What I Wish I Knew Before Starting Solids
You’re quickly approaching the 6 month mark and all you can think about? Solid food.
It’s taunting you as it raises the many questions of what you’re going to feed your baby, when, BLW or purees? What is going to benefit them the most? What’s most convenient for you?
There’s a lot of questions and it can be really stressful, but it doesn’t have to be.
I’m thankful that we have six months to figure this out because it’s a lot to figure out. Although in my case I wish I would’ve started thinking about it.. before the six month mark. In my mind I had decided to do BLW and although I knew about it, I didn’t really have the details worked out. I figured that I’d figure it out as I went. Which that was fine, but I wish someone had told me a few things that would’ve taken a lot of stress off of me. Now to start, if your baby is six months old, you should not be feeding them anything other than breastmilk or formula. The advice to start with the rice cereal (which has insane levels of arsenic) and purees around 4 months is outdated and it can wreak havoc on your baby’s gut. It is not fully developed until six months so you should avoid it at all costs and if you have a pediatrician that is still following that extremely outdated and potentially dangerous advice, bid them “adieu”. (And if you’re thinking, oh, our parents did it and we’re fine- consider your gut health, it’s probably actually not fine). Okay, I’m getting off my soapbox now and giving you the advice that you’re actually here for. Everything I wish I had known before I started this process.
1. It’s harder than it looks.
Seriously, I didn’t realize how annoying it would be to have to feed your baby meals everyday. If you’re not a stay at home parent, this may not apply to you, but in my case it’s been really difficult finding the time to add in formal meals. It shakes up your routine completely and all of the sudden you go from passing bottles (or breastfeeding time) to a bottle, then a meal (which babies take forever to eat) and then they play, nap and before you know it, lunchtime rolls around and it’s time for the next meal. It’s exhausting. Now I thought with baby led weaning that Hayden would just eat whatever I ate. The problem that I’ve run into with that is that I wasn’t used to preparing extra, preparing in a way he could eat it and I wasn’t always eating meals he could easily eat. I started getting really stressed about the extra time it was taking and then we didn’t eat what I made anyways, I started to just not feed him extra anymore. He didn’t really seem to care. And that leads me to my next point…
2. It’s okay if you don’t feed them solids every meal to begin with.
Honestly, it’s okay if you skip a day or two, or three. There is no shame when it comes to this process because it’s hard to implement a new routine, especially one that is extremely time-consuming. Is teaching your baby how to eat important? Yes. But lucky for us, food before one is just for fun. I mean, it’s important for them to learn too, but the majority of their nutrients are still coming from their milk so it’s not the end of the world if you only feed them solids when you can. In our case I found that at 6 months, he wasn’t super interested. So rather than put pressure on both of us for him to eat at every meal, I offered him stuff whenever it was convenient for both of us and I just let him play. I didn’t stress if he was napping while we were eating and I didn’t go out of the way to prepare the fancy plates you see all over Instagram. I honestly don’t know who has the time for that anyways. So if you’ve been beating yourself up for skipping or missing meals, don’t. I promise it’s going to be okay. That being said..
3. Aim for at least one food a day.
We don’t really need formal meals until we’re into our toddler/younger years. When you’re a baby, food is food. It doesn’t have to be portioned out with equal amounts of everything on the plate and it certainly doesn’t have to be variety. You can give them one food and call it a night. I prefer to feed him something at dinner because I can put him in the high chair when we’re having our only formal meal of the day and either give him bits of whatever we’re eating or if I’m not in the mood or it’s not reasonable/we don’t have enough, I’ll give him a puree pouch or if we’re really struggling that day, puffs. *gasp* Yes, I give my baby puffs and I’m an all-natural kinda gal. It’s easy. It’s convenient and to be fair, I do give him only the Happy Baby Organics puffs which aren’t that bad. So if you’re struggling, pick one meal a day to start with. I find that he’s usually sleeping during my lunch so I’ll give him breakfast, dinner or both. Recently I’ve found that cut up fruit, half a puree pouch (Happy Baby Organics) or some homemade oatmeal with banana or apple is easy enough. I can give him that while I’m making coffee and eating and it doesn’t cut into my workout or devotion time too much. Now obviously, I’m not going to deprive my baby, when he gets to the point where he needs more food or he’s acting hungry at lunch, I’ll give him more. My point is, it doesn’t have to be a picture-perfect-3-meals-a-day from the start. You can ease into it in a way that works for everyone. For an example, our timeline has been that at 6 months I introduced a food or two a day (give or take days I missed) and by 7 months he’s eating either breakfast or dinner, on days he’s interested, both meals.
4. Keep easy foods on hand.
I’ve mentioned them a couple of time but I really like the Happy Baby Organics and Good & Gather brand. I get both from Target but they’re some of the cleaner brands. I keep their puree pouches, puffs and teether crackers on hand. They’ve got relatively clean ingredients and they’re extremely convenient for when I just don’t have anything else to give him or we’re out and about. Other easy foods are grapes, oatmeal (like real oatmeal, not the baby brands that are filled with junk), bananas, avocados, toast with butter, eggs, or basically any other fruit. I like to keep a running list of foods on my phone so I can track what he eats and record if there’s any kind of reaction to anything. Plus I’m doing the 100 foods before 1 thing, but I’m an over achiever… Now you will have noticed I’m mixing BLW with purees. I don’t think it’s reasonable for the majority of families to do just one or the other. It’s really healthy for babies to explore textures and a variety of foods, but it can also get expensive, wasteful and like I mentioned, it’s a lot of work. So don’t put yourself in a box. Grab a box of pouches and use them when you need or want to.
5. Minimize the mess!
One of the most stressful aspects to this whole shebang is the mess. Whether you’re doing BLW or purees there will be a mess, no matter what. Am I the mom that stands there and wipes him down constantly? Yes. But I’ve also found ways to minimize the mess. I use the Ikea high chair which has minimal cracks and crevices and I wipe it down immediately after use. I also use Yeah Baby Good’s accessories (the foot rest is vital for a proper eating position in that high chair) and I use the placemat for easy cleanup. I can just pick that up, rinse it off and put it back on there to avoid stains on the high chair and it just makes clean up way easier in general. I wash my Ikea cushion cover once a week (unless it’s really bad) and the stains come out perfectly. I’ve found that wiping his hands in between foods helps contain the mess and using a silicone bib that catches everything he drops, which right now is the majority of his food, is also super helpful. Fun hack: I put a command hook on the back of his highchair where I hang his Mushie bibs! I also plan the messiest foods for dinner so he can go straight to the bath if he needs it. But what about when you’re out and about? YBG has a restaurant kit with a placemat that’s amazing every time we go out. I keep an extra silicone spoon, silicone bib, snack cup and one of these handy dandy silicone feeders and it makes eating out with him a breeze. Work smarter, not harder. Oh and also, while I’m on the topic of making your life easier, teaching your baby how to drink from a cup is great for their development. I’ll give Hayden an ounce or two, which doesn’t even make it in his mouth, of water in this EZPZ Tiny Cup. It’s helped him learn how to drink from an open cup after only a few tries!
EZPZ cup
Silicone teether feeder filled with berries
Alright, I’ve given you a lot of information, but here’s the most important thing: you’ve got this. You’re not going to scar or fail your baby. Take it one day at a time, one meal at a time. Connect yourself with resources to encourage you and to learn! These are some of my favorites:
Instagram: @kids.eat.in.color, @babyledweanteam & @kidfriendly.meals
Facebook: Baby Led Weaning for Beginners & Beyond (which has awesome guides on all things BLW).