When Harper started solids, I read a lot of blogs and scoured product reviews on Amazon to select the best of the tried, tested and true baby feeding items for her. I thought it would be nice to share what’s been working for us so far.
A lot of you have asked how we like our Boon Flair highchair, and we absolutely love it, but I’m going to save the full review for another post. This is going to focus on items we use for feeding.
I love these spoons because they turn white if food is too hot. Since I make all of Harper’s purees, we freeze them and microwave to serve them. I always test on my wrist as well, but this is extra reassurance that the food is not too hot. If it is, I briefly stir in an ice cube and it very quickly cools from hot to warm.
These spoons are awesome and we use them daily. You can even see that the middle one is stained from carrots. They are soft yet firm enough to feed purees perfectly. The size is wonderful and Harper loves to chew on them and hold them. I also love the design. Not that it matters, but it doesn’t hurt that they’re the cutest baby spoons out there. I like that the tips are all silicone and not just silicone coated.
These containers are safe for the freezer and microwave and are BPA-free. We use them for Harper’s solids at daycare. The lids snap on nice and tight and they come with a little tray to help organize them.
I’m obesessed with these bowls! They’re also BPA-free and microwave-safe. I just pop some frozen puree into them and in less than a minute food is ready. They’re easy to hold and just the right depth. Highly recommend them.
The Green Sprouts silicone bowl is a nice alternative to plastic (even though all of our stuff is BPA-free, some people still prefer to avoid plastic). It’s on the smaller side but it’s the perfect size for mashing foods like bananas and blueberries. The Boon bowl we started to use recently and it has a suction at the bottom so it sticks to her highchair tray—it’s great now that Harper is learning to feed herself a little bit. I love the “catcher” feature too.
This is one we haven’t used yet—but plan to when she can self-feed more effectively. I like that it is shallow and stays on the tray, making it easier for baby to self-feed.
These bibs are an absolute must-have for feeding solids. They are waterproof, are easily washed and have a little pocket that catches any food that falls. Need I say more? They are absolute perfection—and come in precious designs, to boot!
We are just now really starting to integrate sippy cups—we started by just giving her one to explore and play with. Then, we showed her that water comes out. She doesn’t quite have the hang of it yet and I don’t want to put breastmilk into a sippy yet. I’m going to ask our pediatrician at our 9 month appointment if we should offer water, transition to breastmilk in a sippy…etc. I like that these have the silicone vs. hard nipples. I have also heard some babies prefer straw sippy cups so if you have any you love, please let me know in the comments.
I hope this post was helpful for any soon-to-be moms wondering what to register for or mammas about to start their babies on solids. Thanks for reading!
Great post! We use the white-hot spoons too, I love having that extra precaution in place. As far as sippys go, I think every baby has their own preference. Aubrey like the Tommee Tippee and Nuby. We started putting water in and then eventually breastmilk. We would offer it to her several times a day and then week before her first birthday we eliminated the bottles completely and it was a success- she didn't mind at all! Can I just tell you how amazing it is to not have a million parts to wash!
Such a great post! I just gave my twin girls solids for the first time tonight. We started with avocado – they were not fans! This was really helpful – thanks!
I went straight to straw cups at 6 months (Zoli and Momma) with my twins as my pediatrician was very vehemently opposed to sippy cups and felt straws were better for oral motor development and pverall oral health. My twins took about a week of me showing them how to use the straw to get it but they are obsessed with their straw cups. They toddle around with them all day long sipping their water like it's liquid gold. We have since moved on to larger cups but they seem to have a fondness for the Zoli cups the best. I just wish they made them larger.
Our favorite straw sippy is the Lollacup (and we've tried a LOT!). The straw is weighted on the bottom, so it always stays in the liquid, even if baby tips the cup. And it is so adorable. Handles are removable. I think $15, so not cheap, but worth it. https://lollaland.com/whats_lollacup.html
My daughter loves the Dr. Brown's sippy cups! She can manage the Tommie Tippie but prefers the handles and the smaller design of the Dr. Brown's. Good luck! She is 7 months old for reference.
I need that bib. Ours aren't cutting it anymore! We love our Lollacup! https://www.amazon.com/dp/B009LL61LG/ref=twister_B005RQ76EA
We love oxo sippy cups & love, love our boon high chair too!!! :). Thanks for sharing!!
wordsaboutwaverly.blogspot.com
I never did a sippy as I figured it would be one more transition to go from sippy to straw. The zoli straw cup is great, but does leak a bit. We now use the munchkin straw cups and find that they leak the least and are great to toss into the diaper bag.
