(This is a stereotypical mommy post. You’ve been warned.)
For whatever reason, starting solid foods with Everett seemed like The Biggest Deal to me. I never thought twice about his nutrition before that because well, duh, breastmilk is good for babies. I didn’t have to think about it. I had to buy different bras, wear different clothes, invest in a breast pump, and plan my solo outings accordingly, but I didn’t have to think about it.
But solid foods? Oh, my. Should I make my own? Buy store-bought? Organic? Non-organic? How much should I give him? How often should I give it to him? How will this affect breastfeeding? How will this affect POOP?
I’m laid back about a lot of things, but I had minor anxiety about starting Everett on solid foods. Now that we’ve been on the solid food train for three months, I thought I would share some tips, tricks, and things I wish I would have known about starting solids…
1. Your baby might hate everything at first. The only food Everett embraced at first taste was banana. With everything else he coughed and gagged and looked at me like I was poisoning him. This too shall pass. Everett now loves just about everything we give him, with the exception of a few choice green vegetables (which, let’s be honest, I hate too).
2. If you decide to make homemade baby food, know that it is a lot of work, especially once they’re eating solids 2-3 times a day. Also, nobody will give you a trophy for doing it. The effort that goes into washing, peeling, steaming, and pureeing vegetables/fruits is time consuming. Having said that, it is relatively easy to do and can be cost effective with certain foods (note: apples are not cost effective, I learned that one the hard way and we now buy natural applesauce). If you do decide to make your own baby food, I’ve used this book and this website.
3. Make large batches at a time. Think you’re going to puree a single fresh banana every morning for your baby to eat for breakfast? Think again. Do yourself a favor and puree 4 bananas and freeze the leftovers (note: bananas and pears will freeze brown and it’s totally okay). We use these storage jars and this multiportion tray, and I highly recommend both! If fancy baby products aren’t your thing, I’ve heard an ice cube tray works just as well. We usually make a few batches of baby food on Sundays so I don’t have to worry about prepping his food throughout the week.
4. Cloth bibs are a waste of time. No, really. My friend Sharon gave me a nice waterproof bib at my baby shower and even though it wasn’t on my registry, it was one of the best gifts I received. Once you’re feeding your baby solid foods 2-3 times a day, you go through bibs like crazy. And unless you plan to do a laundry load of bibs every single day, your cloth bibs will sit in the laundry hamper covered in apricot mush, eventually resulting in: apricot mush on other things, and stains on the bib that won’t ever come out. I don’t use any cloth bibs anymore, only bibs that can be wiped off. These superbibs are awesome, and you’ll want at least three. To recap: cloth bibs are good for drool, they are not good for food.
5. Know your boundaries, and don’t feel guilty if you use store-bought baby food. My boundary was meat, and I drew the line at pureeing ground turkey. No thank you. Off to Target we went, bought 8 jars of organic turkey/organic chicken, and Ev loved it. Done and done.
6. Start slowly, increase slowly. We started one solid meal a day at 6 months, and I didn’t change our breastfeeding schedule at all (I was nursing him 5 times a day, every 3 hours). At 7 months, we added a solid meal, and I kept nursing the same. At 8 months, we added another solid meal and dropped one nursing session. That is what worked best for us, but obviously every mom and baby are different. Our solid meals started at a couple of tablespoons (if that) and now Everett eats about 1/2 cup-3/4 cup per meal. My only advice for the how much/how often question is: go slowly, and go with your instinct (and talk to a pediatrician if weight loss/weight gain is an issue).
7. Make it a routine. If your baby likes routine (and I realize not all do), make eating part of that routine. For us, that routine involves two things: time and location. We do our best to make sure Everett eats his breakfast/lunch/dinner around the same time every day, at the table. We use this booster seat and love it (can’t beat $26!).
8. Variety is overrated. I’m pretty sure I read somewhere that the more tastes baby are exposed to at first, the less picky they will be as adults. I’m calling hogwash. Maybe it’s true, maybe it isn’t, but the point is: don’t give yourself anxiety over variety. Everett eats rice cereal and bananas every single morning. Who cares? At one point I caught myself feeling guilty over the fact that Everett had eaten the same solid meal three nights in a row, and for what? He liked it! He has his entire life to try new foods; it’s not my responsibility to introduce him to every taste under the sun before he turns 9 months old. Note: when you first start solid foods, doctors recommend waiting at least 3 days before introducing a new one in case of allergies. Everett is almost 9 months old and so far he’s tried: bananas, avocados, carrots, applesauce, zucchini, peas, asparagus, butternut squash, chicken, turkey, apricots, pears, broccoli, squash, green beans, and pumpkin. Some of those he’s tried once or twice, some he eats all the time. Whatever.
9. Don’t rush the puffs. Per my pediatrician’s recommendation, I started giving Ev puffs at 7 months. He was not ready. He coughed and choked and couldn’t handle it. I waited a couple weeks and tried again. He still wasn’t ready. Then, novel idea, I read the puffs container (mother of the year award!) and low and behold—there are instructions. A whole list of criteria babies should meet before they try puffs. Duh. So I waited until Everett met most of those and tried again. Success. Now there are puffs everywhere. The floor, his armpit, bottom of his sock. If you give your baby 6 puffs and they disappear, that doesn’t mean they’ve been eaten. And you’ll figure this out quickly when you find a puff stuck to your baby’s chin on a day when you have NOT given them puffs. I don’t even want to know where he found that.
