When our pediatrician told us we can start introducing whole foods, I immediately felt overwhelmed because I had absolutely zero supplies, not even a meal time bib! I got on Amazon and started ordering a ton of stuff, come to realize I didn’t need half of it. I’ve trialed what feels like thousands of bibs, spoons, cups, plates, bowls, etc. and finally found our favorites. So I wanted to share our baby and toddler meal time favorites with you guys!
I hope this blog post helps you out and makes meal time seem a bit easier and not as overwhelming. One quick thing I wanted to mention, we did both purees and baby led weaning (BLW) for Mia. However, once she started enjoying BLW more, we stopped the purees. A few of my favorite pages on Instagram for BLW are @thrivingfoundations , @babiesfeedingbabies, and @solidstarts. I also followed the Solid Starts app to know how to properly cut her food/serve different things to her.
Okay back to the topic of the blog post, here we go!
Stokke Tripp Trapp Highchair:
This high chair is definitely pricey but I liked it because it’s a chair that can grow with them and they can use for years. It’s a very high quality, durable chair and it’s also extremely easy to clean which I love. Two annoying things about it are that you have to buy all the other attachments separately, like the tray or any cushions you want. Another thing that is frustrating is the straps are super hard to loosen/tighten. I understand why they do that so the baby can’t loosen their own straps but they made it SO difficult lol. However, once you have the straps in the position you want them in, it’s a great high chair!
Splash Mat:
You will realize very quickly why these mats are one of the best investments you can make LOL. We have a white rug under our dining room table, which come on Laura, what a bad idea. So this mat is great to go under her high chair to prevent the rug getting stained!
Ingenuity Booster Seat:
We didn’t start using this until I felt really comfortable with Mia chewing/eating food because it’s best if their legs are at a 90 degree angle for eating. However, if I’m in a rush in the morning and don’t feel like setting up the high chair, this is really easy and quick clean up. It’s also very convenient to take places, like my in laws if we go there for dinner, etc.
Table Chair Clip On:
We love this chair for going out to restaurants because it clips right onto the table and allows Mia to be right next to us when we’re eating. Most places obviously have high chairs but when she was first starting to eat table food, the high chairs were always way too big for her. This allowed her to be right next to us at the table and it also didn’t stick out super far and block walking paths in the restaurant.
Disposable Placemats:
These are amazing to bring out to restaurants with you. They just stick to the table and are little placemats that can be thrown away after use. This way you don’t have to worry about making a mess on the table or your little one eating from a dirty table!
Bibs:
I went through more bibs than I can even COUNT. It took me so long to find ones that we loved. Our biggest issue is that Mia was a really tiny baby so most bibs would restrict her arm movement, especially the silicone ones. These are my two favorite bibs we found. When she was younger we used the bumpkins bibs and as she got older and grew a bit, we used the tiny twinkle bibs.
Happy Mat:
Once Mia got a bit older, we realized she liked being right next to us at the dinner table. We would scoot her high chair up right in between us and put this mat on the table for her to eat from. I really like this mat because it’s easy clean up and it sticks well to our wooden table. The only thing I don’t like about it is that there are sections to separate food. I prefer having her different foods touch each other because I’ve read that if you never allow different foods to touch, they can grow up being picky if they ever do touch. We do still use this mat, but I usually put her food together so it’s touching.
Silicone Bowl:
This bowl is one of the only bowls I’ve found that sticks pretty well to her high chair. She sometimes figures out how to grab the bottom and pry it off, but it works for the most part.
Straw Cup:
We decided to use a straw cup instead of a sippy cup because they only use sippy cups for a few years and then have to learn how to use a straw. It seemed pointless to me so I just went straight to a straw with her. She learned how to drink from this around 6.5 months and now is amazing at it!
Open Cup:
This was another thing I started right when we began solids with Mia. I would obviously assist her on drinking out of an open cup but once she hit about 1 year, she could do it all by herself. This cup in particular is so great because it’s small enough for her little hands to wrap around.
BLW Spoons:
At the beginning of BLW, I would use these spoons because they were so easy for her to get food on and bring to her mouth. They don’t require you to actually scoop anything up with it. I think they got her used to using a utensil even though it wasn’t really “forking or spooning” anything.
Forks/Spoons:
As Mia got older and started understanding utensils more, I would give her these to use. I would show her how to do it and then she would usually mimic me. Often times she throws them and ends up using her hands but we’re working on it!
Food Pouch Tops:
These little things are SO convenient, we LOVE them! They fit right on top of a pouch so that they can more easily suck out of the pouches. I always have one of these and a pouch in my diaper bag for emergency situations.
Snack Cup:
Now that Mia is eating snacks more often, this little cup is so convenient to have. It really is spill proof and easy for her to carry around/use!
Serenity Kids Puffs:
I try not to give Mia puffs to often but they are great to have on hand, especially when you’re out at a restaurant and waiting for food. She loves all flavors of Serenity Kids and I love this brand because they’re made with great ingredients!
Serenity Kids Pouches:
Going along with the puffs, I only give Mia pouches every now and then but these are great to have on hand for a healthy option. There isn’t one kind of pouch she hasn’t eaten from them!
I think that is basically everything that we use for meal time, we obviously don’t use all of these everyday but they’re nice to have on hand. A little reminder/tip I wanted to share that I think has helped Mia a ton with eating. We always eat along side her, breakfast, lunch, and dinner. I truly think this helped her understanding how to eat, by watching us. Our little ones are watching us wether we realize it or not. I know times can be busy but I always make time to sit down and have a meal with her. I hope this helps as you navigate meal time with your baby/toddler!
Peace & Love,
