The Best Spoons for Baby-led Weaning (Tested By A Mom Of Two & BLW Coach)
Starting solid foods with your baby can seem daunting, especially if you’re a first-time mom.
That’s why It’s important to do all your research before giving your baby their first plate of food.
As a mom who did baby-led weaning with my two toddlers, I have first-hand experience testing many baby spoons and other utensils to pick the best one.
I’ve also coached many moms through baby-led weaning in the last few years, so you know my recommendations are based on experience.
In this article, I’ll be breaking down a list of the best spoons for baby-led weaning to help you choose the best baby utensils for tiny hands.
Before we dive into our list, let’s first look at some important things to consider when choosing baby spoons for your baby’s first foods.
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Important Consideration for Choosing Baby Spoons for Baby-led Weaning
The Age of Your Baby
Not every baby utensils are ideal for every child. How old your baby is will greatly determine which type of spoon you should buy for them.
Babies between 6-8 months of age are usually just starting baby-led weaning (BLW), so they will require soft silicone baby spoons. These types of spoons are ideal because they’re designed for practicing eating.
Silicone baby utensils are designed to help babies learn to bring food from their plates to their mouths as they watch the adults in their lives eat.
These spoons also tend to have a choke guard to prevent babies from sticking the utensils too far into their throats. Choke guards help to minimize the gag reflex which is usually very strong in babies in this age group.
These silicone baby spoons are made for eating soft foods like oatmeal, yogurt, and mashed fruits and vegetables.
The Feeding Method You Want to Use
Apart from considering your child’s age, it’s also important to consider the type of feeding method you plan to use for baby-led weaning.
What I mean is, whether or not you will be spoon-feeding your child some of the time or let them self-feed all the time. If you plan to do a combination of spoon-feeding and baby-led weaning, then you’ll want a different kind of spoon.
Another thing to consider is that babies will learn to feed themselves more easily from a pre-loaded spoon, so it’s important to get utensils that a baby’s hand can easily grip without slipping.
Now that you know some things to keep in mind when choosing the perfect utensils for your baby, let’s now get into my list of the best baby spoons for baby-led weaning.
How We Tested The Baby Spoons And Forks
I tested these baby utensils on both my kids starting at 6 months old. We’ve used over 10 different brands of baby spoons and forks for over 3 years now as they’ve grown older.
My oldest is now 3 1/2 years old and my youngest is 2 years old. In addition, I interviewed 5 of my other mommy friends who have a total of 6 kids between them to get their opinions on what they consider the best baby spoons and forks, based on their experience.
I’ve compiled a list of our top picks for you today.
The Best Silicone Baby Spoons For Early Self Feeding
What We Love:
- Easy to grab
- Great for teething
- Comes with two spoons
- Each spoon is for different stages
The Downside:
- It doesn’t grab a lot of food with each scoop
- May not be best for a hungry baby
- Only good for babies between 6 months to 7 months
Get NumNum Gootensils on Amazon
The NumNum baby spoon is a silicon baby spoon called a Gootensil because it’s designed for gooey baby food like oatmeal and pureed fruits and vegetables.
This should be the first spoon for most babies. Its unique shape makes it easy to trap gooey food into the webbing of the spoon’s head.
This allows little hands to feed themselves easily.
This spoon is designed to help encourage fine motor skills as a baby learns the motions of bringing food from a plate to their mouth. It’s best for babies between 6 months and 7 months old.
What We Love:
- Easy for baby to grab
- Great for teething
- Easy for parents to Pre-load for feeding
- Comes with a fork and spoon
- Great for gooey foods
The Downside:
- The spoon isn’t great for non-sticky foods
Get the Olababy Training Spoon On Amazon
After your baby has gotten better at using their Gootensil, you’ll want to switch to something more shaped like a spoon that’s better at scooping food.
That’s where the Olababy training spoon comes into play.
This training spoon is a great way to ease your baby into more textured foods other than oatmeal and yogurt.
I used this spoon with both of my kids when they first started BLW. It’s best for kids ages 8 months to 9 months old.
You’ll want to pre-load the spoon before you hand it to your baby so they can practice eating easily. The fork is great for introducing steamed veggies and pasta to babies.
The Best Baby-led Weaning & Toddler Utensil Combo
Re-Play Made in USA Toddler Forks and Spoons
What We Love:
- They are made with recycled milk jugs (environmentally friendly)
- Made in the USA
- Great for both babies and toddlers
- Easy for babies to grab and feed themselves
- The deep spoon curve is great for scooping
- Fork edges aren’t too sharp
The Downside:
– Better for kids experienced with baby-led weaning (9 months and up)
Get the Re-play toddler utensils On Amazon
These Re-play toddler forks and spoons are great for kids of all ages. These were my kid’s favorite overall out of all the utensils they’ve used over the years.
This company also makes a smaller version for infants that may be easier to hold. My baby is shown using it in the first picture above.
They are easy to hold and great for scooping up food. The fork can pierce through and pick up anything imaginable, without being too sharp.
All the moms I spoke to also gave these baby utensils great ratings. My kids who are now 2 and 3 years old still use them every day. They’ve been using them since they were both 9 months old.
What We Love:
- Easy to hold
- Great for self-feeding
- spoon can hold a lot more food
- The fork doesn’t have sharp edges
- The fork can easily pick up food
- Makes kids feel like “grown-ups”
The Downside:
- The handle is plastic so it’s not good for teething
Get the Oxo Tot Utensils On Amazon
These Oxo Tot fork and spoon sets are great for more experienced toddlers who have graduated from the silicon utensil stage of baby-led weaning. The spoon is curved in a way that allows it to hold more food for easy feeding.
The fork is also great because it has rounded edges, yet can still pick up any type of food. So you won’t have to worry about your baby poking themselves accidentally with a sharp utensil.
What We Love:
- Easy for small baby hands to hold
- Great utensil for baby-led weaning
- Very sturdy so won’t bend or break easily
- The fork works great for baby-led weaning. Easily picks up food.
- Has a built-in choke guard
The Downside:
- The spoon isn’t as curvy so doesn’t pick up much food
- The distance from the spoon to the choke guard is too short. This may lead to frustration in some kids
Get the Grabease baby utensils on Amazon
I have mixed reviews about this spoon and fork combo. My kids really loved using the fork in their early days of baby-led weaning, after transitioning from silicone utensils.
However, they hated using the spoon. The spoon is built in such as way that there isn’t a curve between the head and the handle. So It doesn’t spoon much food. This led to frustrations in both my kids using it for rice and other meals.
I decided to stop using it after about a month.
Other moms I spoke to really loved this utensil, and it seemed to work for their kids. A bonus is that it fits inside a Bentgo lunch box so it can be used into toddlerhood.
Final Word About Spoons for Babies and Toddlers
There are so many spoons out there that would be great for your baby. It’s easy to let decision paralysis stop us from making a choice, so my advice to you is to just pick one brand and stick with it for a while.
Give your baby a chance to use it for a few months before you decide whether it works or not for your little one.
FAQs About Spoons for Baby-led Weaning
When Do Babies Start Using Utensils?
Babies can start using utensils as soon as they’re ready to start solids. This typically happens around 6 months old.
Babies can be introduced to the silicone spoons and forks listed above to help them practice their fine motor skills of bringing food from the plate to their mouths.
Occupational therapists and feeding therapists agree that this is the most important skill to teach your baby when weaning them into solid foods.
