What We’ve Learned – Baby Food 101

With sooooo much info and opinions out there on when you should start feeding your baby solids, how you should do it, and what/what not to feed your baby, I figured I’d give you all the run down on what we did with Mabel.  Also, I’ll state that when it comes to feeding your baby and what you feed him/her – go with your gut.  Mom and Dad know best and what fits one baby won’t necessarily fit another.

Okay with that out of the way, let me show you little Mabel enjoying some of her first ever baby food…sweet potatoes.

When did you start feeding Mabel baby food?

A little after 4 months.  I know some of you are going to think we’re crazy for doing so but let me shed some light onto this by telling you what our pediatrician told us:  Babies are born with a tongue reflex (she used the correct term but I can’t remember the official name) that pushes things (pretty much food) out of their mouth until they are ready for it.  If they aren’t ready, the tongue reflex is still intact and the baby will not eat…if they are ready, the tongue reflex is gone, which then allows them to swallow food.  Also, babies at this age will eat baby food for fun.  It’s more of a sensory experience and not for nutrition.  At this age, they still rely on formula or breast milk for their nutrition.

Mabel seemed to enjoy trying new food…didn’t have an issue with the tongue reflex…so we continued.  And I’m not sorry we started so soon.

Did you start with baby cereal?

Kind of.  We put it in her bottle a handful of times (maybe 4 times?) and it didn’t seem to be doing anything for her, so we went on to food.

Did you start her on vegetables or fruit?

This is one of those questions that moms disagree on the most.  I had heard that you have to start with vegetables because if you start with fruit, your baby will like the sweet taste and will then refuse vegetables.  But then I read an article in one of my parenting magazines that said otherwise.  Apparently the new school way of thinking is that it doesn’t matter if you start with fruits of vegetables.  Ultimately it’s up to you what you decide to start your baby on..and we did give Mabel sweet potatoes.  Not so much because they were veggies but because I love them and I was hoping that she would to.

And she did.

And get this…after sweet potatoes we gave her peas (which she loved), then bananas (which she didn’t like), then pears (which she loved too) and then to carrots with absolutely no issues.  I think your baby is going to like what they like and object to what they don’t regardless of what you feed them first.  : )

Tools Of The Trade

Those spoons look funny…what brand are they?

I swear by these spoons!  They are by Dr. Brown’s Designed to Nourish Long Spatula Spoons.  And I found them here on Amazon.  We had originally started Mabel with some cheap spoons from Target.  The problem we encountered was that they were fairly deep and her little mouth couldn’t get the food off of them.  So when I saw the Dr. Brown’s spoons online, I figured they were worth trying out.  And boy was I glad I did.  Since they are flat, Mabel can easily get all of the food off of them, not to mention they make it a lot easier to scrape the excess food off of her face.

Note that these spoons don’t hold a ton.  They are more for teaching your child to eat off of a spoon and are good for younger babies.  If your baby is gulping down food already, these probably won’t be of too much use.

What brand food do you feed her?

We chose to feed Mabel Earth’s Best Organic baby food.  After reading reviews, it was rated higher than Gerber and doesn’t have extras added in.  Also, it’s organic.  I am a total dork and actually have tried each food that Mabel has had and I must say, Earth’s Best tastes pretty good.  Lol!  No wonder Mabel is enjoying her new food experiences.

Another option we’ve been toying with is making own baby food.  I would love to try making my own baby food for Mabel, I just have to get around to buying something to make it with…maybe the Baby Bullet?  If I get one, I’ll be sure to update you all.

I also want to share this tidbit…baby food doesn’t have to be expensive if you buy store-bought food.  My tip is to buy in bulk.  And once again, I go to Amazon to buy her food in 12 packs.  Soooo much cheaper than buying one jar at a time!  Take a look:

Earth’s Best Baby Food in Bulk

This is the Earth’s Best Starter Pack of veggies and for 12 jars, I only paid $9.72 .  When if I picked this up in the store as individual jars, I would have paid an arm and a leg.  And they also have packs for fruit, individual food types, and jars for older babies too.  As a side note, we buy our diapers in bulk on Amazon too and have saved a ton!

Where does Mabel eat/What does she eat in?

Mabel currently eats in a Bumbo chair with the little tray that you can buy separately.  I’m going to say right off the bat that Bumbo warns about putting your baby in the chair on an elevated surface.  And I completely agree with that if you’re going to leave your child unattended, like the guy who left his baby on the table alone which resulted in the baby falling and fracturing his skull.  I seriously wonder what people are thinking…but, I’ll admit that we do prop Mabel in her Bumbo on the table as long as either me or my husband is sitting right with her.

Why don’t you just put her in a high chair?

Oh, trust me, we plan on it!  : )  But her high chair is recommended for use at 6 months and since she’s a tiny baby, the seat is still pretty roomy for her.  So for now it’s the Bumbo.

Left: Bumbo with tray. Right: Stokke Tripp Trapp Chair

What’s the name of the chair on the right?

It’s a Stokke Tripp Trapp Chair.  I fell in love the first time I saw it!  You might be wondering where the tray is.  There isn’t one, you’re supposed to pull it right up to the table so that your baby is eating from the table with the rest of the family.  Fancy shmancy!  It’s built to grow with your child since it will convert to a regular chair with a foot rest for smaller children (you can see all the slats that allow you to adjust seat/foot rest height) and then an adult size chair.  So yeah, it is a tad expensive but when your figure that your child can use it for such a long time, it’s not too bad of an investment.  ; )

Wow, that was a lot!  Got any more questions for me or want to share something you learned while feeding your little one?  Leave a comment below!

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6 thoughts on “What We’ve Learned – Baby Food 101

  1. Demetria says:

    Awww- reminds of my baby days (my youngest is now 4). I love the Strokke chair. So many highchairs prevent the kiddos from actually enjoying a meal from the same table as the rest of us (b/c of that tray in the way!)

  2. Jennifer says:

    Hi Morgan!
    I just wanted to leave a quick comment… First off, I love your blog! I have a little girl who is literally 10 days older than Mabel (she was born Feb. 4th) so I can really relate to a lot of the milestones you are hitting with Mabel because Sarah (my lil one) is about a week ahead of her. We also buy everything in bulk off of Amazon.com. I wanted to give you a quick tip. If you join their Amazon Mom program you save an extra 20% on diapers and wipes and 15% on baby food. (through the Subscribe and Save program) We use Pampers so I get them for less than 0.20 a piece and I got the same starter boxes of Earth’s Best for $8.25. Plus you get free 2 day super saver shipping. Just thought I would share! Keep up the awesome blog!!!

  3. Kate Bierschenk says:

    We did pretty much everything the same way with my first 🙂 my husband and I just made baby food in our processor. It can produce a large batch and is good for once you start mixing meals, we just froze the extra for later.

  4. sara jackson says:

    Thank you for writing this!! I am a new mom and my daughter will be 4 months on August 3rd. I was concerned about the rice cereal issue because I am breast feeding so putting it in a bottle wouldnt be an option and i really cant find anything supporting rice cereal as a healthy option. When we went to the pediatrian she TOLD us we would start her on cereal at 4 months for the extra iron and i wasnt alright with that (on base doctor) Needless to say we are switching to the Tricare that lets us go offbase and finding a better doctor! I cannot wait to try out feeding and i will be buying those spoons for sure! Love your blog by the way

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