June 15, 2020
I am breaking down all of the different items we use for meal times and snack times that have gotten us from baby to toddler feeding. Some products have worked super well for us, while others have not.
Before we get into all things feeding, can we talk about these pictures of Caroline eating some chicken fried rice? Our friend Guy Bigot spent an evening with us and captured so many sweet moments of Caroline. I think I need to frame it for my kitchen. Check out his work on Instagram and his website.
A little bit of my background: I graduated with a BS in nutrition, and while I’m not a dietitian I am very nutrition oriented and very passionate about Caroline’s meal times. My goal is to give Caroline a balanced and comfortable setting during meals so she forms a healthy relationship with food. I am not going to sit here and claim to be a baby or toddler feeding guru, but I do want to share everything that I am learning as I go. If you’re interested in how we started Caroline on solids check out my post about baby led weaning.
Munchkin Placemats
I had very high hopes for these placemats. When I found them online I thought, “These are great. They will save me from having to wipe down the counter five times a day. It will catch all of Caroline’s mess.” That has not been the case at all. The silicone is great and lays nicely on my countertops. However, Caroline is too smart for her own good and peels if off of the counter before I can even place her meal in front of her. In the rare case that she does leave it alone, it helps protect my precious counters from her scraping her tiny child fork on it. They are nice to take to a restaurant.
Forks and Spoons
We used the Munchkin White Hot Safety Spoons with purees. The rubber on the spoon will turn white if food is too hot for baby. Next we used the ChooMe Flexidip Starter Spoon. These are great to practice self-feeding with. Caroline enjoyed using them as teethers more than spoons though. We have now graduated to the Munchkin toddler forks and spoons. I chose these because they are closest to adult forks and spoons with the metal end. There are tons of cute silicon forks and spoons for toddlers, but I know Caroline would mostly chew on them. The wide handle is very easy for her to grip.
Open Cups
If I had a dollar for every shower Caroline has given herself a bath with an open cup at the table… but I continue to give her one because otherwise she’d never learn! I had NO cups that were “Caroline-sized” outside of her sippy cups. Instead of buying small cups for her, I started taking the lid off of her sippy cups to use them as an open cup. This worked great for a while, but dishes build up and I would eventually have no clean cups to give her. So I browsed for some affordable kid’s cups and found these. For some reason the only option at this link is a 15 count (which seems like a ton of cups). When I bought them a few months ago it came in a pack of 4. Anyway, if you go to the link you will get a better look at what our open cups look like. We are still working on not playing in the cups, but we are getting better each day! I highly recommend providing an open cup sooner rather than later.
Sippy Cup and Straw Cups
You will notice a trend in the products I’m detailing in this post. Almost all of them are Munchkin brand. I think what draws me to this brand the most is the affordability and functionality of their items. For sippy cups we use the Munchkin 360 cup. What I really like about this cup is that it does not require the child to bite down on anything in order to get water out. I was in braces from first grade until sixth grade, and even now my front teeth stick forward slightly from a tongue thrust. I will do anything to avoid even the slightest mouth complications for Caroline (however, I know I can’t control everything). Caroline really likes these cups as well. When she got older she did learn how to lift up the rubber top and ended up spilling milk, but stuff happens.
The first straw cup we used is the weighted straw cup by Munchkin (far left in the photo). This design is genius and I’m mad that I didn’t come up with it. It does come with handles, which I wish I bought so Caroline could hold it with one hand. I also have Nuby straw cups and the Yeti Rambler Jr. The Nuby cups do not have a weighted straw, but they are very easy for Caroline to hold and they’re spill proof. The Yeti Rambler Jr was a gift and I freaking love it. This is what I prefer to pack for the beach since it keeps water cold for a long time. It is not spill proof! I don’t give it to Caroline in the car for that reason.
Bibs
It is no secret that pouch bibs are awesome. These are extremely useful for selfish reasons such as less stains on clothes and less food on the floor! We have enjoyed the Bella Tunno bibs. Caroline loves messy foods (as do most babies and toddlers) such as refried beans and spaghetti. Not together, of course. When I know Caroline will be eating something very messy I like to put her in a smock bib with sleeves. It saves me so much clean up time, especially when we are at a restaurant.
Plates
My favorite suction plate is the EZPZ happy bowl with a built in place mat. This bowl was extremely handy when we first started solids. Now that Caroline is older it is a bit small for her, as in she eats more than the bowl holds. We still use it for snack time, though. I do have a couple of sectioned plates with a suction bottom. Caroline is able to pull these plates off of any surface, so I quit using them. Another reason I quit using them was because of the sections. I make a lot of casserole dishes and all-in-one dinners, so the sections do not serve a purpose for us. Most recently, Caroline has been using these plastic children’s plates from Walmart. They are $0.50 a plate and microwave safe (see photo above). Sure, they do not suction to the table to high chair tray, but Caroline has to learn that we do not throw our food (is there anyone that can teach her that?!). I cannot find the exact plate online, but if you go to your local Walmart they’re on the bottom shelf with all of the other plates. They are almost identical to these at Target.
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