Philips Avent Premium 4-in-1 Steamer Blender, Baby Food Maker, Steam, Blend, Defrost, Reheat, Dishwasher Safe, Model SCF883/02

There are so many products on the market for mums and babies now, the choice can be overwhelming.I was looking for something that would help my daughter prepare healthy food for her 6 month old baby that she would find quick and easy. She was initially boiling and microwaving then blending and generally making a mess with lots of pots and pans. I had never seen one of these before, but read the reviews and thought it sounded just the job. It arrived within 2 days and we tried it out immediately. Well, we were both so impressed! It steams without filling the kitchen with steam. There is no water to empty - as long as you put the right volume in to start with, the water all converts to steam. Then simply turn it the other way and blend to the consistency you want. We tried apples, carrots, potatoes, different fruits, broccoli and all worked perfectly. Isaac [baby] was impressed also. It does not create a mountain of washing up because everything is confined to one container and you can make enough to freeze for extra meals. What a good buy. She loves it. It is also small [about the size of a medium thermos] and sits nicely on a worktop. It might be a bit pricey but to my mind it is worth the money.Update on this review 1 month in: This equipment is described by my daughted now as a 'must have'. She puts everything in: fish, chicken, vegetables and gives it all a 20 minute steam then simply blends. Isaac loves the food and she buys nothing ready made or in jars for him. She says it so easy and it's easy to clean. What a splendid piece of apparatus. Ready made baby food is expensive so this gadget must pay for itself in no time at all.

I can't begin to express how much I love this machine. It has made weaning so easy. You just choose the food you want to prepare, chop it up, add water and turn it on. Then when it's done steaming (the machine turns itself off which is handy if you've become distracted by your little bundle of joy), you flip the container over, and puree away. Contrary to the description it does NOT have 3 pureeing speeds, but if you want lumpier food you just puree for less time.All the parts (except the motor, obviously) can be washed in the dishwasher, but there's only a few parts to clean so I find it easy to do by hand.It comes with a handy recipe book which has some nice ideas. The instruction manual also has a table of suggested steaming times for a range of fruit/vegetables/proteins, which takes the guesswork out. You then just add the right amount of water: e.g. 100ml for 10 mins, 150ml for 15 mins and so on. You don't have to do just one type of food at a time, for example, there's a recipe for baby bolognaise where you put the meat and veg in all at once, steam, then puree.As others have said, the machine is not huge, but I find it sufficient. To give you an example, I fill it to the "max" line with apples, and find that gives me about 14 x 30ml ice cubes worth. I don't have a huge freezer so that's more than enough. I started using the machine a couple of weeks before we started weaning so by the time my baby was ready I already had a freezer drawer full of cubes of different fruit and veg, which I now mix and match each day to give her a varied diet (I use freezer bags to store cubes to avoid having to buy loads of ice cube trays and save space).You can use the machine for fruit, veg, fish and meat. You can also use it as a steamer only, or to puree only, which makes it very versatile.It really makes the whole steaming/pureeing process so simple: no hassling with pans and separate blenders. Also steaming is much healthier than boiling, apparently, because more nutrients in the food are preserved. I really like the fact that I know all my baby's food is homemade with no additives and (for the most part) organic.My only slight criticism is that the puree function is quite loud. That means it's hard to use when the baby is asleep, and if I use it when she's in the room it terrifies her and she starts crying so I can't do that either. I work around this by popping her in another room with a toy for the 30 seconds or so it takes to puree.After watching many other mums I know struggle with weaning, I'm so glad I have this machine. I recommend it to others as a way of simplifying the whole process. And of course you can use it after weaning is done - I've already used it to make creamed spinach for the adults in the family!

Initially, I was thrilled that I could quickly prepare purees for my 6-month-old baby. However, after a week of use, I noticed tiny cracks forming in the plastic container, and the bottom started accumulating dirt that’s impossible to reach or clean. The manual suggests adding water and shaking to clean it, but that solution doesn't work at all. To make matters worse, the blending function stopped working after just two weeks. I'm really disappointed with Philips. The container should have been made of glass to prevent odours and cracks.

I bought it when my child was 6 months and now is 9 months. It's the perfect tool for a mom. It's small, compact, easy to use: just put the food inside (by the way, I don't cut it in such small pieces as they say, and it still works perfectly), let it steam for the required amount of time (no more than 20min), reverse the jar and then blend the food. If you want the food a bit thick, throw away a bit of the water first.Just one jar to wash, you don't have to regularly check if the food is ready or not (as you would do, if boiling it on the oven).And you can blend in different ways for each stage of weaning (unlike what one of the customer said). you just have to stop from blending when you achieve the desired consistency ;). that's the whole idea - to be easy to handle, not to have lots of buttons, options etc. It's the perfect solution for fresh meal every day ( i don't like the idea to cook a big meal, freeze it and then feed my baby small unfrozen portions the following days - yuck! )And by the way, I also use it for myself: a nice cup of meshed vegetable soup does wonders - especially when you don't have the time to prepare something else.There are other devices like this on the market (e.g. beabe), but i chose this because it's small and it costs less than them.Bottom line: I've told all my friends with babies to buy one, or something similar - it saves us mothers lots of time. And i'll use it even when my boy will grow: steamed vegetables, purée, soups ...