Kidopotomus Tiny Diner Placemat

I was at a birthday party when my friend tossed me the Kidopotomus Tiny Diner and told me I should review it.  I didn't really get it at first, this rolled up piece of silicone* was supposed to help me how?  Upon closer investigation, I started to see the potential.  The placemat spreads out in front of your child and is firmly secured in place with a number of small suction cups (which work great without any wetting).  There is also a scoop that sits just over the edge of the table to catch food.  Surprisingly, both of these features work, quite well in fact.

When eating out, there is a clear relationship between the amount of tip we leave and the amount of mess the boy leaves under the table.  So I was pleasantly surprised when I saw very little mess under the the boys chair the the first time we tested out the TinyDiner.  The pieces he intentionally dropped were obviously on the ground, but the pieces that slip off the table or fall out of the his hands or mouth, most of those were caught in the scoop.

The TinyDiner is easy to clean (my friend even throws hers in the top rack of the dishwasher) and is lead, PVC, BPA, Phalate and latex free.  It's easy to take with you; it rolls up and fits into the scoop leaving you with a tube slightly larger than a paper towel roll that's easy to pop into the diaper bags.  The fold-out flap design also means that extra bits of food are safely folded and rolled into the tube until you get home to clean up.

I really like that I get to take the mess with me, rather than leaving smeared and squished food for the restaurant staff to cleanup. It also gives me some security about the cleanliness of what we're eating off of; Iin particular, I'm thinking of eating in a park or some sort of public space such as a mall food fair.

The first time we tried out the TinyDiner, we had three babies and three Momma's and the TinyDiner worked great for everyone.  For under $15 the TinyDiner is great product for eating on the go; its small, compact, easy to use and easy to clean.  I have no complaints and rate it a 5/5!
 
*I think the mat is made with silicone, but the packaging is long gone and the website doesn't specify.

Totseat - the washable, squashable highchair

When I officially made my decision to travel to Asia with an eight month old child, I had a lot of details to figure out, including how exactly I was going to feed my son the solids he so dearly loved. At the time he did some self-feeding, but he also ate purees. When I began investigating travel highchairs and boosters, I wasn't sure what to expect. I needed something small, light and compact, but I also needed something effective.

Enter, the Totseat, made in the UK, the Totseat is an adjustable highchair made of fabric. You can adjust the crotch length with buttons and the wrap around straps tighten with a clasp. To top things off the Totseat works on practically any chair. I was skeptical at first about their claims of fitting on any chair, but then I watched the demonstration and decided it was worth a shot.

Let me tell you, I traveled for three weeks with my son and probably saw as many actual highchairs; but that didn't stop us, the Totseat really did fit on every chair I encountered. Another bonus, after three weeks of travel, I just popped the totseat in the wash and it came out like new.

The Totseat comes with a thick fabric strap, with ample velcro, to fit around the back of any chair that has a gap in the back, which prevents worries that your child could slide out the back of the chair. Despite my concerns, the Totseat was also effective at containing my squirmy little son. That being said, I recently lent the Totseat to a friend going on a trip to Mexico with her 2 year old son and she informed me her little guy could easily get out of the Totseat - if he wanted. Fortunately, for the most part, he was happy eating in the Totseat. ed. note: After some discussion with my friend, it turns out she was securing her son the "lazy way", which means she wasn't threading the straps through the loops at the back of the chair, which is likely the reason why he could get out of the seat! [7 April 2010]

The Totseat comes in bright, bold patterns which are not only FUN they can help hide the food stains if you just haven't had time to wash it in a while. Speaking of food stains, if your tot is eating on a fabric chair, you may want to bring an extra receiving blanket to put underneath his/her bottom. I also recommend bringing along a coat, sweater or blanket to put under your baby if they need a boost. This is rarely a problem for us, as someone is always wearing extra layers.

The Totseat is a great product for a family on the go, or for travels near or far. It's a small and compact, but effective highchair that isn't cumbersome to carry, setup or take down. The Totseat is a well constructed and amazing product - I give it a 4.5/5!

Babisil Mu Bowl Anchor

My son is at the stage where he loves to eat solid foods, but hates when someone else has to feed him. He eats tons of food, so long as its finger food. Veggies? Not so much. He used to love them, ratatouille, zucchini, tomato, broccoli and green beans were all favourites. Now, its not that he doesn't like them anymore, its just that they aren't quite as tasty when they aren't all mixed together. He will eat chunks of broccoli, but that's pretty much the only veggie he will eat alone.

I decided to experiment with using chunky purees on mum mums, and thinner purees as dips or sauces for his chicken strip and chunky tofu. The second option however, is a bit trickier. How do you give a child a dipping sauce when he picks up & shakes the bowl with vigor and a smile.

Enter the Babisil Mu Bowl Anchor or at least that's what I figured. The mu bowl anchor is a small piece of silicone designed to suction your own bowl or plate to the table or the tray of your little ones chair. For about $7 bucks, it was a cheaper option than most of the dishes that come equipped with their own suction cup and since it provides flexibility and wouldn't require me to continually wash the same dish over and over again it seemed like a win-win situation.

