Best Baby Spoon Overall: Munchkin White Hot Safety Spoons

In our tests of baby spoons, one came out on top: Minchkin’s White Hot Safety Spoons. These colorful spoons turn white if food is over 110 degrees, which could cause burns. Now, you might say, who serves heated baby food? Point taken, but the current advice is that baby should began eating “adult” food (in small, bite-size portions) soon after the initial cereals and purees. And adult food can be too hot—hence the popularity of these spoons! Here’s an overview:

What We Liked

• Stainless steel handle. And the soft plastic tip is BPA free.

• Small, tapered bowl. These spoons are tapered, which helps first-time feeders.

• Affordable. 

What Needs Work

• Stains. For some reason, foods like carrots and sweet potatoes can stain these spoons. While that isn’t a safety hazard, our testers found it unappealing.

• Top dishwasher rack only. You have to be careful not to put these on the lower rack of a dishwasher, as this can damage the soft tips.

Best First Stage Feeders: NumNum Pre-Spoon GOOtensils

For first-time feeders, our testers loved this utensil: NumNum’s Pre-Spoon GOOtensils. What is a pre-spoon? This clever utensil comes in both stage 1 (first-time feeders) and stage 2 (more experienced babies that have the hand to mouth motion down).

The first-stage spoons has cut-out grooves to hold food; and it doubles as a teether. The second-stage spoon holds more food and can be “preloaded” for a toddler who wants chunkier food.

What We Liked

• Silicone soft bowl doubles as a teether. 

• Helps with the transition from a parent feeding baby to baby feeding herself.

• Innovative design:—it doesn’t matter whether the spoon is up or down, food stays in there!

What Needs Work

• Expensive.

• Works better for thicker food. Thinner foods like rice cereal can easily fall out of the grooves.

• Food can get stuck, especially in the first stage spoon.

Best Budget-Friendly Soft Tip Spoon: Munchkin 12 Piece Soft-Tip Infant Spoons

What We Liked

• Extra long handles for parents to hold.

• Sized well for six month olds—the bowl of these spoons isn’t too big or small.

• Bright colors make it easy to spot these spoons if they fly across a kitchen and roll under a chair (it happens!).

What’s Needs Work

• Weighted handle can fall out of bowls. While we like the extra long handle, the added weight means these spoons tip over and out of bowls—and that isn’t fun for parent or toddler.

• Not as flexible or soft as other choices. That isn’t necessarily a negative, as you don’t want baby to chew on spoons instead of eating.

Best Toddler Spoon: First Essentials by NUK Kiddy Cutlery Spoon Set

Spoons for toddlers are different than baby spoons—they need to be bigger, hold more food and be grippy for little hands to hold. After testing a variety of options here, we thought First Essentials by Nuk’s Kiddy Cutlery Spoon was the best of the bunch. Here’s why:

What We Liked

• Easy to grab rubber handle. 

• Stainless steel bowl helps toddlers make that transition to adult utensils.

• Doesn’t lay on table when flat. A small nub on this spoon keeps it from lying flat on a table, which our testers thought was more hygienic (fewer germs) and less messy (the spoon doesn’t get the table dirty).

What’s Needs Work

• Metal can get hot. While that stainless steel bowl is great for transitions to adult utensils, it also can get hot—care must be taken with hot foods.

• Huge spoon bowl not so great for smaller toddlers. Our smaller testers didn’t like the large bowl of this spoon; it might be better for older toddlers. Also: we though the spoon was too shallow for soups.

• Handle can stain from foods like spaghetti sauce.

Why Trust Us

We’ve been rating and reviewing baby gear, including feeding accessories, since 1994. We do hands-on testing—we buy the products with our own money and evaluate with an eye toward safety, ease of use and affordability.

Here’s another key point: we don’t take money from the brands we review. No free samples, no sponsors, no “partnerships.” Baby Bargains is your independent and unbiased source for expert baby gear reviews.

Photo credit: Christian Hermann