5 Baby Led Weaning Accessories to Make Life (and Cleaning!) Easier.

Mushie Silicone Suction Plate

If you’re looking for baby led weaning accessories that will actually save you from some of the mess, suction plates are a winner. They are one of those things that seem completely unnecessary right up until the moment your baby discovers that plates can be launched across the kitchen, broccoli in tow. 

I really like the Mushie ones because they’re simple, they look lovely and there aren’t loads of fiddly sections to clean afterwards. This one does have that suction base underneath to help keep it attached to the table or highchair, which hopefully means slightly more food ends up inside your baby than on the floor. Other models don’t always have the suction, so check what you’re buying.

It’s made from soft food-grade silicone and can go straight into both the microwave and dishwasher, which is exactly what I’d want from anything designed for baby mealtimes. I also really like that the silicone doesn’t get hot in the microwave, so you’re not transferring warm food onto a plate that suddenly feels roasting around the edges.

The blush colour is lovely too. Obviously your baby couldn’t care less what their plate looks like, but if it’s going to be permanently sitting on your kitchen worktop for the next year, I think you’re allowed to care.

A really nice little weaning buy, particularly if you’ve reached the stage where your baby has realised that dropping things on the floor is a great game to play.

I’d recommend that if you’re looking for something similar to this, you always look for non-BPA materials and ideally something just like the Mushie plate with a tested safety mark. This isn’t the sort of product you want to be buying from the cheap online marketplaces at the expense of nasty chemicals seeping into your child’s food. 

Full price: £16.99. Promotions run regularly on the Natural Baby Shower website, so check the price here. 

Done by Deer Insulated Food Jar

This is the sort of thing I’d have loved when mine were little, especially for days out when you don’t necessarily want to rely on finding somewhere that serves something your child will actually eat. We spent many a trip to the zoo or the farm with a torn up cheese sandwich mashed between small hands. With this, you can still bring warm food on the go. 

The Done by Deer insulated food jar keeps food warm or cool for up to six hours, so you could fill it with pasta, porridge, soup, fruit, yoghurt or whatever that current reliable food happens to be and take it out with you. It holds 300ml, which feels like a really sensible size for a toddler meal without taking up half of your changing bag.

I really like the fact that it’s leakproof too because anything containing food that is going into the same bag as spare clothes, nappies and your phone needs to pass that test. The lid has a grip to make it easier to open and the jar itself is stainless steel with a protective base to help it survive being knocked around a bit.

And, completely superficially, the Tiny Farm design is really cute! They do have other designs on the same site, so check them out if the green isn’t your thing. I also like the blush pink design with white fluffy sheep! It doesn’t have that very bright, plasticky baby-product look, so it’s something I’d happily have sitting in a picnic bag or taking out to a café.

I can see this being particularly handy once you reach the stage where you’re regularly packing proper meals and snacks for days out. One of those things you might not think you need until you have it… and then suddenly you’re taking it everywhere.

Full price: £19.95. Promotions run regularly on the Natural Baby Shower website, so check the price here. 

Jollein Waterproof Coverall Bib

I remember the weaning stage being approximately 20% watching your baby try new foods and 80% wondering how on earth there is yoghurt on the back of their head. 

Rather than just covering their chest, the Jollein coverall has sleeves and gives much more coverage over their clothes, which makes a massive difference once they start feeding themselves. It is waterproof too, so spilled drinks, yoghurt, porridge and everything else shouldn’t immediately soak through onto whatever they’re wearing underneath.

I really like that it still looks soft and flexible rather than being one of those enormous stiff plastic bibs that makes your baby look like they’re about to do some industrial painting. The Lovely Birds print is really sweet too without being ridiculously bright. They also have a range of other designs on the site, so take a look.

Most importantly, you can chuck this in the washing machine at 30 degrees when it inevitably gets covered in dinner.

I think coverall bibs are particularly worth having once babies start properly exploring food with their hands. You’re never going to eliminate the mess completely (obviously) because babies have an almost supernatural ability to get food into places you didn’t know existed, but protecting the entire outfit underneath feels like a good start.

And you know what else… people don’t talk about this enough: protect the high chair as well! I know it’s designed to get food all over it, but there’s nothing worse than scraping out the bits of porridge you missed that have solidified into the cracks of the material or the arms of the high chair. Just opt for ‘coverall’ from the beginning and you’ll thank yourself later. 

Full price: £15.95. Promotions run regularly on the Natural Baby Shower website, so check the price here. 

