Introducing Your Baby to Solid Foods: Gear Up for Mealtime Success

Planning for mealtime sucess before you start your baby on solids, is just as important as the main event. You can feed your baby on your lab or propped up on the sofa. You can use your own dishes and silverware. But believe me; everything will go much smoother if you gear up in fine baby style. Getting the right gear means, that come feeding time, you can concentrate on more important things – like what actually goes in your little one's tummy.

First things first, ditch the tiny lace-made bibs everyone gave you at your baby shower. Sure, they’re cute, but like a good diaper, we’re talking coverage over frill. You want bibs that are wide and long. You’ll want easy to clean material like thick and firm fabric or plastic. White and dark show mess best – so if that’s a concern, buy bibs in the middle color ranges such as green, light blue, violet, and dark yellow.

Now before every tired beyond belief, new mom logs on here to send me hate mail akin to, “BIBS are NOT my main concern, sleep is you nut.” Hear me out. Eventually company will come over or you’ll want to take your little one out to a restaurant and a few semi-presentable bibs will make you feel good and stop comments like, “Don’t you ever do laundry dear?” from your mother-in-law.

Set up a good seating system for your baby before you start solids. Give her a little time each day, for a few days, in her new chair before actually giving her food. This way the novelty of the seating arrangements take second place to the meal.

Follow these rules when choosing seating for your baby:

• Plan from the start to never walk away from your baby when she’s in her chair. Make sure anyone who feeds your baby knows that this is the law. Have everything ready before placing her in her chair – bibs, food, spoons, and plenty of cloths for wiping up messes. Notice I said spoons (as in plural). Many a baby I’ve met considers projectile spoons to be just about the best joke ever created.
• Always secure your baby into her seat. Even if you think she can’t possible climb out or move too much, lock that baby in. Babies who like the spoon joke will often try other tricks; like learning to climb when you’re not looking.
• Make sure that folding highchairs are securely set up and locked into place. Place the highchair far from any surface that your baby might pull on or kick into – which could propel the chair to tumble over.
• Make sure that sliding trays are locked into place and when you do this, watch out for little fingers that might be in the way.
• If you’re using a highchair make sure it’s sitting on a stable surface. If you need floor coverage for messy eater, lay an old sheet on the floor area around the chair, not under it. If you’re using a hook-on seat be sure to hook it to a solid wood or metal table. Don’t try to attach a hook-on chair to a glass or other flimsy type table, (like a folding card table).
• Don’t feed your baby solids in a jumper, walker, or swing. You want your baby to be stable while she eats to minimize choking risks.
• After every feeding clean the chair with nice hot soapy water. Clean out all the old food particles and chunks because your baby won’t care how old it is – she’ll try it.

Your baby has a tiny mouth and tummy so indulge and get all the small baby friendly feeding tools you want. Plastic coated baby spoons are often easier than metal for your baby to adjust to. If you want to look like a pro have more than a few spoons ready for each feeding. You’ll need:

• One spoon for you to use. You’ll use this spoon to feed your baby.
• An extra spoon for you. You’ll use this spoon to feed your baby after you drop the first one while trying to wipe oatmeal out of your baby’s hair.
• Anywhere from three to five more spoons. One of these you can give your baby to hold while you feed her. If you don’t do this, she’ll grab the spoon you’re using, and a great big tug-o-war will ensue. The other spoons will be used to rapidly replace the first spoon you give your baby, after she masters the projectile spoon trick I talked about above.

Tiny plastic dishes may not look fancy but they sure beat picking up shards of your good dishes off the floor. Likewise, glass baby food jars can make the same impressive mess that your good dishes do. A side benefit of tiny dishes is portion control. It’s easier to dish up an actual baby-sized amount of creamed spinach into a tiny baby bowl than it is to gage the correct amount that should go into a large bowl. When buying baby dishes don't forget to choose with fun in mind. Fun supplies can liven up any meal. And your baby really will eventually appreciate looking at cute cartoon characters and vivid colors while she eats.

Now that you’ve got your gear together, why not start thinking about the actual foods you should feed your baby. Check out this great veggie-for-baby primer.