How I Started Solids with My Baby: A Food Blogger’s Perspective

Hey everyone! Sarah here. In this article, I’m going to talk about how I started Ethan, my now-toddler, on solids back when he was 6 months old. 

This is a little bit out of our wheelhouse, and I don’t claim to be an expert! In fact, I’m a little nervous publishing this article, because topics around parenting and kids is often so fraught! 

But my sister encouraged me to share our experience and document the journey here on The Woks of Life, because it’s had its ups and downs, and many of you found our posts on Postpartum Chinese confinement practices and postpartum diet helpful. In her words, “someone out there needs your big sister energy” (by which she means my insane level of research, planning, and neuroticism around this topic).

Whether you’re expecting or wondering how to start solids with your baby soon, I hope sharing my experience helps you prepare—or at least feel a bit calmer than I did about the whole thing. 

Future me (for whom I’m also writing this post), here’s what we did! (Let’s repeat it with any future kid(s), because Ethan loves tofu and mackerel, which I think means we won.)

Some Apprehension, Then TONS of Research

So I have to admit, I was not looking forward to starting Ethan on solids—perhaps a bit of a shocker considering my well-documented obsession with all things food. 

In those first months as a new mom, I was pretty overwhelmed, and adding solids into the mix sounded like, well…work. My parents had raised me in the age of Gerber baby food, when the thing to do was to buy mountains of purees in glass jars. They certainly had advice (Vegetables before fruit! Steamed eggs are great!), but it seemed like the accepted wisdom had changed quite a bit in the 30-odd years since my parents were scooping pureed peas and carrots from jars, hoping as I was now that they were doing the “right” thing. 

I figured I’d make my own purees (how hard is it to steam a butternut squash?), but the whole process just felt daunting and kind of complicated. When Ethan was on a liquid diet, drinking breast milk for every meal, it was just simpler. 

Plus, my general response to any new challenge is to compulsively dive into an excessive amount of research (kind of my MO). 

Having sought Instagram mom-advice, scoured the internet for, watched videos on, and checked out library books about such topics as baby-led weaning vs. spoon feeding, choking prevention and first aid, the importance of introducing allergens early, baby- and toddler-friendly lunch recipes, meal and snack schedules, how to serve blackberries to 6-month-olds vs. 12-month-olds, how people introduce solids in countries around the world, why French children seemingly have no problem sitting through a 2-hour restaurant dinner without an iPad, feeding therapists’ recommendations for cup drinking (to sippy cup or not sippy cup? Straw cups vs. 360 cups?), and more, I was probably overcomplicating the whole thing. Probably. 

(No regrets though.) 

That said, after coming up for air, my main goal was to avoid picky eating and ultimately foster in Ethan the same love of food that fuels The Woks of Life. In other words, I hope that one day he has as much to say about the finer points of chili oil as we all do! 

Most Helpful Resources for Starting Solids

Having done all that research, I can say definitively that I found the Solid Starts website, app, and guides to be the single most helpful resource in our journey. You could just skip the rest of this post and head over there to get much of the info you need. 

Their app has an extensive food database that guides you on how/when to serve tons of different foods (including more obscure ethnic ingredients) depending on your baby’s developmental stage. Plus, I found the ability to track all the foods Ethan had tried helpful in making sure I served him a wide variety in the first year. Their guide on introducing allergens was invaluable as well, since (gasp!) Ethan had a peanut allergy. More on that later.

My second most helpful resource was a book called French Kids Eat Everything (Amazon affiliate link), by Karen Le Billon. For me, its key insight (or rather, the key insight of the French) is to think of a baby’s experience of food as a sort of exploratory education. The French believe that it’s as important to teach table manners and how to appreciate/enjoy food as it is to teach kids how to read and write. 

They don’t need to be “entertained” or distracted at the dinner table, because the meal and time spent with the people at the table is the entertainment! Making sure that they come to the table hungry and minimizing snacking was another key point I found really worked for Ethan. 