Puggle Snacky Foldable Highchair Booster Seat

This is one of those baby products that is far more useful once you’ve actually had a baby and realised quite how often you end up trying to feed them somewhere that doesn’t have a highchair! We had a different version of this that’s no longer on sale and it was excellent.

Excellent for camping trips, excellent for a gathering at a child-free house (add it to a dining chair and you’re sorted!) and sometimes just excellent for an extra seat in the garden or low level at a picnic. 

If you’re unfamiliar with the concept, these are basically portable booster seats that strap onto a normal dining chair, with its own removable tray. I really like that you can fold the whole thing down when you’re finished and carry it using the shoulder strap, because bulky baby equipment very quickly starts taking over your house, car and every cupboard. 

It’s only 2kg too, handy for taking to grandparents’ houses, holidays, self-catering accommodation or even keeping in the boot of the car. There are adjustable height settings, so you can change the position depending on the table or chair you’re using, and you can remove the tray when you want your child to sit directly at the table with everyone else.

Anything involving weaning also needs to be easy to clean, because there is absolutely no point owning a beautiful piece of baby equipment if you need a toothbrush and twenty minutes of your life to get dried Weetabix out of it afterwards (see also: coverall bibs!). Thankfully the tray on this one comes off for cleaning, which makes much more sense. It can fit in most sinks for a proper rinse, unlike some of the highchair trays that have to be dunked in at each end.  

It’s suitable from around six months, once your baby can sit unaided, up to 15kg (roughly three years), so you should get a decent amount of use from it too.

For me, the big selling point is just how compact it is. I really like baby products that solve a problem without creating a new storage problem. Being able to fold this one away when you’re not using it is a definite win. 

Full price: £18.95. We have witnessed some incredible offers on The Nursery Store website recently so do a price check for the latest info.

Tutti Bambini Nova Birth to 12 Years Highchair

I really love the thinking behind this one because I find it slightly painful how many enormous baby products we buy, use for six months and then have to find somewhere to store. The Tutti Bambini Nova is designed to grow with your child from birth right through to around 12 years old, with 11 different configurations along the way. It starts out as a newborn rocker, becomes a proper highchair for weaning and can eventually be turned into a little table and chair for playing, drawing and everything else that comes afterwards.

But the bit that really earns its place in this baby-led weaning list is the optional Nova accessory pack. For £49 you get a 10-piece silicone set including the seat and backrest inserts, tray, sippy cup, three nesting bowls, fork, spoon and an easy-clean bib. Basically, you can turn the highchair into a complete baby led weaning station rather than buying all of those bits separately.

I particularly like that the silicone feeding pieces can go in the dishwasher and microwave because baby-led weaning produces enough washing up without deliberately adding to it. The pack is suitable from six months, which is around the point the highchair itself becomes relevant for sitting-up-and-eating mode too.

It is definitely more of an investment than a basic highchair, but I think the fact that it doesn’t become redundant when the weaning stage ends makes the price easier to swallow. I’m a big fan of baby products that can quietly reinvent themselves rather than being evicted to the garage after a year, or worse, onto Facebook marketplace for a tenner. 

A quick safety note: When you move into the weaning stage, babies should be able to sit safely upright with good head control and they should always be securely strapped into the highchair and supervised while eating. The NHS also recommends thinking carefully about the size, shape and texture of finger foods to reduce choking risk. The Nova has lots of different configurations, so make sure you’re using the correct setup and restraints for your child’s age and stage rather than assuming that every mode is suitable for feeding.

Price check both products here.

Trixie Silicone Spoon 2-Pack

These are such a simple little weaning buy, but exactly the sort of thing you end up using constantly. The Trixie silicone spoons are designed for both feeding your baby and for that next stage where they start trying to take over and do it themselves, usually with wildly varying levels of success.

I really like the shape of these because they look easy for little hands to get hold of without being ridiculously chunky. They’re made from silicone but have stainless steel built into the middle to keep them sturdy and stop them flopping about, which feels particularly useful once your baby starts insisting on holding the spoon themselves. 

One thing worth knowing is that, unlike a lot of silicone weaning products, these can’t go in the microwave because of that stainless steel core. But it’s that core that makes these feel a decent weight for your baby to transition from these at some point onto real cutlery further down the line. It’s much better for them to master the skill of scooping food up with something that feels as close as possible to the real deal, whilst still being soft and safe!

For £11.95 for two, they’re a nice little addition if you’re putting together your first collection of baby-led weaning bits and want something that can work both for you feeding them and for those first attempts at independent eating.

Do check the Scandiborn website for the latest price, as well as a whole host of other adorable accessories.