Mommas, any tips to share? Any other questions? As always, I am not an expert or a pediatrician….just a first-time mom sharing what worked for us.
I am just reading your blog for the first time today — and what perfect timing!! I am literally starting solids with my 5 1/2 month old today. He has been eating rice cereal one meal a day for 2 weeks now and we are just going to start introducing veggies and fruits. I have been feeling so nervous and overwhelmed by the whole process. Giving him the boob is just so easy right now, but I know it is time for him to get more solids. Thank you for the tips and tricks!!
Chelsea´s last [type] ..Who knew?
Perfect timing indeed! Good luck with your solid food adventure….I’m sure you’ll do great!
I would just say a big fat DITTO to all the above. We use a similar booster seat and also love it. When I had a high chair for a few months it was WAY too much to clean. I found that making baby food purees was fun for me but time consuming so I just decided to not be crazy about it. I made a ton in ice cub trays but I didn’t stress about buying some too. (Anna loved prunes and they kept her regular, and I refused to make my own prune puree
Lesley´s last [type] ..My friend named Peach
Oops. Wasn’t done. Anna pushed publish. Ha. ALSO- one thing I finally bought this month are three kids plates from Target. (They have really cute Paris ones right now.) I’m finding that I actually do a better job offering her a variety of food and appropriate portions because of those plates. I was trying to be a minimalist and just use our adult plates for her but now I’m glad I bought her special kid ones.
Lesley´s last [type] ..My friend named Peach
That is actually a REALLY good tip. I was just looking at some of those plates at Target, but wasn’t sure if it would be worth it (do I need one more thing to buy, store, and clean when I can just put food on his tray?). But now that you mention it….I could see myself putting extra effort into variety if I was using a multi-portion plate. Thanks Les! And ew to prunes.
Ashlee, it’s so interesting to read this! Roo is 11 months, and I’ve had some different experiences than you write about here. Lots of similarities, though, too! I actually think I may have to write my own post, linking back to you of course!
I will say that I obsessed over what food to give her as her first food, which was silly! We actually chose egg yolk, which was weird, and she wasn’t ready. Then I think a couple months later (when she was more ready) we did avocado. But, three days later, we tried sweet potatoes. So, what was the big deal — three days?! Haha.
Kelsey Williams´s last [type] ..This Just in: Roo Can Wave!
Ooooh I can’t wait to read about your experiences! Do share
We also make our own food using the Baby Bullet system and have had lots of success with it. The one tip I can offer is if he doesn’t seem to like something at first, mix it with something you know he loves, no matter how gross the combo seems to be. While apple, eggplant, yogurt sounds disgusting, it became a favorite with Rigby and she gobbles it up.
I aldo had to laugh at the bit about the puffs. It’s a story I know all too well.
That IS a good tip, and one I forgot to include. Our house rule is: when in doubt, mix applesauce
Once he gets past purées, follow your same strategy and cook in bulk one day a week. I always had diced, cooked carrots, veggies, squash, chicken on hand to feed our kids in the stage before they can truly eat what you eat at each meal!! I just could not do the ‘chunk’ pre-made baby food in jars!!
Great tips Ashlee! I too am making my own baby food for my 7 month old. I found that it is much easier to make big batches of food all at once and freeze. In fact, in about an hour and a half I made 32 servings of a variety of foods (enough for about 2 weeks because I do avocados, bananas and cereal fresh) just last night. I had the Baby Bullet and the fancy storage containers at first, but have now found that my good ol’ Kitchenaid blender works even better. I also now use GladWare Mini Rounds for his food. They are BPA free, freezer and dishwasher safe, and are 4 ounces which is perfect for us…not to mention how inexpensive they are!! Next up for us is meat. I’m going to give it a try making it at home, but may end up in the baby food aisle at Target as well. =)
Good to know about the Gladware mini rounds! I’m going to keep my eye out for those. Good luck with the meat, you brave momma you!
I totally read this whole post and I do not have children. If the urban legend about variety of foods at a young age is true though…I feel really confident that my husband ate only bacon cheeseburgers as a child.
Maggy´s last [type] ..a wee little prayer request…
Ha!
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Thank you for this post! We started with rice and carrots for my 6-month old and he’s taken to food like he’s always been eating it. I didn’t totally stress about what to start with (rule follower here – the Ped said cereal then orange veggies, that’s what I did…), but I find I’m having a hard time sticking to the one-new-thing-every-three-or-so-days rule because *I* get bored with carrots. = ) We did try oatmeal and sweet potato but had a diaper rash reaction to those or teething so went back to r & c, but I’m going to try squash once that clears up. Currently still making it myself and freezing in cube trays, too. We’ll see about meat when the time comes!
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I just stumbled upon your site by accident – and I am SO glad I did! I can tell it is going to be a great resource for me as a new mama – especially this post. My little one is almost 3 months, so I have started researching introducing purées for the last week, in preparation for the day when her pedi gives the okay (I like to research things to death). Thank you so much for the insight, it’s truly helpful, and has been bookmarked for future use!
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