tell me your must-haves for starting solids

eyelovemascara

Aside from bumbo seats/trays, what were your "I LOVE THIS" products that you used when getting started on solids? I'm talking spoons, freezable trays (for those who make your own baby food), bibs, favorite cereal, etc?

TheBachelorette

I make my own food.  I use my 14 cup Cuisinart food processor.  I received it as a wedding shower gift and it is a little on the expensive side but this is a must for me because I make large batches of food every 3 weeks.  I freeze using silicone muffin pans or forms.  I actually found little silicone muffin forms at Homegoods, they we $4.99 for a set of 12.  I purchased 4 sets and freeze in them.  Once they are frozen, I pop the food out and put in plastic bags.

The twins eat in their space saver high chairs.  We use bowls and spoons made by munchkin.  For bibs, we found great wipe down bibs from BJs.  A pack of 5 was $9.99 and they are so durable.  You will need a wide baking dish for things like squash.  Also, you may want to get an apple corer or peeler if you plan on making a lot of apple sauce or pears.

I don't use a lot of cereal. They started on cereal but now prefer the food.  I use cereal now to thicken foods like apples, pears and butternut squash.  When I use cereal, I use Gerber.

MrsCali_Bride

We use the Take N' Toss spoons from 1st Years and feed them directly out of the tubs. We have the Take N' Toss bowls as well for cereal but they aren't really fans of cereal so they are sitting to the side. We started out with wipeable bibs from Target (fabric back with plastic coating and a pocket to catch food) but they can be a pain to clean up so we switched to some rubbery Tommee Tippee ones from BRU. They come in a two pack for $7 or $8, have an adjustable closure at the neck and a pocket to catch food. They're really easy to clean.

jxd215

I made my own food - I would just steam stuff in the microwave and puree with a stick blender. Super easy, minimal mess to clean up. I used the Fresh Baby ice cube trays with lids only because I'd gotten them as a gift - it was handy to have the lids for the trays, but the cubes were a bit on the small side so I don't know if I'd recommend them.

The one exception to making my own food - applesauce. I made it once and decided it just wasn't worth the trouble of peeling all those apples. Now I'm a big fan of the unsweetened organic applesauce from Trader Joe's.

We also started out using the wipeable bibs from Target but now that they are on their last legs we are switching to Bumkins.

floridakat

We also make our own food, but also buy applesauce rather than make it. If you buy the natural kind, it's as pure as what you're making them, but a heckuva lot easier! 

We just have small plastic bowls from Target. Most kids bowls are melamine which isn't supposed to go in the microwave, so we rarely use those. We got the rubber coated spoons, and those have worked well for us. (They color change if the food is too hot, which was useful at the beginning.)

 

natb22

We did feed a little while in the beginning in bumbo's.. but they look down too much so it was hard to get them to look up to feed..I was happy to transition to high chairs at 5 mo. We bought high chair toys that suction onto the high chairs, so they can look at those instead of trying to suck on the high chair tray (yes they like to do that!) Just bought those on amazon and love them

I make my own food, we use the Ninja food processor, from a rec on here. I bought the baby bullet but not nearly as good so exchanged for the Ninja. I freeze in regular ice cube trays and transfer into freezer bags and just pop out when ready to eat. They hated rice cereal we only used that to practice from 4-5 months when we switched to food. They love oatmeal, we just get the store bought Gerber box of that. I have all cloth bibs which I thought would be a huge pain for staining but they are actually ok.

I bought a few small plastic bowls and spoons from ToysRus which we like, nothing special about them though

2shihtzus

I also made my own baby food and it looks like everyone has pretty much covered stuff on that.  I will add that as far as that, one of my must haves was the website www.wholesomebabyfood.com.  There are great methods/recipes and tips on there.

I also second the PP who mentioned the bibs from BJ's, we still use them now that they eat table food, they have lasted us awhile with frequent washing so they are a great deal.

Other than that, this spoon was my absolute must have:

https://www.amazon.com/Boon-Squirt-Dispensing-Spoon-Raspberry/dp/B004OR1DRO/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1319504976&sr=8-1

It was great for when we were going out to eat or were going to be away from home during their meal time.  It doesn't work perfectly, it can get a little jammed up or squirt a little too hard but overall, I loved it.  You just fill it up with baby food, put the cap on the spoon and you can throw it in your diaper bag.  You don't have to mess with jars, spoons, tupperware, etc..  Loved it!  I actually had people come up to our table almost every time we used them in restaurants asking about them.

eyelovemascara

Thanks ladies! What are the "BJ's bibs" that come highly recommended? Am I dumb for not knowing what BJ's is?

*Note to self: do NOT google "BJ bibs"* BAAHAHAHAHA. so bad. but so funny.

jdancer5

I like the long-handled spoons from Munchkin. I also make our food except applesauce; I buy the Wild Organic store brand from Albertson's (just make sure your store bought applesauce contains ONlY apples & water). I bought 5 different kinds of bibs from BRU, all Koala Kids brand & all wipable with pockets, but I like the nylon-type fabric ones best. They dry flat right out of the washer. DH says who cares how the bibs look, but it bugs me that all the others looked jacked after 1 wash.

2shihtzus

eyelovemascara:

Thanks ladies! What are the "BJ's bibs" that come highly recommended? Am I dumb for not knowing what BJ's is?

*Note to self: do NOT google "BJ bibs"* BAAHAHAHAHA. so bad. but so funny.

Hahaha!  I cannot imagine what came up in that google search!!  To answer your question, BJ's is a wholesale warehouse like a Costco or Sam's club.  If you belong to either of those, it might be worth checking their baby aisle, maybe they carry them too??  The ones we have are sort of primary colored and they have prints like hot air balloons and polka dots on them.

MrsLnt

I loved the divided bowls from BRU and the spoons that came with them. I know lots of people use one bowl/spoon but I liked having separate everything. It was nice to only hold one bowl.  I'd just heat stuff up in something glass/ceramic then transfer.

blondek8

We really liked these spoons. I used a Take n' Toss bowl for their cereal/purees. I made most of their pureed food. I just used my regular Magic Bullet or my blender, froze in ice cube trays and popped into labelled Ziplocs. I did use Baby Cubes for awhile too but ice cube trays work just the same.

This isn't the exact bib we used but you get the idea. It kept a ton of food off their laps/the floor and they could re-eat what they dropped. Hah.

TheBachelorette

BJs sells the Cutie Pie waterproof bibs.  They are also available at Amazon but for double the price.