Feeding tools

I am thinking about doing a couple different posts about food and baby eating. Now that Caroline is almost a year old, the doors are opening on almost all foods, but I remember at the beginning, I felt quite lost.

I nursed Caroline exclusively until she was almost six-months old. I only started on purees early because it was hard to keep up with her daily needs - plus, she was eyeing table food like she wanted to steal it right off my plate. But the transition from a liquid diet to one of solids was quite tricky, only because I didn't really know what I was doing. Nursing is pretty straight forward, but eating finger foods? When does that start? What foods are ok? How should I work into solid foods?  It was all a big game of trial and error - and asking a lot of questions.

First, let's start out with "the tools" we used in our house.

1. Soft bite spoons: These spoons were great to start. They are perfect for the young tot who is getting used to utensils in their mouth, and when the main source of "solids" is purees. These are good at holding baby rice cereal and oatmeal, but not much beyond that.

2. Bowls and lids: We still use these bowls and lids almost every day. The lids fit nice and snug, and are great for taking food on the go. They are easy to heat up, toss in the dishwasher, and it's not a big deal if you lose one.

3. Sippy cup: We tried both sippy cups and straw cups in our house. Of the two sippy cups we tried, Caroline liked these ones best.

4. Divided dish: This dish is good for holding a bit of two different foods, but I found I used the single bowls a bit more frequently. But I love that these have a non-slip bottom, and the removable ring/lip helps keep the purees in the dish, and not all over the tray.

5. Snack cup: Caroline only has one of these, but we should really buy more. I love them. The flip top is very convenient, and I never feel like I will lose it. Her snack container always holds puffs or Cheerios, but it would be nice to have one for raisins or goldfish, too.

6. Straw cups: Even though we tried sippy cups, Caroline prefers straw cups. These are really easy for her to hold, the straw is pretty soft and flexible - so she hasn't hurt her mouth on these. We still use bottles for frozen milk and formula, but we use these exclusively for water during "sit down meals".

7. Divided plate: We still don't use plates very often, we mainly put finger foods directly on Caroline's high chair tray. But now and again, we use this divided plate for when we have multiple "spoon foods" to heat up all at once. The bottoms of these OXO plates and dishes are rubberized, so they don't slip around - which is great for young kids.

8. Toddler forks and spoons: I just bought these forks and spoons, now that we are transitioning away from purees. These hold a bit more than the soft bite spoons I mentioned above, plus the short handle makes it easier for Caroline to practice feeding herself.

I am going to write a whole post about the types of food we feed Caroline, and what she ate at what stages. But until then, I also talked a bit about solid foods here and here.