When it comes to parenting, most of the time I am just over here winging it and wishing on a prayer that I get it right. My babies all took forever before they were sleeping through the night, my toddlers always have tantrums, and we watch a very absurd amount of television on a weekly basis. But when it comes to meal times, this is where I feel like we got it right!
Meal times have always been something we look forward to in our house. All four of my children happily eat a wide variety of foods, textures, and flavors. And they are all eager to try new foods. I strongly believe that the key to this is consistency and starting early. So to get them to this point, I started with Baby Led Weaning.
If you haven’t heard of Baby Led Weaning, I urge you to speak to your pediatrician and do a deep dive on the internet once you finish up here. I am very fortunate to have a pediatrician that introduced us and guided us through this when Liam was a baby.
The basic principle behind Baby Led Weaning is that the baby is allowed to start feeding themself right from the start instead of the old school idea that babies should do months of spoon fed rice cereal and puree foods like our grandmothers and mothers did. Spoon feeding definitely serves its purpose, especially when you have a baby that may need some extra calories in addition to milk. But it does not teach the act of eating and the enjoyment of learning to explore new foods. Babies who are simply spoon fed in a route, routine manner begin to associate meal times as a chore or a task. Something that HAS to be accomplished instead of something fun and desirable.
There is also a misconception that Baby Led Weaning means you just hand a baby a chicken wing and hope they don’t choke, but that is simply not true. You still offer food that is safe for baby at that particular age. Food that is soft, easy dissolvable or squishable, and low risk for choking. The pieces are small and get progressively larger as your baby grows and gets older.
A few foods that we have tried and love in our home include: blueberries (smashed in between my fingers), cucumbers peeled and cut into tiny strips, avocados (must be ripe and soft), bananas sometimes with half of the peel on for gripping, steamed carrots cut into strips, steamed green peas, scrambled eggs, mango and kiwi cut into strips, strawberries cut into pieces, butternut squash steamed and cubed, and small strips of waffles with peanut butter.
Some additional tips I have learned along the way:
1. Allow baby to start joining you at the dinner table as early as possible. Let them begin to see you eat. Many parents will feed babies first, put them to bed, and then eat their own dinner. And while I can’t speak for everyone’s situations and schedules, you should at least try a few nights a week to bring baby to the table.
2. Whatever you eat, they eat. On taco night, the babies get the avocados, corn, tomatoes etc. On pasta and salad night they get cucumbers from the salad and the pasta too. I refuse to be a short order cook and that starts early. To this day, I make one dinner and all six members of my family (ages 1, 3, 6, and adults) eat it. And there will always be something on the menu you can smash, dice, cut, shred, or steam up to offer the baby.
3. Don’t let seasonings scare you. Of course we don’t offer hot sauce or add additional salt on the foods. But if I have roasted veggies for my family that have been cooked in olive oil and garlic, I don’t hesitate to give the babies a few bites. It’s just for pleasure and the practice of learning new flavors.
4. Try to offer whole foods and fresh ingredients as often as possible. But don’t sweat if you are making a frozen fish stick or a can of Spaghetti-o’s for the older kids and the babies want a taste. Unless instructed otherwise from your pediatrician, a little bit of “junk” here and there is only going to add more diversity.
5. Let babies join you (safety) in the kitchen and watch you prepare dinner. Let them taste and snack and nibble while you are cooking so they once again have opportunities to build more fun relationship with food. This is also a win-win because you can sit them at the counter (I love these chairs) and this gives them something to do during that dreaded witching hour while you make dinner.
Some of these photos above are a bit older. The twins are now 13 months old and my grocery bills is off the charts.
And for those of you interested, you can shop some of our favorite meal time items here: splatter mat // transition bottle // straw sippy cup // reusable pouches // silicone plates // bamboo cutlery // long sleeve bib // floral silicone bibs // placemat // snack cup // suction bowl // counter high chair
