Regardless of your approach to feeding and weaning; standard, baby led, mixed or something else, all little ones like to use meal times to exercise their independence.

Meal times are a great opportunity to work on developing the pincer grip, the grab, hand–to-eye coordination and hand-to-mouth coordination.

I’ve always tried to get a balance with my children of what they are getting from a spoon and what they are having the opportunity to pick up and feed themselves. For us, this approach has meant that we have been confident they are getting ‘enough’ but also that we have been flexible enough to allow them the opportunity to develop their own skills.

These means that meal times are often characterised by something I am trying to get into them, a cottage or fish pie perhaps, and a few more snacky things that they can feed themselves at the same time. Often they have not wanted to take something from the spoon unless they can be involved in some way as well.

Organix make a range of snacks that are perfect for just this scenario. Their new chunky cheese stars for example are a perfect accompaniment to mealtimes, they are easy to grip and tasty, providing a good bit of distraction for parents to get in a few spoonfuls of something, if that is the way you roll. Their no junk promise means there is nothing nasty about snacking on these either.

What are your little ones favourite snacks?