Gear: Eating

As distinct from nursing.



We introduced solids starting at 6 months, though the popular recommendation among the US pediatric community at the moment seems to be 4 months.

From memory, this is roughly how it goes:

1. Start mixing some rice cereal in with your milk or formula. You can work up to other cereals if you want, but many of the mom's in breastfeeding group complain of the constipating affects of oatmeal, so be aware of that. This stage makes a mess, and suddenly you realize why everyone at your shower gave you so many bibs. You thank your lucky stars you didn't give them to goodwill, and wish you had more. Also, it seems like a tremendous burden to have to PREPARE food for your baby every day. How will you ever find the time? How do parents do it?
   
2. Add in some ultra-soft mild foods, like baby applesauce, or mushed up bananas. Still overwhelmed, you might end up using far more jars of prepared food than you expected to.
   
3. Start moving away from bottles and towards sippy cups. Maybe it goes quickly, maybe it doesn't, and you have to just upgrade to a faster flow bottle for the time being. So much to think about at once!
   
4. Start to bend the rules a little and give the baby some cows milk products even though it's moths off her first birthday and you know the pedi wouldn't approve. But you just can't help yourself! It's the first food your baby seems to eat for flavor, not just because you're shoving it into her mouth. If your baby gets the runs, back off and try again in a few more weeks.
5. Learn that licking the bottom of the spoon saves about 85% of the mess all over your baby's face. Feeding time becomes a lot grosser for onlookers, but a lot cleaner for you and your baby!
   
6. Start branching out with gum-worthy foods like cheese and cheerios. You realize two important truths: eating is now entertainment, and cheese is baby crack.
   
7. Become more adventurous and let her eat whatever it is she's eying on your plate. If you're a terrible mom like me, peanutbutter, shrimp, and all sorts of other stuff enters the equation at this point. Pedi wouldn't approve. Keep benodryl handy and be poised and ready to call 911. Apples? Why not! Just watch her closely, because they're a choking hazard. You took that baby rescue course anyway, didn't you? Grapes? Even more chokeable, which is when you get into the pre-chew routine. Gross? Perhaps, but parents do these things for adoration of their babies!
8. Enjoy food with your baby! Suffer sickness with your baby. You're sharing everything, now! Except beer. The beer is mommy's.
9. Suddenly she's not content to sit back and let you feed her. She wants to do it herself. If you're lucky, she'll still let you feed her while she jabs at her plate with her own little spoon. This must be what placemats are for. And that's where we are right now.
   

So what do we use?

• Table Chair -- I LOVE our hook-on table chair. We hook it right on to the counter so that Miss Elsie can sit with us while we eat (see above). It's a real space-saver. Some families find a high chair or booster seat more appropriate to their needs, but if you eat at a table or breakfast bar, consider the hook-on chair. This brand is awesome. Very sturdy, and easy to wash (which is key when you mix babies and food). The high chair I'm most impressed with is this one. And for that price, it ought to be impressive! Our friends have it. It's sleek, sturdy, fits little Elsie and their toddler twice her size (and will easily fit him when he's a gangly teenager). Pulls up to the table without any problem. Best of all, it's not plastic! It's a really solid product, appropriate for any baby who can sit, and it works well in their small apartment.
  
• Baby spoons -- Lots of baby spoons. You wouldn't think brand matters, but it does. There's heft and size and coating and comfort in your hand. One of the sets we have tastes terribly of plastic. Yuck! My favorite for first-timers are the meal mates spoons. My favorite for slightly older are the take and toss. Now she's too big for either of them and I am in the market for something that isn't plastic coated but is easy for her to use herself and includes a fork, like this. If silver plate is safe for babies, I'll probably just look for something old, because those old-fashioned little spoons and forks with the bent handle are just perfect.
• Sippy cups -- Or not. We have a friend who went straight to adult cups. Whatever you do with the baby's beverages, phase out the bottle by 1 year. It's better for her developing mouth, teeth, and language. Unfortunately, I do not have any sippy cup that I particularly like. Neither do most of my mom friends. Any suggestions?
  
• Bibs -- The best for a baby new to eating is a bib that acts like a poncho, covering shoulders, too. Aden & Anais does it again. Their bibs are great. For a baby of greater age, experience, and sophistication, any old bib will do, provided it is big enough. None of those little drool bibs that came with your layette. I prefer bibs with snaps so that they don't snag delicates in the laundry. Better yet, that bib I have that pulls right over Elsie's head. You can never have too many bibs. Some are very cute, and others are very stupid, but if it covers the baby, then it'll work. Other moms I know love formed plastic bibs with troughs at the bottom. I've never used one, and I don't miss it, but my friends love them so much that I thought it worth mentioning.
  
