Use this MAM online shop promotional code to get 25% off the MAM feeding range and cups.

Click here to use your MAM online shop promotional code*

• Discount: 25%
• Applies to: MAM feeding range and cups
• Promotional code: HIPP25
• Expires: 25th April 2013

To use this MAM coupon code you will need to go through checkout. Enter the code in the Coupon Code box along with your other details and hit Continue. You'll see the discount deducted if it is accepted before you need to put in any payment information.

All MAM products are BPA free. The online store sells a range of products to support breastfeeding, bottle feeding and weaning.

I tested the code out on a 150ml MAM starter cup, priced at £5.99, and the code took £1.50 off. Delivery is £3.99, so the code will give best value if you are able to spread it over a few items.

Thanks to Lemony_7 at HUKD!

Most kids don't take long to latch on to a favourite cartoon or story character, and in my daughter's case that “silly old bear” Winnie the Pooh has been number one practically since birth.

As far as I can tell, this is the same as the Tommee Tippee Magic Mat I got when son first started weaning. Basically it is a sort of plastic mat that also has a non-slip surface. I got it so that he could feed himself when we were out, without also dragging the plate or bowl off the table.

Unfortunately it doesn't stop them from picking up the plate and throwing it on the floor if that's what your toddler really, really wants to do! It is a magic mat - just not THAT magic. But the sucker does work, and if you're at a restaurant it saves you a lot of mess.

I also had one of those little material portable high chairs, the kind you can use with most sorts of dining chairs. The combination helped him be able to join in at the dinner table where ever we went, even if there wasn't a high chair.

The mat itself worked really well with all the plates we used. So no accidental knocks at all, just the on-purpose, I'm determined to do this, kind. The non-slip surface also helped steady cups when he was trying to be all independent, picking up and putting down himself.

Another major plus is how easy to clean it is, and also how it keeps looking just like new. Even now, 7 years later. Yes, I am still using it. Although now the mat sits on a shelf in my kitchen. There's a few items that I like, and I want to keep, like a gorgeous fruit bowl. It is hard to keep nice things when you've boys in particular. The non-slip mat stops me from knocking them over by accident, or anyone else. Also, again, it is easy to whip off and keep clean. And the blue colour matches my kitchen decor!

Becothings ,them of the BecoPotty and BecoStep, have brought out a new product: The BecoFeeding Set.

The BecoFeeding Set is an eco-friendly feeding set, made from natural plant fibres found in bamboo and rice husks. These are sustainable and durable, making them environmentally friendly and free from all the plastic related BPA and Phthalates.

This feeding set is available in three different colours, blue, pink and a very natural looking green.

The set consists of three parts – a plate, a bowl and a cup.

The cup is what they call a ‘slim design’, in other words it’s not round, but actually oval shaped, with raised sides to avoid spilling. It is designed in this odd shape to make it easier for little hands to grip onto, which I can agree that it is.

The bowl has the same curved ridges, which is quite good looking, and could easily serve as adult cereal bowls too. It’s quite shallow, which is good for little hands too as they don’t have to be particularly much higher than the bowl to get to the bottom of it.

The plate is really lovely. It is in a flower shape, with the same high sides, although not as high as the bowl, which is great for providing resistance with putting things on a fork, rather than it ending up all over the table.

As with the other BecoThings products, this Feeding set is made from natural plant fibres, is ethically manufactured, and is biodegradeable, so it won’t be in landfill when your little one’s children have their grand children, which is always a nice thought.

From a practical use point of view, the BecoThings BecoFeeding set is top drawer dishwasher safe,  and it is food safe. It is not,  however, microwave safe, but then child and baby food shouldn’t really be microwaved anyway.

The set is available from BecoThings, and a few other stores and RRP’s at £11.99, which really isn’t bad for the quality of the product you’re getting.

We’ve been reviewing a range of baby food accessories from Annabel Karmel  and NUK over the last few weeks, some of which we love and some of which are perfectly fine, but didn’t rock our world.

Starting with the Stackable Food Pots, I must come clean on something first: my eldest daughter is two years old and my youngest is a month old today, so we didn’t use these for purees. In fact, we practice Baby Led Weaning, so my eldest rarely saw a puree, and I never mushed up food for her, so I don’t really have much of a basis of comparison of these as suitable for purees. However, they are fantastic pots for snacks when out and about and we’ve actually been using them for breakfasts too.

I make a litre of yoghurt for our family about once a week, and then disseminate the yoghurt from the maker into portions for the week. Add a few nuts, fruit and so on, and pop them in the fridge and my hubby can pull one out in the morning for her. The portion size is perfect – it looks a bit small, but honestly, it’s about as much as she eats.

