I must admit we’ve been a little bit slow to encourage independent feeding with anything more gooey than toast with Dexter. We’re all for finger foods but I’m afraid we’re those over-anxious parents who are more worried about the state of our walls and rugs than we are getting Dexter fully versed with food weaponry. The very thought of letting him wield a spoon with anything gravy-based sends me into an anxiety attack. In fact, just last night Craig was joking that the only way to overcome my OCD is to build something perspex and phone box-shaped.

But recently Dex has been shaking his head when you attempt to spoon feed him. He’ll smile as if to say “Thanks Mum but I’m a big boy now. Unless you let me hold that silver scoopy thing - it’s not going in”. At first we wrote it off as being heat-related, I mean who wants baked beans in a sweaty 28 degree room? But when he started refusing rice pudding and Petit Filous, we knew that he was fed up of “Here comes the aeroplane”.

So with 4ft squared of newspaper on the floor and a nappy-clad baby, we experimented with MAM UK’s Dipper Sets this afternoon. The carnage was nowhere as bad as I expected, so we tried the same with his meatballs at dinner out in the garden. Here’s how we got on - in pictures…

As you can see - it was a success. Dexter managed to get 90% of his food in his mouth and the clean-up operation consisted of a quick scrub with a Water Wipe.

Here’s what makes them so fabulous…

These dippers are suitable for babies aged 6 months and over. Given my little man is 14 months, it’s difficult to say whether we should have jumped up a level and opted for the Baby’s Cutlery Set instead (also 6 months + but a little more sizable). But in terms of a starter set of weaning cutlery that gives parents confidence they won’t be re-painting the walls at 7am after a porridge-related disaster, you can’t go far wrong.

At £5.25 you can buy your own 2 pack set from the MAM UK online store in a number of colourways. To discover even more innovative products including soothers, bottles, teethers and other weaning products then head to www.mamuk.com to see more!

DISCLAIMER: We were sent this adorable fork and spoon set from MAM UK but all thoughts and opinions are my own.