First of all, this is not a Doddl sponsored review, it is a genuine post about our personal experience with the product. We recently ran into the Doodle cutlery and it has truly improved meal time for us. It made me want to write an individual article about it.
Our problem
My daughter Luna was quite independent and showed signs of wanting to eat by herself very early on. I could sometimes feed her by giving her a spoon to hold on to. She would try to use it as well while I was feeding her with another spoon. And I say try to use it because she could not handle a small spoon at all. Its handle was clearly very long and she did not have the dexterity to use it yet with 16 months of age. She could somehow badly use a small cake fork, but it was super difficult as well because of its long handle. You can imagine that her spoon practice would sometimes get also really messy. And particularly stinky if Luna would have her favorite, regular meal of pureed salmon with spinach.
How I found out about Doddl
I watched Gemma’s YouTube video, about the routine of her Montessori raised baby. Baby Oscar was properly eating with 17 months of age, with what I would later find out was the Doddl cutlery set. I actually didn´t think to check the description of the YouTube video at that time (duh) to see if she links to where we can purchase it.
But I decided to try something like that with Luna. So I first went on a shopping spree, but I could not find anything similar in the baby shops around me. As I got home, I went directly to Amazon and researched “small baby fork”. As silly as it may sound, I found the Doddl set and ordered it. It comes in 3 colors: Blueberry Blue, Lime Green and the Raspberry Pink that we chose.
Testing Doddl for the first time
Luna started properly using it from the get-go and is now still using the cutlery with all mealtimes, fully feeding herself. What is super surprising is that she used to be a picky eater and she now started eating more than she used to while I was feeding her.
Coincidence or not, I honestly believe Doddl’s ergonomic form is suitable for the way babies are using their hands. Luna is now 16 months old and she confidently grabs their knife and fork. It is still messy the first times, but I see clear improvement from one day to the other.
And now…
I read that the cutlery is actually helping children to develop their finger strength and control. It helps them use a pincer grip, which apparently is an essential skill for drawing and writing. I am hoping this is true and she’ll get future advantages from using Doddl.
In the meantime, I am relieved for not having to feed baby Luna her with a spoon anymore. It gets me more time to clean up a bit the kitchen and play on some nice Radio Paradise music in the background while she is eating. Also, I am super happy and quite emotional to see her getting more independent and self-reliant with every day that passes by. They grow up so fast!