https://boards.hellobee.com/ Pregnancy, Baby and Parenting blog, by Hellobee en Wed, 29 Apr 2026 18:25:49 +0000 https://boards.hellobee.com/topic/starting-solids-advice-needed#post-2717242 Tue, 28 Mar 2017 08:24:34 +0000 snowjewelz 2717242@https://boards.hellobee.com/ <p>@Goldengirl: You can always just make your own way and do a combo and slowly "wean" off purees into full BLW as you get more confident! </p> https://boards.hellobee.com/topic/starting-solids-advice-needed#post-2717175 Tue, 28 Mar 2017 05:11:34 +0000 Mrs. Lemon-Lime 2717175@https://boards.hellobee.com/ <p>@Goldengirl: you didn't ask me...</p> <p>When we started with baby cereal we fed him cereal that mixed with 2 oz. Many store bought stage 1 foods are sold in 2-2.5 oz. I'd start with that amount at meal times and then double it if your LO really seems to enjoy solids. </p> <p>By the time we introduced table food, LO was eating 1-2 jars of 4 oz baby food at each meal. </p> https://boards.hellobee.com/topic/starting-solids-advice-needed#post-2717173 Tue, 28 Mar 2017 04:56:40 +0000 ElbieKay 2717173@https://boards.hellobee.com/ <p>We started with food that could be mashed with a fork: Sweet potato, avocado, banana, cantaloupe. The blending didn't really come up til a bit later. But my son has always been a foodie and would gum his way through an entire piece of multigrain bread. Conversely, my friend's son refuses anything other than jarred baby food. She think he had an issue with texture.</p> <p>So, it may also depend on your kid. </p> https://boards.hellobee.com/topic/starting-solids-advice-needed#post-2717100 Mon, 27 Mar 2017 19:57:08 +0000 Goldengirl 2717100@https://boards.hellobee.com/ <p>@snowjewelz: Oooh thanks for the instagram account, never even thought to look there! I'm SO scared of him choking which I think is why giving him "real" food makes me nervous. But I also really want to do it!</p> <p>@Mrs. Pickle: Thank you! I feel like there's a lot of pressure to do homemade food, or just that it seems like everyone does it. But maybe that's just my own insecurities ;) And I do worry about what might be added to keep the foods preserved. I really want him to be healthy. But I'm also so lazy :P</p> <p>@gingerbebe: I hate freezing stuff too! It seems like a really good idea, but I tend to never do it even for myself. I always forget about the food. And also find it hard to make room in the freezer somehow. How do you know how much food to offer each day? i.e. if you're giving some of the meal you're already eating, what's an OK portion?</p> <p>@Pollywog: Ack, the choking... that is my fear! </p> https://boards.hellobee.com/topic/starting-solids-advice-needed#post-2717097 Mon, 27 Mar 2017 19:48:42 +0000 muffinsmuffins 2717097@https://boards.hellobee.com/ <p>Definitely agree with other posters about BLW. DS did not do well with it at all...so much gagging and frustration. It seemed like the easiest and best way but it didn't work for us til 9-12 months.<br /> I froze puréed veggies I steamed myself in tablespoon 'lumps' on waxed paper on a cookie sheet and transferred to ziplock bags. Lots of eggs, oatmeal baby cereal mixed with fruits, yogurt, sweet potatoes, peas...added butter as much as I could for fat. The store bought jars or pouches are great for things like squash, prunes, etc that I wouldnt want to make myself or would make way too much if I did a batch. </p> https://boards.hellobee.com/topic/starting-solids-advice-needed#post-2717086 Mon, 27 Mar 2017 19:02:51 +0000 Mrs. Lemon-Lime 2717086@https://boards.hellobee.com/ <p>We started solids earlier than I wanted to while LO was an older 4 months old. Now being on the other side of first foods here's what I would change.</p> <p>I'd still start with a cereal, but go straight to baby oatmeal. We used a whole wheat or multi-grain cereal. You can make this thin or thick since you control the consistency with formula or BM. After a couple- three days of LO getting the hang of eating off a baby spoon I would introduce veggies and fruits. My LO didn't have allergy issues, so after two days max on each Stage 1 food I would move on to Stage 2 food combos. </p> <p>We fed LO Beechnut veggie and fruit jarred purées. I loved them and would not change that at all. LO preferred his food chunky, we learned that kind of quickly so we would mix oatmeal with the purées. </p> https://boards.hellobee.com/topic/starting-solids-advice-needed#post-2717079 Mon, 27 Mar 2017 18:44:37 +0000 Alba4 2717079@https://boards.hellobee.com/ <p>We started both boys @5.5 months on purees. We made purees by steaming or roasting veggies and using our hand mixer. We didn't do blw with either child. DS2 is 9 months old and he eats a variety of puréed food as well as fingerfood. His pincer grasp is pretty good now.</p> <p>We made all of DS1's food, but with DS2 we have supplemented with some organic baby food. We don't do pouches (after hearing about mold outbreaks a couple of years ago, I don't trust them).