• Rice cereal -- It's the introductory "solid" food, though it's so runny it's hardly solid at all.
• Rice rusks or teething biscuits -- Rice rusks melt in your mouth. Teething biscuits are hard as tack. Whichever your baby likes, keep it on hand. It's messy business, but fun times for the baby to feed herself.
  
• Jars of babyfood -- Or you could make all your own, but sometimes it's mighty convenient to have these on hand, or in your diaper bag. They're non perishable until they're open, which makes them great for stashing. As for which kind, taste it yourself and you decide. I think the meat ones are much better from Earth's Best tastes much better than the meat options from Gerber, and the apricot is better from Beechnut than from Earth's Best.
  
• A blender or food processor -- For when you do want to make your own. You probably already have one that's perfect.
• Bananas, avocados, etc -- Mush & eat. No processor needed.
• Cheerios -- Babies love to hone their fine motor skills and eat goodies at the same time.
  

Resources:

• Hungry Monkey -- Loved this book. LOVED it. So cute! So funny! Written by a stay-at-home dad who is also a food-writer, cook, and adventurous eater. It includes a handful of recipes and many, many laughs. He also has a blog if you'd rather read for free.

What I (and probably you) don't need:

• A babyfood maker -- Just cook some food (stem, boil, sautee, bake, whatever), mush it with your fork, or put it in the blender you already have. There is no reason at all that you need this extra gadget.
• A babyfood mill -- I have one, and therefore I use it, but it does not handle anything but the softest of food very well, and that I can just mush with a fork to the same consistency. Besides, Elsie preferred her food pureed up until she started eating whole bites. A food mill doesn't get it that smooth.
  
• Different plates than you normally use -- I advocate for using little spoons because babies have little mouths. There is no comparable reason to use diminutive and colorful plastic plates. Besides, eating off of your normal plates is probably healthier than eating off of plastic anyway. There will come a time when your child will revolt and not want her foods to touch each other. Sometime in the toddler years, perhaps. If you want to get a divider plate at that point, then go for it, but I'm planning to stick to my normal plates.
  
• No-spill cups -- I hate all the stupid no-spill valves they put in them these days. Sure, Elsie won't spill even a drop when she shakes her cup upside down, and that might save me wiping up a couple of drops, but what does it do for HER? Nothing. Just delays learning how to drink from a cup Maybe my feelings on this product are a bit too strong, but it's part of a bigger concern over parenting these days. To me, it seems that suction-cup bowls and no-spill cups are just part of a greater trend to avoid having to ever discourage any behavior in our babies -- EVER. God forbid we traumatize them for life by telling them "no" when they push their plate on the floor or pour several tsp of their drink on the table in front of them -- or by limiting eating to the table (where messes are easily cleaned) instead of anyplace in the house.
  
• Squirt Spoons, Nibblers, etc. -- Maybe we'd use them if we had them... but maybe not. They seem excessive. The spoon is just another complicated thing to clean. The nibblers... really? Can't you just feed your baby appropriate foods without any tool, then watch her closely so that she doesn't choke on it?
• Puffs -- This kind of thing is a racket. It's like cheerios, only sweeter, and more expensive. Babies love plain old O cereal. But if you feed them extra sweet fruity flavors, they'll be happy to adapt their tastes to prefer the sweet stuff. On the plus side, puffs come in a convenient dispenser. So I guess you could buy them once, then re-fill with plain cereal. Beware that almost all food that has a boring adult analogy but is marketed towards babies is probably something better skipped. If it has Dora the Explorer on it, you don't need it.
  

Some suggestions for early months of eating food:

• Bananas (just be aware that they're constipating)
• Avocado
• Applesauce
• Pears (cooked)
• Sweet potatoes
  
• Rice (mushed)
• Eggs
  
• Yogurt (full-fat or even added-fat -- babies need fat!)
  

Then, with a slightly stronger stomach (watch out for choking!)

• Soft fruit (mangoes, ripe pears, melon, strawberries, mushed blueberries)
• Cereal (not too sugary!)
  
• Crackers
• Bread (little pieces)
  
• Soups (maybe pureed, maybe not, depends on baby's preferences)
• Beans or lentils
• Soft meat (ham, chicken, turkey -- sliced against the grain)
• Cheese
• Omelets
  
• Oatmeal
• Root veggies
• Risotto
• Pasta (with or without meatballs)
• Fish
• Mushrooms
  

Finally, with more teeth and better dexterity (again, watch for choking!)

• Raisins
• Apples (peeled)
  
• Cherries (pits removed)
  
• Almost anything! Be prepared to pre-chew highly chokable things and watch out for allergies.