Have you tried any of the food processors, with my daughter I just steamed the veggies/fruits in a regular steamer but she's 4 years old, now I'm pregnant again and want to try either the cuisnart baby or the BEABA one and I would like to see a comparison.
Can someone help
My daughter was not big fan of bottles, so we went for straw cups when she was 6 months old. First we bought avent straw cup and she loves it, and now when we're on the go we're using nuby straw cup, because it's bigger than avent and she is drinking lots of water.
Ha! Of course Cooper has many of the same items you have here (although just in "manly" colors) 🙂 He uses the same sippy cups and loves them. He hasn't taken to the straw ones yet even though we offer them to him. Great post Veronika! I think it's so helpful to see what other moms use…
Hope you are have a wonderful Valentines Day!
xo – Marion
I still can't get Logan to take a sippy cup. Ugh
I've tried everything in them, waited till he was really hungry to see if he would just use it out of desperation but Nope.. he is on zippy cup strike.
Skip the sippy cup and go straight to straw! Hunter is six months old and he sips out of the Zoli Bot straw cup. I don't use it for every feeding (mostly just dinners) but he caught on really quick and the cup doesn't leak.
I'm so thankful your Harper is a few months older than my daughter so I have posts like these to gather advice and recommendations from! 🙂
Great products ! We tried to heat our babies purées on the stove top as microwaves are known to change the composition of the food and their safety is questionable.
Are there published studies in medical journals about this? If so, could you please reference them? I have never heard that it is unsafe to microwave food for your baby (or yourself for that matter).
We also love the born free sippy !!
I didn't know before either. It was my husband who told me about it. I used to microwave often. https://allnaturalhealth.us/june_russell_microwaving.htm. This references studies but I'm not sure about medical journals.
Some articles differ though https://www.xpressnet.com/bhealthy/microwave.htm
https://blog.doctoroz.com/oz-experts/to-nuke-or-not-to-nuke-should-you-microwave-your-food
I just recently posted my feeding favorites and essentials too! Love that we have some of the same faves! I will have to look into that Boon bowl with the suction. We tried the Sassy ones, but K could easily pull it off the tray still, and tries to fling it. Like many others, we went straight to the Zoli Bot Straw Cup. K never took to bottles or the zippy cups. As for the microwave thing, I've read and heard a ton of conflicting info, but we still microwave once in awhile, but usually reheat in our Babycook.
xx Viv @ joiedeviv.blogspot.com
P.S. Have you seen the Bumkins Disney line? So cute! I just ordered a bunch!
Love this post! My niece has those bibs & Sof's always uses them over at their house, they work great. 🙂
xo
Megan
Hello Newlywed Life Blog
Awesome reviews, Veronika! One of my favorite items for Selah is her waterproof bib because we've gone through too many clothes and cloth bibs from just one feeding. It takes quite a while when you have to constantly spray her clothes with Dreft stain remover, you know? 😀 And I was really wanting to get her the Boon Flair after you featured it but couldn't get myself to pay that much, lol. So I found the Pixie Mamas and Papas high chair and it's suuuuuch a blessing to have. Small, cute, and convenient. Sorry for the long comment 😛
Hi Veronika- I saw that a few other moms commented on this, too, so I thought I'd share. Our pediatrician and the speech pathologist I work for both suggested going straight from bottle to either straw or open cup. The sippy cup can prolong the tongue thrust movement which can alter speech, and tongue/teeth placement. I had purchased a few sippy cups prior to my son's 6 month appointment and now we're using straw cups and he's learned to drink out of a small glass. [I actually started with a never used shot glass so there wasn't too much for him to take in at once.] Here's a link to the American Speech/Language Hearing Association blog post that gives some more information if you're interested. https://blog.asha.org/2014/01/09/step-away-from-the-sippy-cup/
I'm glad you brought this up! I just ordered a Lolacup (straw cup) from Amazon over the weekend to see if she would be interested 🙂
Thanks for the link to the blog post 🙂
Oh I love this! I am getting ready to do a solid food post as well. We are just starting to look into sippy cups so this is great! My Ellie will be 9 months on Friday so I think our daughters are close in age!
To read more about Ellie's "Life on the Parsons Farm" : atparsons.blogspot.com
Great post! I just bought the Zoli bot straw cup recently to try but I taught my little one to sip from an open cup (oxo tot) before that. We've only tried water so far. I also have the same storage contains and bibs — they are definitely my favorite baby items!