One of the biggest lessons I learned after becoming a mom is that the research never ends. Every milestone will have you Googling what to do, what not to do, and what products you will need to get through it. For me, starting my baby on solid foods was one of my biggest research projects. Between purees, baby led weaning, the best high chairs, and everyone’s opinions on all of these things, to call it overwhelming was an understatement. 

I’ve been wanting to write a post about the adventure of starting my baby on solids and the products that made it easier now that he’s 14 months and we have a well-established meal routine. First, here are some basics about feeding babies if you’re new to the topic. 

What is Baby-Led Weaning?

Baby-led weaning (BLW) is when you skip pureed baby food and go straight to giving them appropriately sized and cooked pieces of food that they feed themselves. This helps babies get a more accurate feel for food tastes and textures, it helps with their pincer grasp, and overall provides a more sensory-forward experience. 

While some people recommend starting your baby on purees at 4 or 5 months, baby-led weaning has a strict recommendation to wait until your baby is at least 6 months, sitting up on their own, and showing “signs of readiness” that they are interested in solid foods. 

The Solid Starts app is an excellent resource on how to prepare age-appropriate food for your baby. 

Purees vs. Baby-Led Weaning

Pureed baby food is the jarred baby food that’s typically cooked and blended into a smooth, easy to swallow formula. You can also make purees yourself using a regular blender or the Baby Bullet, which I received as a hand-me-down.

Due to me being naive, I was surprised to discover that people have very strong opinions on whether you should start your baby on purees or BLW-sized pieces. Some people will say that purees are safer to prevent choking, while others will say that if you don’t start with BLW, your kid will be picky and never learn how to chew. 

Personally, I think the reality is somewhere in the middle and as with many things, ultimately depends on your child. My pediatrician recommended that we wait until 6 months to start any food, and to start with whatever I was comfortable with as long as we avoided honey and added sugar. She recommended going 1 ingredient at a time for a while to watch for any reactions before combining ingredients.

RJ’s first food was a spoonful of mashed avocado on his high chair tray. I didn’t want to spoon-feed him purees but I also didn’t want to go full beast mode like the moms in my due date group who bragged that their child’s first food was a strip of steak that they gummed on. I wanted to warm him up to the concept of consuming anything other than breastmilk, and decided that it would work for my anxiety and his interest in making messes to allow him to play with some mashed avocado while hanging out with me in the kitchen. 

After a couple days of avocado, I did the same with mashed banana, then with some steamed and mashed carrots, and eventually things like plain oatmeal and full-fat yogurt. Once he got used to the idea of eating, we upgraded to more of the Solid Starts preparation methods and he’d get things like a strip of avocado, a piece of steamed broccoli, scrambled egg pieces or omelet strips, and more “whole” food pieces that required more chewing. 

This combo method worked best for my anxiety and he’s an excellent eater now, which is convenient for my constant kitchen experiments. I can’t actually think of a food he’s refused. He’ll wolf down a helping of pasta or lasagna, he loves the meat and veggie shawarma platter we get from a local Middle Eastern restaurant once a week, dad’s scrambled eggs are one of his favorites, and he’d probably eat 3 pounds of blueberries, bananas, or broccoli if I let him. I’m working on a future post of some of our go-to recipes.  

I know the “picky toddler” phase can start somewhere between 15 and 18 months, but I’m hoping that by exposing him to a variety of foods he won’t get too selective. As much as I’m looking forward to the day when he can tell me what he wants for breakfast, I’m also bracing myself for the days when he survives off Once Upon A Farm pouches, a handful of goldfish crackers, and 47 blueberries. 

My Favorite Products for Feeding Babies

Once you get past the initial anxiety and uncertainty about feeding your baby, you’ll find those feelings replaced by extremely strong opinions about sippy cups, high chairs, bibs, and suction plates. Also: cleaning. There is so much cleaning. You are going to hate that high chair tray before you know it.

I’ve had more Amazon deliveries and Target runs for feeding-related products than I care to admit, plus a variety of hand-me-downs from friends and family. I’ve ended up getting rid of a lot of things on my local buy nothing Facebook group because I know they’re just not going to work for us, so this list is everything I’ve kept on regular rotation in our kitchen.

(Some of these are affiliate links, because a mom’s gotta eat)

Bib Smocks

There is nothing that will make your new messy food adventures more manageable than these long-sleeve bib smocks. We keep a set at home and a set in the diaper bag so he can eat at restaurants and events without making a mess on his cute outfit. They’re machine washable, but also easy to rinse down in the sink and air dry. This is one item on my ultimate list of go-to gifts for new parents. 

Silicone Bibs With Food Catcher

We also swear by these silicone bibs with a food catcher for less messy foods. They’re dishwasher safe and are much more durable than any fabric bib. It’s also cute when RJ finishes the food on his plate, then starts digging through the trough for whatever he dropped. 

Brvtot Suction Plates

I’ve tried so many suction plates and these are the only ones RJ can’t rip off his high chair tray. I bought 2 of these to try and they were so nice that I immediately bought 4 more. If your baby has any amount of strength, you need plates that have one big suction cup at the bottom instead of the 4 small suction cups. My next purchase will be these plates that don’t have the dividers because I hate hand-washing the divided plates. 

360 Sippy Cup

I’ve tried so many sippy cups and these 360 cups are a favorite in our house. It’s one of the first cups he really caught on to using, so I think it’s a good first step cup that will ease them into cups with nozzles and straws. 

Tommee Tippee Sippy Cup

This Tommee Tippee sippee cup with a spout is another convenient and leak-proof cup that works well for RJ. It’s also much easier to wash than some cups we’ve tried which is a big bonus when your kid starts chugging milk and water all hours of the day (and night). 

Graco Slim Snacker High Chair

This is the high chair we have. I spent way too much time researching high chairs that were compact enough for our small kitchen, that allowed baby to sit upright, and that had safety straps so he couldn’t launch himself off the side. I don’t not like this chair. It works great for our needs. The only thing I’d change would be that the padding be easier to remove – it’s so cumbersome that many customers are convinced it’s not removable, but it is – you just need an engineer husband and a butter knife to figure it out. I’d also prefer a tray that has the removable tray on top so you only have to wash that smaller tray section after a meal rather than the whole thing, but that’s mostly my laziness talking. It fits fine in the sink and even the dishwasher if I’m doing a light load. 

Metal Toddler Forks and Spoons

I didn’t give RJ any metal utensils until he was about a year old – he either used the silicone spoons that came with the plates, or his hands (mostly his hands). He still mostly uses one hand to eat while holding the fork in the other hand, but something about these utensils have encouraged him to actually try using it more instead of just holding it or throwing it on the floor. 

Haakaa Teething Pacifier

This was a good frozen food teether for introducing food and frozen milk. I first used this by freezing breastmilk in it when RJ was teething, but eventually would put frozen berries or pieces of fruit in it for him to suck on. It releases the food pieces much more slowly through the tiny holes, so there’s less choking risk and allows them to ease into new flavors and textures.