Anyone else completely overwhelmed when it came time to start solids with your baby? It’s like right when you figure out the whole nursing/pumping/bottles thing, now you’re supposed to switch it all up! And we were in such a good routine with his schedule too – how does this fit in? And I’m back at work now and have very limited free time and now I have to research how we’re going to do this, what “equipment” we need, what to actually feed him, how to adjust his schedule….ahhhhhh!!!
I’m sure I overreacted, but this just ended up seeming like a big chore that I didn’t want to add to my list. But we overcame, and it really wasn’t as bad as I feared. So I wanted to share what I learned along the way in hopes that it might make it just a little easier for you!
Getting Prepared
I swear by the Moms on Call book for creating healthy sleeping habits and a schedule with baby early on, so my first step was to check here for guidance on how to work it into the schedule. It basically recommends offering solids about an hour after the bottle the first 3 feedings of the day. Seems easy enough.
Next to decide what to feed him. I’m not a super crunchy granola kind of mama, but when you start thinking of what to put into this perfectly pure little baby, you really take pause. So I decided to puree my own fruits and veggies to start. To not create extra stress on myself, I said I would just do this as long as it wasn’t a huge extra chore. It really wasn’t at first, because he wasn’t eating much. So I would just make 2-3 things on the weekend and freeze them to use throughout the week. I heard recommendations to start with veggies because if you start with fruit (sweeter) that’s all they’ll want. So with that, I decided to start with some of the standard veggies: sweet potato, green beans, butternut squash, carrots, peas, avocado.
Next up was how to actually make the food. I had some recommendations from mamas that loved the Beaba Babycook that steams and purees in 1 container. I was able to try a used one from another mama, and honestly I just didn’t love it. It didn’t puree as well or as quickly as my Ninja that I use for smoothies. So I just stuck with that. You just boil the veggie first (after cutting into smaller pieces) for 5-10 minutes until it’s soft and then throw it in and puree. My Ninja has little single serving cups for smoothies, which was the perfect size for this and easy to just throw in the dishwasher to clean too. Then I put into small 3 oz containers to store/freeze.
As for gear, I did some quick research (I always love Lucie’s List for this type of stuff and usually check there first), and ordered these spoons and this container to freeze food in. I ended up not liking this container for freezing at all because it’s actually pretty tough to get the food out of it once frozen. Also, you then need another container to plop it into to thaw out and then send to daycare with your babe. So after using this once, I switched to these individual containers which I liked much better. And the cutest accessory – I cannot recommend these bibs enough! Bella Tunno is such a great brand, and local here in Charlotte (but has a great website for ordering from anywhere). These are the easiest to clean, have a big “trough” as we call it for catching everything baby drops once they start feeding themselves (aka the majority of the food), and lets be honest – the CUTEST sayings. I’m so obsessed. This is a go to gift for showers or my friends babies. I also love their pacifier clips. I have not yet tried their plates, because I honestly just put his food on the highchair tray.
That brings me to the final (and largest) gear item – the highchair. We initially got a space saver highchair with the intention of putting it on top of our island (never unattended – no hate mail please!). It’s intended to strap onto a chair, but we never eat at our table. I liked the idea that it didn’t take up space, but once we had it we realized our island is too high to make this functional. If you have a lower island/counter (like hip height) or actually eat at a table like real adults, this would be a great option. So I researched some more and my #1 requirement was no fabric – I wanted to be able to wipe down in 10 seconds after feedings. That really limited me in choices. I loved the look and functionality of the Stokke, but there was just no way I was dropping that kind of $ on a high chair. There really aren’t a ton of other options that meet my criteria, but I got some recommendations for the Ikea high chair, which is only $20!! I figured it was worth a try…and we absolutely love it! Nothing fancy, but I like that it is smaller and doesn’t draw attention in my kitchen, and it is SO easy to wipe down! I’m telling you – don’t waste a bunch of money on this piece of baby gear when there is such a great cheap option!
Getting Started
So the whole thing was actually pretty anticlimactic. But we video’d and took pictures and all. Hudson just wasn’t that into it. This lasted for 4-6 weeks. Not a big deal though – he was, of course, still getting his nutrients from the bottle. So we just continued to offer about an hour after his first 3 bottles of the day when we could. If we were out and about and missed one, we didn’t stress about it. We finally started giving him some fruit, and he decided he was into pears. This was the first thing he actually consumed a decent amount of (about 6 weeks into the whole thing). So don’t get discouraged if you’re baby isn’t taking to it right away – they’ll get it eventually! So then we started mixing pears with other things and he would eat that.
