Spoon-fed weaning, baby-led weaning, self-feeding…..there are so many different approaches to weaning that it is hard to know which is the best strategy for you and your baby. Add this to the stress of knowing which foods to introduce when, juggling family mealtimes with baby-appropriate foods and of course all the mess that comes with letting your baby explore and enjoy new foods and you could be heading for a weaning nightmare!

Here at TUM TUM, we want your weaning adventure to be as stress-free, fun and enjoyable as possible. Introducing your baby to new foods, textures and sensations and developing their taste palette should be an exciting adventure and we are on a mission to make it more fun!

Here are our top tips to help turn weaning from a messy stress to a playful adventure for you and your little one

Don’t stress

Baby-led or spoon-fed? Don’t feel that you have to choose one concrete approach v.s another. What’s right for you and your baby might lie somewhere in between – go with the flow and do what feels right for you and your baby by offering them a wide variety of foods in different forms and letting her choose what she likes best.

Let your baby explore

It might mean that food ends up on the floor and all over your kitchen, but letting your baby explore their foods and make a bit of a mess helps to make mealtimes more fun for them and encourages them to try new textures and tastes. Invest in a good coverall bib, floor mats and other clever weaning products that will help to contain the mess a little!

We love the Tidy Tot Bib & Tray Kit which stops food falling onto baby’s clothes, inside the highchair and onto the floor – genius!

Introduce some fun into mealtimes with a game of Peek-a-Boo. Our Peepo Weaning Pots are perfect for this – turn upside down on your baby’s highchair tray and hide food such as a chunk of cheese or some tasty fruit underneath each bowl for your baby to discover!

Messy Play

Let baby get creative with some tasty ‘finger paints’ made from bright-coloured purees such as carrot, strawberry and spinach. Simply put some blobs on their plate and let them experiment with making patterns with their fingers!

Get Dipping

Give your baby a mix of finger foods and purees and let them play with dipping the food into the purees and licking it off. Fruit dipped in yoghurt or vegetable sticks dipped in hummus works really well. The Dippy ears on our Dippy Face Plate are just perfect for this!

Squish, Squash, Stack

Letting your baby play with their food helps to promote independence and boost fine motor skills. Experiment with squashing bananas, picking up fine pieces of food such as grated cheese or peas, poking holes in sticky foods such as mashed potato or porridge or stacking up (steamed) carrot chunks or pancakes!

Foodie Faces

There’s nothing we love more here at TUM TUM than creating a fun food face! Make food instantly more fun and appealing with some cute food faces using our Dippy Face Plate

Our Weany range has been designed with fun and practicality in mind to help make your weaning adventure as fun and stress-free as possible. With super cute designs that your little one will love, along with clever design features to make feeding easier, it brings fun to every mealtime!