The other thing they are perfect for is snacks while out and about – raisins, small cubes of fruit and so on. I’m not so good at the ‘snacks on the go’ thing yet, but when we do, it’s the perfect size.

I'm well and truly stuck on the fence when it comes to the Boon Squirt Spoon - I can't decide whether it's genius or junk!

• Click HERE to take a look at the Boon Squirt Spoon

So, the Boon Squirt Spoon - it's a spoon with a a squeezy reservoir (Boon call it a 'bulb') on the end, which holds 85g of baby food and squirts the right amount onto the spoon bit when you squeeze it.

Apparently, this will make one-handed feeding much easier for parents and saves you having to remember to take a spoon AND container of food with you when you go out.  They come in various funky colours and cost £8.95 each.

My baby weaning days are well and truly over (thank goodness) and I managed to get by perfectly well with a bowl and a little flat plastic spoon.  So on this side of the fence I'd say that the Boon Squirt Spoon is just a seriously overpriced piece of unnecessary baby 'stuff'.  

Not only that, but you'll need to faff around with filling it up, then taking it apart and making sure it's super clean inside ready  for the next time.

But then I remembered all those time when little hands found their way into the food bowls which led to one, some, or all of three outcomes:

1. More food ended up on their faces and in their hair than in their mouths
2. My clothes ended up covered in their food
3. The entire bowl was upended and invariably found its way to the floor

If I'd had a Boon Squirt Spoon then these things wouldn't have happened and I wouldn't have gone out with clothes covered in dried baby food (why do you never notice before you leave the house!?).  So on this side of the fence I'd say it's genius; £8.95 well spent and why on earth did it take someone so long to come up with it?!

So what say you?  The Boon Squirt Spoon - genius or junk?

By Carla do a Bib and Splash Mat Set that’s currently in pride of place on my living room floor.

The 70x70cm splash mat is ideal for use when painting, colouring, cutting and other crafts, as well as for messy play or playdoh and even for snack times – or meal times when you’re weaning. It creates a fantastic easy to lift up and dust off, then wipe clean surface.

The bib is a long sleeved, flat fronted bib making it ideal for play time when you don’t want the clothes the get dirty – especially with paints or a chalk board – and it has a pelican bib that you can fold out to catch food during meals.

The splash mat and bib are made of plastic, but rather than being PVC they are something called  PETA, which is apparently a chlorine-free vinyl that’s starting to be used in lots of products as a replacement for PVC. It’s not a perfect substance as it’s still a petrochemical product and not entirely tested, but it’s already better than PVC.

It’s nicely finished off with a binding to keep the edges reinforced, and the bib has a Velcro tab at the top to keep it in place.

There are two designs, the Nougat, which is zebra-like black and white stripes , and Playtime, which are simply gorgeous newborn-ish sized hand and foot prints in a variety of colours  - pink, purple, blue and green – with yellow binding. I would say both are pretty unisex in appearance.

The Bib and Splash Mat Set come in a carry bag made of similar materials, but undecorated, and it’s a perfect storing place for when they’re not in use.  My daughter also loves carrying them around in their ‘handbag’.

She loves the set and often asks to wear her ‘apron’.   We were also really surprised by the price. We guestimated the price at £20 - £30, but Amazon are selling them at £12.99.

Here's a good one to stock up on. This is a 2 pack of 6 125g jars in each pack, making 12 in total, of the HiPP Organic stage 1 banana and peach dessert. Amazon has this reduced down to £3.36 from £9.36, and delivery is free with Amazon Prime.

• Click here for HiPP Organic desserts at Amazon

I loved the HiPP jars when son was a baby. Organic, and tasty, really handy to have one around for use when you needed it. I travelled a lot, so it was good to be able to have a jar around to hand for a quick snack where it wasn't possible to give them anything else.

The desserts are quite lovely. Although the name makes it sound like a sugar filled nightmare, they're really just fruit. There isn't any added sugar or sweetener! And they're not as sweet as the name sounds. I also found that they are FABULOUS for grownups too, when mixed with natural yoghurt. I think I might have eaten more of them than my son did...

These desserts are, specifically, bananas and peaches blended with rice. There are no preservatives.

The ingredients are: fruits (78%) (bananas (50%), peaches (25%), lemon juice from  concentrate, water, ground rice (3%), antioxidant ascorbic acid. All ingredients are organic, unless stated. In this produce the water and antioxidant ascorbic acid are from non-organic sources. The desserts are gluten free, and there's no added milk products.