</p> <p>There is no "right" way... you'll find your way and your baby will let you know what he/she needs. </p> https://boards.hellobee.com/topic/starting-solids-advice-needed#post-2716790 Mon, 27 Mar 2017 11:42:27 +0000 DesertDreams88 2716790@https://boards.hellobee.com/ <p>We did homemade baby purees at 6m and easy finger foods at 8 months.... looking back, I would have done finger foods earlier, like 7m. </p> <p>Making your own food is simple if you stick to fruit and frozen veggies. For fruit: wash, peel (*optional), chop, blend. That's it. For frozen veggies: steam, blend. That's it :) </p> <p>We used a magic bullet and ice cube trays. However, looking back, I would have done less each time and just kept it fresh in the fridge, instead of making so much and freezing it. We don't have a lot of space in our fridge. </p> https://boards.hellobee.com/topic/starting-solids-advice-needed#post-2716745 Mon, 27 Mar 2017 10:45:35 +0000 Pollywog 2716745@https://boards.hellobee.com/ <p>We wanted BLW to work so badly, but my kid would choke (not gag) on anything other than purees until 9 months. I made a huge batch of purees and froze them in 3.5 ounce cubes and pouches. I found it to be super easy--boil, blend, freeze, defrost. </p> <p>Frozen fruits and veggies were staples. I threw in 2 bags with some water and considered it good to go. </p> https://boards.hellobee.com/topic/starting-solids-advice-needed#post-2716737 Mon, 27 Mar 2017 10:38:19 +0000 sauerkraut 2716737@https://boards.hellobee.com/ <p>@goldengirl: I feed a lot of what we eat, just remove her portion before seasoning, if necessary. I did and still do feed a lot of raw, steamed, or roasted fruits and veggies, cut into either spears that she can hold and bite, or chopped up into small pieces. With particularly hard/crunchy things like apples, I sometimes microwave pieces for, like, 15 seconds to cook slightly and make them easier to eat. When I prep something, I keep a few portions in the fridge and a few in the freezer for easy meals. For things like rice, quinoa, or lentils, I just give her a pile and let her feed herself. For tofu, beans, meats, I cut or shred up into non-chokeable size pieces. </p> <p>This morning, for instance, I scrambled an egg and added some frozen spinach and oregano, then fed in bite sized pieces alongside some cheerios and raspberries (broken up with my fingers into smaller pieces). I also ate the egg/spinach scramble and some raspberries, and I saved some egg for later in the fridge. For reference, my babe is now 9 months and has four teeth (two top, two bottom). When she was just starting (at 5.5 months), I did one food at a time, and kept that up for about a month before combining foods that she had already tried once. I've done prepared baby foods on occasion, and sometimes feed baby oatmeal for the iron boost, but I find feeding table food a lot easier. </p> https://boards.hellobee.com/topic/starting-solids-advice-needed#post-2716725 Mon, 27 Mar 2017 10:29:24 +0000 gingerbebe 2716725@https://boards.hellobee.com/ <p>Neither of my boys were BLW fans. They much preferred purées with some finger foods later on - like 8 months. They were able to self feed between 10-11 months but not terribly well. I guess they are slow on the fine motor skills. We just kept the purée amounts static once they were able to eat a whole tub and then provided more finger foods that they could eat if they were hungry.</p> <p>We started on smooth purees and moved to thicker things by 9 months. We did a combination of homemade and storebought baby food. For instance DS2 likes the Gerber breakfast baby foods - mixed fruit with oatmeal, rice cereal with mango. Lunch might be a single veg like green beans which I can make easily by steaming frozen green beans and blending up. Dinner might be plain bits of what we had blended up - a small chunk of salmon, a scoop of rice, some peas and carrots with water or broth. If something was really nice in season I'd try to make it a point to blend a little extra up.</p> <p>We did not like freezing baby food. It just wasn't my thing. If I didn't have anything fresh we used store bought. We used a lot of Gerber tubs for DS2 especially for breakfast and single veg in the early days. They are inexpensive and just fine. I find supermarket chains tend to sell organic baby food in glass jars under their store brand for very cheap. Last week I bought some of that for my son for 79 cents a jar - things that were full meals like chicken and sweet potato dinner or turkey and mixed veg dinner. </p> <p>Babies don't take a lot of food in the beginning - like maybe a tablespoon or two. So you waste a lot of food. Clean opened baby food can last in the fridge for 2 days so I would scoop some out with a clean spoon and so you can use the remainder at another meal. If you go all into the container and your baby only eats like a spoonful it's not clear what kind of bacteria can be up in there and you have to use it within 24 hours.</p> <p>My boys got the hang of finger feeding with puffs and Mum Mums. Then little bites of banana and soft fruit like watermelon and soft cooked veggies like broccoli florets or bites of soft carrot.