And finally, there was this weirdly revolutionary yet common sense approach: feed kids what you eat. They don’t have to like it, but they have to try it. If they refuse to eat, don’t make a battle out of it, and don’t give them an alternative option. Don’t give them a snack 30 minutes later either. They can try again at the next scheduled mealtime. 

When that open-minded baby turns into a choosy toddler, I’ve found that if you stick to this philosophy, it works. 

But let’s not get too far ahead of ourselves. Let’s step back and take a look at all that research, consolidated into key points. 

A Summary of My Approach to Starting Solids

Okay, so here are some of the broad strokes of our approach to starting solids, based on the aforementioned resources and also trial and error! Again, this is all based on our own experience; you will have to determine what works best for you and your child.

1. Wait For all the readiness signs

This was a big tip from Solid Starts. Some sources say to start solids between 4-6 months of age, but we weren’t seeing all the readiness signs in Ethan until he was a little past 6 months.

Signs of readiness include: 

• Sitting strongly with minimal support 
• Holding head upright and steady while seated for about 15 minutes
• Ability to reach and grab, picking up objects from a seated position and bringing them to the mouth
• Showing interest in food—watching intently while you eat, mouthing for food, or reaching for it

Ethan had the last three locked in, but it was that sitting strongly upright with minimal support that he was having trouble with. When we put him in the high chair, he would sort of slump to the side a bit and seemed a little unstable. We ended up waiting until he was 6 months and 1 week old to start, and I think being totally ready gave him a positive start to his food journey. 

2. Try Baby-Led Weaning/Self Feeding 

After reading about the differences between spoon feeding (emphasis on purees; parent brings food to baby’s mouth and controls the meal) and baby-led weaning (baby self-feeds similar foods you’re eating, served in a developmentally appropriate manner), and finding that there actually isn’t a significant difference in choking risk as long as you serve foods in an age-appropriate way, we decided to go this route. 

It seemed a lot easier than purees, and I liked the idea of Ethan being allowed to explore food at his own pace and not needing to prepare separate meals for him. 

When first starting solids, larger pieces of food are actually safer, like a soft mango pit or a big piece of steamed broccoli. Resources like Solid Starts and Feeding Littles are helpful places to start. 

3. Keep pressure low, and gradually ramp up 

When I started to look at Ethan’s solid “meal” as more of an exploratory play session with food rather than an actual “meal,” it took a lot of the pressure off! At that early age, it’s more about baby learning to explore food rather than getting sustenance. He was still getting most, if not all of his nutrition from breast milk, and I realized that I didn’t have to pay so much attention to how much he was actually consuming. 

And a “meal” didn’t have to be a cute compartmentalized plate of several beautifully arranged, perfectly prepared items—though perhaps this is disappointing (thrilling?) to hear from a mother who’s also a food blogger. If he gnawed on a piece of roasted sweet potato for 15 minutes and didn’t immediately recoil from it, that was a meal, and I took it as a win! 

We started with 1 meal a day at first, sometimes skipping a day or two every week. A month later, we gradually ramped to 1-2 meals a day. Again, if we skipped a day here or there it wasn’t a big deal. By 8 months old, he was having at least 1 solid meal every day, and we would sometimes do 2 or 3. Then it was consistently 2 meals a day by 9-10 months. 

By 1 year, he was having 3 solid meals a day. Around this time, he was weaned off breast milk/formula and we switched to cow’s milk. After another month or so, he was on his current schedule of 3 solid meals and 1 snack a day, food was his primary source of nutrition, and milk became a beverage rather than a meal. 

It seems like a pretty quick timeline, but it feels somewhat gradual when you’re in it. It definitely takes the pressure off to know that you only need to start with 1 solid “meal” a day, and to remember that at first, it’s not about how much the baby consumes, but about logging some experience with new textures and flavors. 