We had a trip coming up that involved flights and I was struggling to think through how this would work since homemade pureed foods have to stay refrigerated or frozen. I guess I could have taken a cooler bag with all of his food for the 6 day trip, but that just seemed like an ordeal. So I started researching pouches. I love Gimme the Good Stuff blog for anytime I looking into what’s safest for baby. Based on her recommendations, I decided to go with Sprout and Happy Baby pouches. They’re both organic and neither have any additives – just pureed fruits and veggies. They’re both available on Prime, at our local grocery stores, and at Target. So I geared up with some of those for the trip and tried them with Hudson a few days before. And guess what…he loved them! Ate way more than when I was giving him the homemade stuff. Guess I’m just not a good puree chef? In retrospect, I wish I had just started with these to begin with. It’s easier and he liked the mixtures of flavors better. It is a little more expensive, but worth it to me for the convenience. I also recommend getting a spoon with a case to keep in your diaper bag for feeding on the go.
Sippy cups are another thing most people start to introduce around this time. Honestly, it wasn’t even on my radar. Daycare brought it up and started giving one to him with water in it, so he kind of learned there (praise be to daycare teachers!!!). I tried out this one on recommendation, but he didn’t seem to really get how to suck through a straw, and honestly…there are a lot of parts to wash with this one, so much so that it came with it’s own little cleaning tool. I now have a new rule that I don’t want anything that requires its own cleaning tool in my house. At daycare they use normal ones that they tip up to drink, so he was used to that. I grabbed this one because it was at the grocery store and is the same brand as his bottles, and he likes it. However, the lid doesn’t seem very secure, so I’m afraid to put it in the diaper bag…so back to the drawing board I guess. Any recommendations?
Moving into Non-Pureed Foods
Once he was more used to the purees, I started adding bits of pears in his purees to get him used to more texture. He was super dramatic and would gag when they even hit his tongue. So I just kept trying here and there and assumed he’d eventually get used to it.
Daycare requested we bring in some puffs to work on his fine motor skills. I’m not a huge fan of puffs based on what I’ve read, but this seemed like a reasonable request. So I grabbed some of the Happy Baby puffs because they seemed the least bad. Of course he LOVED these, as all babies do for whatever reason. So that started getting him more used to non-pureed foods. I also grabbed this snack container that everyone seems to have (because we couldn’t be caught on the go without puffs), but I don’t really love it. It’s pretty bulky to throw in the diaper bag, and if any of the little tabs gets pushed in by something, then you have puffs all over the bag! Any recommendations for a snack container too?
After this we started giving him small bits of food we were eating and he still gagged some, but would eat it, and eventually got used to it. This quickly progressed into him wanting food anytime we were eating. As of about 9 months he was eating pretty regular meals (breakfast, lunch and dinner) of regular food cut up small that he could pick up and feed himself (shredded chicken, turkey burger, avocado, zucchini, sweet potato, scrambled eggs, blueberries, strawberries, etc.). He pretty much eats whatever we give him now! And quite a lot of it!
Some people go straight to this approach, which is called “baby led weaning.” I have no idea why it’s called that and not just “eating normal food,” but whatever. I’ve encountered people that are really emphatic about this being the best approach. I’d say the pros are that it is in general easier and cheaper (just feed baby some of whatever you’re eating), but sometimes it is really easy to just give baby a pouch if it’s between normal eating times. Also, as always, all babies are different. Given how much Hudson had to get used to the texture of solid food, I just don’t know that he would have jumped right into it. Some babies love it – so I think you really just have to do what works for you and your baby. Overall my biggest recommendation is just try not to stress about it. As I mentioned, it took a good 6 weeks or so of daily offering of food for Hudson to become even marginally interested in it. But they get it eventually!
I recently purchased these utensils for when we’re ready to let him start experimenting with using these to feed himself. They’re supposed to be great for babies to grasp and use due to their shape. I have to admit, I’m kind of putting this off because I don’t want extra mess to clean up! We gave it a try one day and it was pretty much a disaster. My plan is to wait until it warms up a little more and do feedings sans clothes so at least I’m not doing lots of extra laundry!
I also highly recommend this cleaning spray for wiping down highchair and bib after. It works really well and with the high chair and bibs I use having no fabric on them, it takes just a few squirts of this spray and a 5 second wipe down and you’re all clean! I guess some would have to do something to clean up the floor too if you don’t have “helpers” like we do 🙂
He’s recently started getting a bit more “adventurous” and even got to try his first little bit of pizza this weekend! It was his fav, of course 😉
I hope this helps some of you mamas to not be as intimidated by starting solids as I was!
xo,
Shannon