</p> <p>We started with just one meal like breakfast and started on one food for 3-5 days to check for reactions and then added a second. Then after two weeks I would add lunch with the 2-3 foods we had cleared at that point. Then by 1 month I could go 3 meals with a decent mix of foods and combinations. We also used cooked rice blended up as a mixer or stabilizer if it was too loose. </p> <p>DS2 is 10.5 months now and pretty good at picking up food but still likes spoon feeding. I give him one meal a day of only finger foods and two meals of combo feeding at this point and that seems to be just right for him. </p> https://boards.hellobee.com/topic/starting-solids-advice-needed#post-2716708 Mon, 27 Mar 2017 10:04:05 +0000 Mrs. Pickle 2716708@https://boards.hellobee.com/ <p>Puréed vs BLW - it doesn't have to be either or. You could do both. I suggest seeing what your baby likes and be flexible</p> <p>I didn't use a food processor or anything like that. At first I just mashed things with a fork and added a little breastmilk (formula would work too, not sure which you are currently using). I phased out the breastmilk within a couple weeks. </p> <p>If you hate cooking there is absolutely nothing wrong with store bought food! There's nothing added to it. I love to cook but I didn't make special food for DD. I just mashed up whatever veggie I made that night. Once she was done with purées I just cut things into bite sized pieces for her. I kept some jars on hand for days when I didn't cook or made a salad. </p> <p>Some things she loved early on were avocado, sweet potato, green beans, squash, and shredded cheese. I waited three or so months to introduce fruits and then would get a jar of fruit to add to oatmeal for breakfast. </p> https://boards.hellobee.com/topic/starting-solids-advice-needed#post-2716704 Mon, 27 Mar 2017 09:59:46 +0000 snowjewelz 2716704@https://boards.hellobee.com/ <p>@Goldengirl: The masher on the scissors help esp when we eat out. It's not a must; but we didn't have smaller food scissors for her anyway so it was a good buy! With DD1 we started with purees, did for like 2 weeks but she wasn't really into it and we also were doing BLW at the same time so we just abandoned purees and went full force BLW. occasionally we'd still puree fruits and put it in the silicone feeder for her to enjoym kinda like a Popsicle I guess? Some good first foods are avocado, sweet potato, etc. Anything you can slice long and are either already kinda mushy or can cooked to mushy-ish. IG: blwideas has some good visuals. Then when they develop their pincer grasp then they you can give them very small things that they are able to pick up and put into mouth themselves. And def watch some videos on YouTube re: gagging vs choking. They WILL gag but if you know they're just gagging then you won't be worried; it's very normal and helpful for them to learn. </p> https://boards.hellobee.com/topic/starting-solids-advice-needed#post-2716694 Mon, 27 Mar 2017 09:48:31 +0000 Goldengirl 2716694@https://boards.hellobee.com/ <p>@sauerkraut: Thanks! If you weren't into doing purees, how did you prepare the food?</p> <p>@snowjewelz: Ew, mold... didn't even know that was a thing to worry about! How do those food feeders work? Do you recommend that masher vs just smushing with a fork? And with the BLW, did you just skip the purees altogether? What kind of food would you offer? </p> https://boards.hellobee.com/topic/starting-solids-advice-needed#post-2716683 Mon, 27 Mar 2017 09:42:22 +0000 snowjewelz 2716683@https://boards.hellobee.com/ <p>I loved BLW with my first and will be doing it with my second; that way is minimal prep work! She did also get puree in those feeder things she could hold/feed herself. Even if it's a lot of work I much preferred to make our own puree b/c of all the mold horror stories you see on FB about the pouches! </p> <p>Food feeder - <a href="http://a.co/9XUI0Y3" rel="nofollow">http://a.co/9XUI0Y3</a><br /> Mesh feeder (I put fruits in them) - <a href="http://a.co/cxd1OCQ" rel="nofollow">http://a.co/cxd1OCQ</a><br /> Scissors/masher - <a href="http://a.co/dHXEvvX" rel="nofollow">http://a.co/dHXEvvX</a> </p> https://boards.hellobee.com/topic/starting-solids-advice-needed#post-2716682 Mon, 27 Mar 2017 09:38:28 +0000 sauerkraut 2716682@https://boards.hellobee.com/ <p>I fed a variety of textures from the beginning. I haven't pureed anything with a food processor (I do have one), the magic bullet worked fine for my needs. The one "tool" that has been useful is lots of small plastic containers that I can store baby-sized portions in. I've also used a silicone ice cube tray, which I've used to freeze portions of mashed squash and sweet potatoes, cooked red lentils, whizzed up black beans and spinach. I don't really spend much energy on making purees, but if you wanted to go that route, lots of people will make big batches of puree and freeze in ice cube trays in single servings. </p> https://boards.hellobee.com/topic/starting-solids-advice-needed#post-2716674 Mon, 27 Mar 2017 09:21:34 +0000 Goldengirl 2716674@https://boards.hellobee.com/ <p>Hi ladies. LO is 4.5 months and I'm starting to think about solids which I plan to start around 6 months. Would love to hear any tips or tricks you have and any advice for how to make baby food and introduce it.<br /> -I like the idea of making my own food, but I will say I HATE cooking and want to make feeding LO as simple as possible! How do I do this?<br /> -I have a magic bullet, but no food processor... can I just use the bullet? Any other tools that are musts?<br /> -Purees vs baby-led-weaning... thoughts?</p> <p>Thanks! </p>