Sunshine and Sippy Cups

“A two-year old is kind of like having a blender, but you don’t have a top for it.” – Jerry Seinfeld

The Challenge: Feeding a toddler is a messy job. Your options – Serve her finger foods that she can pick up and feed herself. This is time-saving, and mostly un-messy, but they usually just throw all of their “bites” on the floor for the dog. You can feed them their dinner, bite by bite – but it’s possible that you’d like to eat your own meal too, right? Or, you can get brave and start letting them learn to use their own spoon…. But that can turn into a disaster pretty quickly. This was Abby’s first attempt at using a spoon. {FYI: Do not turn your back on a toddler with a cup of chocolate pudding even for a minute. Things can get out of hand so quickly….} There are lots of foods that she’s getting skilled at feeding herself – but things like yogurt, pudding, and applesauce are awfully tough for her to handle on her own.

“You can learn many things from children. How much patience you have, for instance.” – Franklin P. Jones

The Busy Mom Solution: The Sili Squeeze! Ohmyheck – I am simply in love with this totally genius idea. I can give Abby great snacks like pureed yogurt or applesauce – or even use the Baby Brezza to blend up some great purees of fruits and veggies – and she can use the Sili Squeeze to eat them all by herself, no mess! Read a little more…

“The Sili Squeeze™ was developed out of the desire to feed my growing baby nutritious food on the go whether in the car seat, stroller, or shopping cart. The squeeze is “mommy hands free”, so your little ones can squeeze themselves silly, without the mess and wastefulness of a disposable squeeze.”

“Even when freshly washed and relieved of all obvious confections, children tend to be sticky.” – Fran Lebowitz

There are a lot of products out there that are marketed as great toddler snacks, but not all of them are all that practical. We tried these applesauce pouches – I thought that they’d be a great on-the-go option. The older kiddo’s love ’em, but Abby squeezes all of the applesauce onto her shirt in about 60 seconds. As you can see, the Sili Squeeze is similar in size {just right for little hands} so I just add the applesauce into the Sili Squeeze instead. The difference? The Sili Squeeze works differently than anything you’ve seen – it’s got a totally spill-proof nipple. So, when your kiddo gums or pinches it, while squeezing at the same time, the food will come out. If they just squeeze it, nothing. It does take a couple of tries for them to “get” it, since they’re usually used to things coming out pretty easily. But once they do get it – they love it. Squeeze-controlled independent feeding! And unlike those store-bought pouches, these are reusable.

“There was never a child so lovely but his mother was glad to get him to sleep.” – Ralph Waldo Emerson

The Sili Squeeze is great for babies too – You can give this super-helpful squeeze to babies starting at about 6 months. Fill it with baby food when you’re in need of a meal on the go, so baby can eat “Mommy-Hands Free!” And, they’ve got an awesome new product on the way – the Sili Squeeze with Eeeze, for ages 4+. It’s the same convenience and fun of the original, but with a free-flowing nipple valve. It’s no longer spill-proof, but at that age, they’re independent enough to handle that just fine.

The Sili Squeeze is easy to take care of –

• The food-safe silicone body and nipple are naturally UV repellent so you don’t have to worry about the chemical breakdown of the Sili Squeeze if left in a car.
• Because the Sili Squeeze is made of silicone, you can conveniently wash your Squeeze by hand or on the top rack of your dishwasher.
• Coming soon – replacement nipple valve 2-packs! Available in early 2012. This is a great addition to their product line.

What do YOU think?

Are you excited to get one of these too? Imagine how great it will be to give your tiniest family members great snacks and meals filled with fruits, veggie’s, and yogurts – while you have your hands free to enjoy a great meal too, with no mess to clean up. Share your toddler meal-time challenges in the comments!

You can find order the Sili Squeeze online – either the 4 oz shown here, or the larger 6 oz size – Order Sili Squeeze Today!

I also recommend this book –The Best Homemade Baby Food on the Planet. There are over 60 super simple, super healthy, and super yummy, baby food puree’s in this book! This isn’t just for babies either – Abby loves to try new puree’s in her Sili Squeeze – and it’s such an easy way to get more fruits and veggie’s into her diet.

Connect with the Sili Squeeze makers online too – You can find them on Facebook and Twitter!

Want to WIN your own Sili Sippy? Head over to the giveaway page to enter to WIN one of your own!! Hurry – Giveaway ends on December 28th! Good luck!!