My nearly three year old has been a fan of the absorbent, porous, yellow one since she first realised she could focus her eyes. Not surprisingly, the Nuby Spongebob Squarepants No-Spill Hard Spout Cup was an instant hit with her. The No-Spill aspect was an instant hit with me!
We already use the Nuby No-Spill Flip-It but my daughter is a terrible chewer of straws. The silicone withstands the constant attention of her teeth quite well but eventually, damage occurs. Replacement straws are available to buy but I thought I might be better off with a hard spout beaker.
The spout has a gently curved shape making it very comfortable for little mouths and an ingenious valve that clicks into place under the lid to give the most welcome No-Spill feature.
We had a little 'picnic' in the living room, without fear of messy puddles, all the excitement of her favourite cartoon character and no need for reprimands to "stop chewing!"
Again this is designed to be fun for children and practical for their parents. It is a two handled, good sized container with a soft, penetrable lid that allows little fingers access to the snacks within but avoids accidental spillage. It is so simple yet completely brilliant. The dual handles make it very easy to hold.
When Grandad comes to visit, he always brings treats. Often these treats take the form of little packets of sweets. Invariably, the packets split. The amount of melted chocolate buttons and sticky jelly tots I've found under my sofa cushions is unbelievable. Transferring the sweets into the Snack Keeper will avoid this.
Our car seat and buggy are two more areas subject to food related mishaps. The Snack Keeper is perfect for spill free out and about snacking. I'm wondering how I ever managed without it.
So far, my baby boy has cut his two bottom front teeth. Now it is the turn of the top two. One has just made an appearance but the other has yet to break through the hard, lumpy, sore gum with the inevitable discomfort that makes for a grouchy baby. I want to do whatever I can do to distract him from his grumpiness and aid the teething process so he has an easier time of it (and as a happy consequence, I have an easier time of it!). This is where teething toys have a role to play.
I have already tested, reviewed and fallen in love with the Nuby Twisty Bugz Teether. (You can read my review and enter my giveaway to win one here). I was very happy to be given the opportunity to try some of the other teething toys in the Nuby range. I chose from their website a Teether Tugz, Flip Flop Book and Ding A Lings. I really don't think that the images on the website do them justice.
All of the teether toys were produced with the attention to detail in terms of safety and thoughtful design that I have come to expect from Nuby. They were bigger than I imagined, bright and colourful, invited exploration and represented excellent value for money.
TEETHER TUGZ
This was my favourite of the three teether toys. It is a fairly simple stuffed bug but with oversized wings and so many different colours and textures for little hands and minds to discover (also available as an elephant or rabbit with oversized ears). It is a welcome addition to our toybox.
FLIP FLOP TEETHER BOOK
What better way to nurture a future love for reading than to give your child a book that crinkles, rustles and squeaks as well as providing ideal, textured teething surfaces. The actual story is not the greatest example of child literature I've ever seen (!) but it doesn't detract from this being a lovely toy. True to form, my boy was most fascinated by the small velcro strap that holds the pages together when the book is not being read.
DING A LINGS
This was my baby boy's favourite, which bodes well for his musical future. It makes a interesting chiming noise when you shake it and the long, dangly body seems to dance about in time. We had the frog Ding A Ling. Other animal designs are available. The top part of the toy, which my boy had straight in his mouth for a good gnaw, doubles up as a link to fasten it to your car seat, buggy etc. Perfect to stop it being dropped when you are out and about.
I think the best way to showcase these products is in the hands of a baby. He can show with his actions what I cannot begin to explain with my words.
I am in absolutely no danger of being in breach of my 'Blogging with Integrity' promise when I say that I adore this Nuby teether and can see why it won the Mother and Baby Gold Award in 2009.
Nuby Twisty Bugz Teether - £4.99
It is beautifully designed, well made, colourful and brimming with features that make it interesting, practical and just plain cute.
Suitable for babies from 6 months, it is perfect for little hands to hold. My baby boy was quickly twisting and clicking and rattling, exploring the different textures and chomping down on the specially designed gel filled 'teething nubs' that form the wings of the bees. The knotted antennae on the bugz proved popular with my little one but his absolute favourite part of the toy was the crinkly petals of the flower and dare I say it, the care label situated in the same location!
This is a video of the Nuby Twisty Bugz Teether being demonstrated by my boy, aged 7 months.
Nuby have kindly supplied me with a Twisty Bugz Teether, a Sure Grip Bowl and six pack of Feeding Spoons (reviewed here) to giveaway.
