Baby feeding first look reviews Beaba 360 spoon

Beaba says that this is the ‘perfect spoon for weaning and keeping mess free’. It's a clever concept, but does it work? We asked a parent and her 18-month old baby to try it out in a first look test. 

The Beaba 360 spoon has a rotating bowl, which means that food on the spoon should always stay facing upwards. This is designed to reduce mess and spillage as a baby starts self-feeding. 

Clever design

The tube packaging is nice and simple, the purple and dusky pink colours are attractive and it seems well-constructed.

The spoon has an unusual design which allows the bowl to rotate. It's on the end of a long handle which has an almost right-angled bend in it and a weight on the end. A grip fits around the main part of the handle. 

Does it work?

If the child holds the grip properly, the spoon rotates easily and does live up to its claims. Our parent tester could see how the spoon would lead to less mess on the child, highchair and floor, particularly if they were eating runny food such as yoghurt or cereal.

However, success depends on the baby holding the spoon correctly. Our parent found that her daughter would regularly change her hand position so she was holding the end of the handle, which meant the spoon didn't rotate at all. Used like this it's more unwieldy than using an ordinary spoon owing to its length and the angle it’s being held at, and our mini-critic found it frustrating. When her mum adjusted her hand position she would go back to using it correctly and very effectively for some time, but would eventually switch back to the incorrect position. This continued despite using the spoon over several days.

Other design features

The spoon is deep, which also helps keep food in place, although this does mean that the child doesn't always get everything off the spoon in one go. The spoon can be fixed in position once the child is more proficient and doesn't need the rotating function any more. But our parent tester thought that, in reality, once a child is able to self-feed, they would switch to an ordinary spoon.

The two parts of the spoon come apart easily and are easy to clean.

Buying the Beaba 360 spoon

The Beaba 360 is available in JoJo Maman Bebe as well as other baby product retailers and costs £7. It comes in several different colours.

We've looked at a number of feeding products to see which ones make parents' lives easier. We've also got reviews of high chairs and breast pumps to help decide which ones are right for you.

Pros: Well-designed, attractive colours, reduces mess and ability of child to self-feed if used correctly

Cons: Incorrect use is possible