Thanks to shadow1 at HUKD!

When Tilly Beazeley had her son eight years ago, she figured there had to be a simple and easy way to make healthy food for weaning. And out of that idea The Wean Machine (£19.99) was born.

It is a fairly simple device actually. Working a lot like a garlic press, you put food in it and, well, press. You can use it on your own food, so there's no need to cook separate meals. Now that's something I like the sound of.

According to the website it is BPA, Phthalate and PVC Free.

I gave The Wean Machine to Emily, to try out with her 8 month old baby.  To start with, Emily did what I probably would have done. Took the Wean Machine out of the box and used it without reading the instructions. Or rather, tried to use it.

"It was a little bit daunting trying to figure it out, until I realised it was just kind of like a large yellow garlic press. I had a fiddle and then realised that I had better read the instructions to make sure I didn’t break it before it even had a chance to squish some food!"

Although it doesn't say on the website what you get exactly with this product, Emily told us that it came with three sizes of grid for various consistencies of food. "I used the one with the largest holes as I am trying to get baby to eat lumpier food."

She had a little trouble when it came to swapping from one grid to another. "I had a problem the first time I did this, as I didn’t realise there was a little notch, and I was trying to put the grid on the wrong way round. On further inspection, I noticed the notch and was able to add the new grid with ease. If only I’d read those instructions in the first place…"

Overall, Emily found that The Wean Machine was really easy to use. "I popped the cooked veggies in the little bowl, and squished them up well." She first tried it with potato, parsnip, sweet potato, carrot and broccoli. However she did have a little bit of trouble with the last two vegetables. "I hadn’t cooked the carrots to death, so they were a little harder to press through the squishing grid, as was the broccoli."

She also found that when the food was pressed through the grid, there was a little bit left in the food holder. You’ll have experienced the same when you use a garlic press – there’s always a little bit left in the bottom that hasn’t managed to go through the grid. But this didn't go to waste. "I was able to scrape out the little bit of food in there, and just use it in the dinners as normal. It was pretty well squished up."

According to the manufacturer, The Wean Machine is easily sterilised and 'top-shelf dishwasher safe'. It is not suitable for microwave sterilisation. Cleaning The Wean Machine was a concern that Emily had, but she needn't have worried as it turned out.  "I was simply able to rinse it under hot soapy water, and it was fine."

Emily's overall verdict was a positive one. She liked how useful and portable it is.  "I haven't yet taken it to a restaurant with me, but I will be trying that soon. Sometimes I want to take a banana for baby's lunch, and on occasion I've brought a little bowl and a fork with me for mashing. The Wean Machine is totally handy – I can just bring it instead."

And finally

You can buy a Wean Machine Grills And Spoon pack, to add to your Wean Machine, for £4.99. The site also sells a book called What Am I Eating, which it describes as "new fun way to educate and share the joy of eating healthy fresh food. Beautiful images with simple, pure and quick recipes. Fun facts too!"

When my son was a baby, the current thinking at the time  was that six months was a good time to start weaning, particularly if you have a family history of allergies and asthma, as we did.

Weaning on to solids coincided with my return to work. I worked full time, four days a week in an office with an hour long commute each way. I got these Small Weaning Pots with Trays from JoJo Maman Bebe so that I could freeze his meals in large batches once a week.

I could have used an ice cube tray - a lot of articles I read at the time recommended this approach. My son however had a very big appetite, and the ice cubes looked rather small. I also liked that the weaning cubes had lids.

The lids clip on securely, and firmly. They kept the contents of the cube inside, with no leakage when I was out. Although I should point out I carried them stacked in the insulated bottle pocket of my change bag, so they were pretty much upright all the time.

I never did use the labels. In fact I'd forgotten about those until I read the product description again. I guess they're still in a cupboard or drawer somewhere! I did buy a second set of these trays. So that one tray would have, say, mashed potato, sweet potato, and carrots. Another tray would have mashed up whatever it was that I'd cooked for our own dinner. Another tray would have finger type foods that he could much on like sliced carrots. And the fourth would have foods he liked, such as spaghetti bolognaise. Like a lot of pre-two year olds, he was immensely adventurous with his food and would much down on anything I gave him. He loved garlic, and the more garlicky a food the better! I found him once at the age of 15 months munching on raw garlic he'd sneaked out of the fridge.

The cubes sit in their own trays in the freezer making it easy to keep track of them, and to keep them in one place.

I still use the cubes now. At least I use some of them. I gave a couple of trays to a friend when she started weaning baby number two. The others I kept and I use them for storing my own dried herbs, or for putting sugar in when we go on a picnic, that sort of thing. They've proven to be immensely handy over the years!

