Lilah's #MealTimeMilestones with doddl Cutlery

Written in collaboration with doddl.

If you're a parent, then you'll know first hand the mess that comes with weaning your baby. We followed the baby led weaning approach with all three children, so of course the mess we experienced was on a whole other level! But as your child grows and develops things do get that little bit easier, especially when you start introducing cutlery in to mix.

Lilah is two so has been using cutlery for a little while now, but she still has a little way to go with mastering her knife and fork skills. So when we were invited by doddl to have a go at their #MealTimeMilestones challenge, I thought it would be perfect for us - especially as we have plenty of time together at home at the moment, to practice and develop her skills.

A few weeks ago we were sent the pink doddl cutlery set (also available in blue and green) and the #MealTimeMilestones checklist and we started the challenge! doddl products have been specially designed to help children eat independently from day one and beyond. The handles of the knife and spoon have been designed to fit perfectly in your child's hand, and the knife has an ergonomic handle to support the hand and wrist (and to make it easy to push down onto food). Lilah instantly recognised the doddl cutlery as hers and now only refers to it as 'Lilah's fork' - so sweet!

There are 10 steps in the #MealTimeMilestones checklist, from the simple task of holding the cutlery successfully, to the much tricker 'final frontier' of using the knife and fork together to eat successfully.  We have successfully ticked up to number 8 on the checklist over the last few weeks, and it's been so fun to watch Lilah learn and explore. It's worth noting that the checkpoints are aimed at an age range of 12months+, but all children develop differently, so don't worry if your child doesn't do them all or in a different order.

Lilah holds her cutlery confidently and loves scooping up her food such as cereal, spaghetti and of course making sure she's got every last drop of milk left in the bottom of her bowl - number 5 is definitely ticked off,although we do still have some spillages.. oops! She loves to stab her fork into her food to see what she's picked up before adding some dip dip and quickly gobbling it down too.

Before we were set the challenge by doddl we hadn't introduced a knife to Lilah, so this was probably the most exciting part for us. She was a little unsure at first - it is a big step after all - but after a few tries she successfully cut through some of her dinner! She was so proud of her achievement and I think it really gave her some confidence to try again and again. Of course we still have a long way to go (my eldest is 6 and still struggles with this step!), but I love that this challenge has given us the push to introduce a knife at this stage.

I'm really excited to keep following the steps with Lilah, to help her progress with her skills. Cutlery skills take time and practice to develop, but with the help of our new tools it really can be a doddle. Pun intended!

Have you tried the #MealTimeMilestones checklist with your little one? Why not give it a go!