Feed Me
After only 4-6 months its already time for food! Here are my go-to helpers for meal time that lasted longer than a month or two. I made my own food, which I thought was super easy. No judgement if you're buying food! We all do what works for us and there were definitely things, like pureed prunes that I found easier at the grocery store than at home!
Much love on this one. I find food to be one of the trickiest parts of parenthood.
Chicco Quick Seat
Here's what I can't figure out about high chairs. They are either insanely bulky or the nice sleek ones are insanely expensive. So I opted out of high chairs all together. We exclusively used these table attaching chairs. These quick seats are available from a lot of different brands. We bought super cheap ones, and we used the hell out of them, but their downfall was a lack of tray and they weren't, i repeat, were not machine washable. This made them a nightmare to clean. Last thing to take a look at is how they attach to the table and the table you plan on using. Some chairs slide onto the table and if you have an apron on your table (a piece of wood on the underside that holds the structure of the table) it will get in the way. So take a minute and look under your kitchen or dining table before you purchase.
Baby Bjorn Bibs
One bib, per kid. That;s it. Seriously. The only reason we had any cloth bibs is because people had given them to us, but they are really unnecessary if you have a Baby Bjorn bib. These thoughtfully made bibs are easy to clean, easy to put on and remove and catch fallen food. Seriously, what more could you want. Sometimes I wish it was socially acceptable for me to use one of these. Too far? Never.
Silicon Ice Cube Tray
This W&P Peak Ice Cube tray I bought in the boozy accessories section of a cool shop in my town. It's meant to make fashionable square ice cubes for cocktails that will impress the neighbors. Lucky for me, it also doubled as a homemade food tray for my kids when they were first eating solids. On Sundays I would cook up a few things, puree them, and then put them in these ice cube trays to freeze. Once frozen, I could transfer them into labelled bags or containers and there was perfectly portioned food for the whole week. I like that this tray has a lid and I love that I can reuse it so long after my kids have moved onto non-pureed foods. The great thing about a silicon version of an ice cube tray is that you can push the cubes out from the bottom, so they never got stuck. Did I mention it's also a breeze to clean?
a note on reheating purees: put in a microwave safe bowl, zap in micro for 20 seconds, stir, add another 20 seconds if not thawed, stir again. This way you avoid getting hot pockets in your thawed baby food that could burn your baby's mouth. For a more consistent and even thaw, you can heat on the stove top in a small pot or pan.
Immersion Blender
Here's one of those perfect places where the market is going to tell you to buy a special kids food making food processor. Don't buy into it, literally. This little immersion blender will do everything you need and then you have something you can use to make soups and purees in the future!
How to use: Cook up your favorite baby food recipe in a pot on your stove. When its cooked through, use your immersion blender to puree. Then transfer to your ice cube tray to make baby food for the next week or two.
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Munchkin Miracle 360 Cup
Preach! Yes, it is a miracle! These are the only cups we use in our house. We never used traditional sippy cups because I found them messy and ill equipped in transferring skills from a topped cup to an open cup. We have the stainless steel ones for milk and the plastic ones for water. We have 1 or 2 metal ones and 2 water ones per child and its enough to have one going and one in the sink being washed. They are dishwasher safe, and minimize spill.
I will say, the splatter radius on impact when they are dropped and hit on the lip of the cup is pretty impressive.
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Squeasy Snacker
Food on the go? No problem, between the 360 miracle cup and this squeasy pouch, I have the car rides down pat. I love these reusable silicon pouches because they have unique suction that allows my little ones to get all of the goodies out from inside. They also have a wide mouth which make them easy to fill and clean. We have 2 for each kid and its perfect. Go savory or sweet with your pureed snack, I love that it minimizes the mess. Starting to catch a theme here?
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