After purchasing my bowl anchor, I tried using it with the plethora of containers and bowls that fill my cupboards. Most of them are Tupperware and didn't seem to suction all that well, there is a ridge along the bottom of the containers that along with the text (such as the recyclability and food safe symbols) all seemed to interfere with the suction power of the bowl anchor.

The anchor did work a bit better when a little moisture was applied and the bowl was applied to the anchor and tray with a fair amount of pressure. I figured that was the trick, a little moisture & a need to slam the bowl onto the tray; unfortunately, my success was short lived. After less than five minutes and some persistent tugging by my son, the bowl was in his hands and the food was on the floor.

My husband points out that the suction may work when pulling the bowl up and down, but as soon as its pulled side to side the suction seems to break. I have tried with various different bowls, plates and dishes, but the result is always the same; the boy gets the dish and the food lands on the floor.

In theory the Babisil Mu Bowl Anchor is a great product. In reality, I didn't find it able to stand up to the test of my sons persistent tugging. Although I love a cheap product, without function its really just junk in my drawer. I will try it again when he gets a little older and hope I will have better success. But for now, the bowl anchor was a disappointment for me. I give it 1.5/5, only because for the few minutes that it did work, it was great. Too bad mealtime lasts closer to 45 minutes at my house!

The Safe Sippy

Well, we made it through our first week. After exactly one year on maternity leave, I had to return to work this Monday, which meant my little man had to spend the entire week (at least the work hours) without his Momma. We are fortunate enough to have family caring for the boy three days a week; he is attending a daycare just blocks away from my work the other two days. I'm confident this is going to be a good balance for him, giving him lots of time to bond with his family and yet still allowing him to run and play and learn from other children.

I wish there was one amazing item I could review this week, an item that made the transition back to work effortless and seamless. If such an item exists, I didn't find it. I am however going to review an item that both my son and I are very fond of, the Safe Sippy.

The Safe Sippy by Kidbasix is made of stainless steel, which means us Momma's don't have to worry about BPA or any other plastic nasties in our babies water bottles. The bottle has a soft silicone sleeve that can be removed and cleaned, which ensures no mold or other unwanted friends are growing on the bottle; the sleeve also functions to protect the Safe Sippy from all of the drops that the poor bottle will inevitably endure.

The plastic handles are easily removable, which will be great when my little guy gets a little older and no longer wants a BABY water bottle. That being said, at this point we LOVE the handles at my house, my little man can grab and grip them easily and they don't seem to shift when he shakes the bottle. There is a valve in the Safe Sippy which is easily removable for cleaning and although it does minimize messy spills it does occasionally drip, especially during those shaking episodes my son loves.

The spout on the Safe Sippy resembles a straw, but functions like sippy cup. There is research that indicates the use of wide spout sippy cups rather than regular cups can cause physical and speech development problems, however the narrow straw shape apparently helps little developing mouths. The boy can use a straw quite effectively, so I had no concerns that this would be a problem for him, and since the cup needs to tipped like a sippy cup, I wouldn't be too concerned if your little one can't use a straw yet. In fact since he can use a straw I think there is sometimes a little confusion for him, it took him a while to realize he had to tip the bottle.

Since the Safe Sippy is made of stainless steel, it is absolutely heavier than a traditional plastic water bottle and that does pose some difficulties when my little one tries to drink out of the Safe Sippy on his own. I often hear a soft squeaking noise when he tries on his own; the valve squeaks when there is no water moving through the valve, which means I usually need to help him out a little bit, though he does make his way over to the bottle on his own. The angle of the spout adds to this problem as he often lifts the cup (like a straw) and then the bottle can't even be lifted up to get the water into his mouth without rotating the bottle all the way around. Despite these problems, Cole seems to really love his Safe Sippy. He drinks more water than he used to, and he's always on the lookout for his Safe Sippy so he knows where to go to get a drink.

While perusing the Safe Sippy Website I see that they now have a Safe Sippy 2 which includes features such as a cap, a straw and adapter and a travel plug all of which would be great accessories for our family.

The Safe Sippy costs $18.99 at my local Zellers, though apparently you can buy it from the website for $12.95 USD plus shipping. I personally got mine from Green Baby Bargains, so it cost about $13 with shipping. Although I had looked at the Safe Sippy in Zellers many time, $18.99 just seemed a little steep for something I wasn't sure my boy would like. Now that we've been using it for about a month however, I think the bottle is well constructed and worth the price.

I give the Safe Sippy 4/5 - its a great product and although I have a few complaints, they are not all within the control of the company to fix, such as the weight of the bottle (which can't be controlled since its made of stainless steel) and I imagine within another few months the weight of the bottle, the resulting squeaking valve and the straw confusion my son seems to experience will all be a thing of the past as he gets bigger, stronger and more coordinated.