You get two trays with eight pots each, and 50 labels. The pots are dishwasher, freezer and microwave safe. And the plastic used is BPA free. Each cube measures 4cm by 4cm and holds 38ml, which is about two tablespoons of food.

Sometimes I look back at the things I bought when I had my son and I wonder what on earth I was thinking. The Beaba Babycook Steamer and Blender isn't one of those though. Even though it was one of my more expensive purchases. I think I got it on sale though, as I don't remember paying more than £60 for it. The best price I could find as I wrote this was £89.95 including delivery from John Lewis.

The thing is though, I am not the sort of person who has kitchen gadgets. I love cooking, and I hate trans fats and e-numbers, not to mention preservatives and additives. So I do prefer to cook as much as possible from scratch. But I don't have a microwave, or a blender, or a food processor. Vegetables are steamed on a pot on the stove.

So when it came to weaning my son, I wanted something that was small, and would do everything from cooking to puréeing. Which is why I chose the Beaba Babycook Steamer and Blender. That it's nicely designed and looks pretty good sitting on the kitchen counter is also a nice plus.

I did use it too. On a daily basis, several times a day from the time he started on solids while he was still eating puréed food. I continued using it right up until he was about three I think before I finally put it away in its box. The defrost function was exceptionally useful as we don't have a microwave. Working full time in an office, as I was then, I could cook all his meals for the week at once and freeze them. Then just defrost and heat up till it was piping hot using the Babycook.

It isn't perfect though. I found that the guidelines in the booklet that comes with it for defrosting weren't always accurate. It usually took about twice as long as stated in the booklet. After a while you pretty much know down pat how long it takes for various types of foods.

The bowl of the Beaba Babycook Blender wore out quicker than I'd have expected. Although it was still perfectly usuable by the time I stopped using the Babycook, it was scratched considerably, especially around where the blades turn. At this price, I think I'd prefer the bowl to be more robust.

Also I would have liked an indicator on there of any kind, so that you can see just how much water you have put in the Babycook. When you're bleary with sleep deprivation, it is surprisingly easy to fill the Babycook up with water, forget you've done so, and immediately do it again.

The Beaba Babycook Blender blades are easy to remove for cleaning. The basket for the steamer sits on top of the water and is just the right size to hold enough potato to make one portion of mashed potatoes for a toddler. If you're defrosting or reheating you need to put the food in a container inside the steamer. My advice is to make sure you've got a container that fits - isn't too high or two wide. And that you remember to freeze foods in containers that will fit too!

Did you know that Oxo have been selling kitchen tools in America since 1990? No, not the stock cube guys, Oxo the kitchen equipment guys. Don't worry, we didn't either, so when they sent us items from their new Oxo Tot range, we sent it all off to PlayPennies mum Kim for testing.

“The fork and spoon set is lovely,” says Kim. “The handles are really chunky and fit perfectly into my daughter's little hands. I've never given her metal cutlery to use before this, but I must say she got on fine with this. She has used the spoon constantly and really loves holding it. I think she must know that she looks all grown up!”

My daughter still uses a spoon as I'm worried about her stabbing herself with the fork. Kim feels the same, but Oxo obviously knew what mums are like and have made the tines on the fork with rounded edges.

As for how the cutlery actually works? “There are deep spoon shapes on both the fork and spoon which helps my daughter get food on the spoon and keep it on there on the journey to her mouth. Unlike the spoons I used to give her to use which were pretty useless at keeping the food on as they were very flat which lead to the food always falling off.”

It sounds like Oxo thought of everything.

This set retails for £6.00 on Amazon and John Lewis.

“The training plate I received is really cool,” enthuses Kim. “It is a plate which has a removable ring which can be taken off when your child has got to grips with the art of self-feeding.”

Kim is just as excited about how it looks as she is about what it does.

“I love the modern appearance and the fact that it is kind of like a bowl and plate in one. Because of the depth of the sides you can easily serve things like soup in this..which I have done. The removable ring is to help keep the food contained in the plate... and it does just that! The removable ring pushes on to the top of the plate - I did find it takes a bit of practice to get the ring on and off but once you've got the knack of it , you'll find it easy.

The base of the plate is weighted and non-slip which I found really useful as my daughter has a tendency to accidentally push the plate all over the place whilst trying to eat her food.”

The training plate retails at John Lewis and Amazon for £6.00, which Kim says is probably more than she wouldnormally pay. “However the plate is well worth the money as it does make the act of getting your child to eat their food easier...and that is priceless.”