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The Nuby No-Spill Easy Grip Cup is suitable for babies from 6 months. My little man is very nearly 7 months but has never known anything other than the breast. I could see straight away that this cup would make an easy transition from a bottle but I was keen to see if it was something my son would take to readily.
I used Organic mineral water with a splash of apple in the cup - a brand new taste - it was a day of firsts for a small boy.
He was very interested in the Cup, exploring with hands and mouth. The contoured shape did seem particularly suited to little hands making it easy to manoeuvre. He needed a bit of help to get the spout to his mouth but he had a very good go by himself before I intervened.
I recently tried to introduce a dummy to my boy because I was having a lot of trouble settling him down at night. He hated it with a passion, spitting it out and shaking his head from side to side to avoid it. There was no such issue with the silicon No-Spill Spout. I could see his little tongue investigating it thoroughly. I have to admit, he didn't actually take a lot of the drink this first time but he did have a few really good mouthfuls. He had to work quite hard for it but that is prefereable to the horrible look of panic as too much liquid rushes down the unsuspecting little throat of a baby who is trying to drink from an ordinary cup.
The other huge advantage of the No-Spill Cup, of course, is the no mess element. I could happily leave the boy with minimal supervision to get on with it without fear of him soaking himself and everything around him.
The No-Spill Spout is astonishingly good. Even when given a good shake in the inverted position (cup that is, not son!), the drink remained safely contained within.
The Cup was dropped onto the tiled kitchen floor several times during this first exploration, to no ill effect.
My 2 year old is perfectly capable of drinking out of a regular cup, mug, glass, straw, bottle or can. There isn't anything she can't handle.
This was a non alcoholic, sparkling fruit juice drink!
However, for her safety, my peace of mind and the sake of my carpets and soft furnishings, I prefer her to have a lidded beaker of some description for the times when she is not sat at the table.
She loved having bottled mineral water with sports caps, the same as her older sisters, but it made me cringe when I saw her using her precious little pearly white baby teeth to pull the sports cap top into the drinking position. Not wanting to discourage her from drinking water, I gave her the Flip-It beaker instead.
The Flip-It beaker was received with enthusiasm. The bright colours are appealing, it is lovely to hold and the Flip-It mechanism fascinated her. As well as being interesting to the child, there is a very practical purpose to the Flip-It top in that it protects the straw from contamination.
I am slightly worried that my daughter is prone to chewing on the straw which will cause damage. Replacement straws are available in that eventuality.
Did Nuby deserve its reputation as "one of the world's leading baby and infant feeding brands" ?
I can now honestly say that for the innovative designs, the attention to detail, the appeal to both parent and child and the extensive range to cover just about every need, my answer to that question is a resounding YES.
As the introduction of solid food picks up pace for my baby boy, I am constantly on the lookout for things that will make the whole experience enjoyable for both him and myself.
Everything lookedlovely, but how did they perform? Did Nuby deserve its reputation as "one of the world's leading baby and infant feeding brands" ?
I started with the feeding bowl and spoons.
Nuby Sure Grip Bowl & Feeding Spoons
It was hard not to be impressed by the fresh, vibrant colour of the Sure Grip Bowl and the plastic felt thick and slightly rubbery (I have had too many of the brittle plastic bowls meet an untimely demise as they are flung gleefully from high chair to tiled kitchen floor). The unusual oval shape fitted very snugly in my hand and the contoured edge allowed easy visibility of the contents whilst providing a good surface to scoop the food up against, making the bowl comfortable and efficient to use. The baby enjoyed handling it too and the non-skid base did mostly keep it within reach and prevent too many 'bowl overboard' incidents! The feeding spoons came in a pack of six different colours.
The most surprising thing about the spoons was their length which I thought might make feeding a little awkward but the opposite proved to be true. As well as having the advantage of reaching easily to the bottom of even the tallest of the baby food jars, it did seem to offer a high degree of control. I may be getting a bit geeky about this but the spoon had a very satisfying balance point which I am sure was not arrived at by accident and demonstrates the attention to detail that must have been applied at the design stage. The decorative handle doubles up as an excellent gripping surface, ensuring I could keep a firm hold of the spoon even with my most enthusiastic little feeder!
If I chose to feed my baby out of an empty yoghurt pot with an old tea spoon, undoubtedly the food would find its way into his tummy but these modestly priced products do represent thoughtful design that certainly contribute to a positive feeding experience.
