't remember how much I paid for them as it was such a long time ago, they are available in places like Boots for around £2.50 for three spoons though. This is a reasonable price in my opinion, but be warned: Do not completely trust the results the spoon gives you about the temperature of your baby's dinner.

Summary: These are nice spoons but not ideal for testing the temperature of your little one's food.