The last item, the training cup, is, in our mum's view, unique.

“I've never seen anything like it before. The lid of the cup has holes in it which help control the liquid coming through when a child is drinking and it is also clear to help the child see that the drink is coming.”

Kim's daughter is still using a sippy cup, but the times she has used it, it has been a great alternative to a plastic beaker. “I think as she gets older and I can start to trust her not to just tip the drink all over the floor, this will be a great tool to help her learn to drink from anormal cup. Plus once she no longer needs the flow controlling lid it can be removed so she is left with a big kid cup. “

The training cup has non-slip grips on the side to help your child hold the cup. It says it is aimed at ages 12 months plus and contains about 260ml liquid when filled up.

The only thing lacking, says Kim, is a lid to fit on it while in transit. “Having said that, as a cup for use at home this is perfect.”

This cup retails at £6.00 on Amazon and at John Lewis.

And Finally...

Kim seems really happy with the Oxo Tots range.

“Overall I am very impressed with all three products. They cost more than I wouldnormally pay for these kind of items, but I think that the products are all worth the money. I think they would make good presents as they are the kind of product that every mum needs for their child.”

All three products come in three colours - orange, blue and green and come with a satisfaction guarantee. There are other innovative, interesting and useful products in the range too – well worth checking out!

I was rather intrigued when I saw Brother Max Food Portioners on the review list - what on earth were they!?

Well, food portioners obviously - that bit of the title does give away a BIG clue - but Brother Max? I'd never heard of them before!

A quick visit to their website soon revealed that they are a relatively new company, founded in 2005, as a result of a motorbike, car and washing machine designer turned father who felt there had to be a way to make every day baby tasks easier.

I wish I'd known about these food portioner pots when my youngest was little...

When I think about the faff and fiddle that comes with home-made weaning *shudder*

Ice cube trays just didn't work for me - my freezer is just too busy with two teenagers in the house conducting raids on it every half an hour, and everything ended up everywhere.

I tried other little pots that had lids on, but they were generally round, after being bounced around in a bag for a few hours I discovered that the lids weren't that secure; it was enough to drive me round the bend and THEN, as with socks, over time I ended up with more pots than lids - where did all the other lids go?!

Tamsin and her daughter test-drove the Brother Max Food Portioners for us and took them on a jolly outing to London for the day!

"These pots are really cute! They're brilliant for both weaners and back to schoolers - we're through the weaning stage now but snacks-on-the-go are still an essential part of our going out paraphernalia!" Tamsin told us.

"They fit all my lunchboxes and are just ideal for raisins and snacks at school," she continued.

She's right about the raisins - those  little cardboard boxes of raisins just don't stand up to the rigours of my kids' school bag abuse and neither do little cheapo plastic sandwich bags with a knot tied in them.

"We took ours to London and they SO came in handy for a hungry tot on the train. The lid is really secure too, we know this as the food portioners got bashed around in my bag something fierce!" said Tamsin.

I've seen what Tamsin's bag has to go through every day, anything that can withstand being inside it for a day, let alone on an outing to London, and come out unscathed is tough, and strong, enough to be admitted in to the SAS!

But what about at home?

"The Brother Max Food Portioners are square and can be squidged together so they all join up, but still keeping the food separate, and fit nicely into squareness of fridges, freezers and lunchboxes," revealed Tamsin, "AND if the contents of the pots are hot, then the connector doofers on each side act like little heat proof 'handles' so you don't have to juggle them in your hands when you take them out of the microwave."

Tamsin was very taken with these pots, "I really like that the food portioners come with a pen so you can write what's in each one on the side - the number of times we played 'guess what the baby is having for lunch today' when we were in the weaning phase!"

One of my favourite design features of the Brother Max Food Portioners is their hinged lids (I clearly have a thing about lids)! The thought of not having to relegate perfectly good pots to the back of the cupboard because they've lost their lids is very appealing to me!

And finally...

Freezer safe, microwave safe, dishwasher safe, Tamsin's bag safe - these really are robust little guys that are going to save you time, faff and mess and will withstand the roughest of school, and parent, bag treatment!

They come in two sizes - 6 small pots holding 40ml each or 4 large pots which will hold up to 170ml - and are Phthalate-free, PVC-free and BpA free which, if the current research turns out to be correct, can only be a good thing!

The Brother Max Food Portioners are available from Amazon, Boots, Mothercare and other places (see the Brother Max wesbite for full stockist details) and both retail for a very reasonable £5.99.

A great price for a great product as far as we're concerned!