4. Serve regular food as much as possible

This was one of the biggest pluses for baby-led weaning. I would aim to serve Ethan the same food that Justin and I were eating, rather than separate “baby food.” In other words, baby food is just…food. (Keeping in mind that some foods aren’t yet developmentally appropriate or safe, i.e. honey before age 1, or foods that pose a choking hazard when prepared incorrectly.)

That did mean that for a time, I would adjust our menu according to the types of foods I wanted Ethan to try or foods that could be easily served in a developmentally appropriate manner. 

For instance, we relied a lot on letting Ethan eat with preloaded spoons. Foods that sit well on baby spoons include thick oatmeal or thicker purees (like mashed butternut squash). So maybe one night, I’d make turkey meatloaf, mashed butternut squash, and roasted cauliflower for dinner. I would finely mince the meatloaf and soft-cooked cauliflower, then mix them into the squash. Ethan would have a meal that he could easily manage with a spoon, or scooping with his hands. 

Another example was our Beef & Tofu Recipe, which uses soft or silken tofu. When I finely chopped the beef & scallions and mixed that along with the tofu and some leafy greens into some steamed Quinoa Rice, the mixture held together nicely, making it another good spoon food. 

I wouldn’t be afraid to cook with spices, but I did back off a little bit on salt, and if there was a spicy element to the dish, I might keep it in there, but pull way back, so Ethan could get a hint of chili heat without the dish being spicy per se. 

5. Expose baby to as many foods as possible in the first 6-9 months, particularly foods that are part of your culture

You’d be surprised at just how many foods a baby can try at 6 months old! Research has shown that there is a window of time in which babies are more open to new foods, from when they first start solids to about 18 months (though in my experience, it was more like 15 months when Ethan got a bit more…ahem, discerning). 

In that time period, try to introduce as many different flavors and textures as possible! In Ethan’s first few months on solids, he tried braised daikon radish, dragon fruit, stir-fried chrysanthemum greens, cilantro, anchovies, and tofu. We were repeatedly shocked at how he would take down these foods with very strong, very “acquired taste” type flavors. 

Honestly, I think a big part of it was the fact that we didn’t really limit him much. He was eating the same tasty dishes we were, within reason. For dinner at my parents’ house, we’d make a bunch of stir-fries, and i’d just take a selection, chop it up finely, and and mix it into something manageable, like my mom’s multigrain congee (cooked down until it’s a thicker consistency), which she often has ready to go. 

If you have foods from your culture that you want your baby to learn to enjoy, this is the time! Now that he’s a toddler, he’s definitely pulled back on that open mindedness, finding (as many of us do) that rice, bread, pasta, and cheese are simply superior to radishes. 

That said, one of his favorite meals is our Vegetable Moo Shu, which is filled with leeks, bell pepper, mushrooms, pressed tofu, carrots, and celery. A lot of it has to do with how it is served (finely chopped, mixed into rice) and also being at the table with everyone. Kids like to feel included and imitate their parents, right? If we’re eating a big pile of vegetables for dinner, Ethan is more likely to join in too. 

On occasion, he still shocks me with what he’ll eat. The other night, I made stir-fried mizuna (a Japanese mustard green) from my mom’s garden. Slightly bitter, a little stringy even. He reached for it, and I put a few very finely chopped shreds on his plate. Ate it with gusto. So wonderfully weird. 

6. Introduce Allergens Early 

Of course, before introducing a full range of new foods, it’s important to introduce any allergens in a more controlled way. I have a sort of long-winded explanation for this one, because as I mentioned earlier, Ethan had a peanut allergy. 

Early introduction of allergenic foods, including the big 9 (dairy, eggs, wheat, peanuts, tree nuts,  soy, finned fish, crustacean shellfish, and sesame) can help prevent those allergies from developing. Not only should you introduce those foods early, you should keep them in the rotation so that your baby gets consistent exposure to them. Solid Starts has a guide that I clung to through those early stages, because we ended up having a pretty dramatic experience introducing peanut. 

Having already successfully introduced egg and dairy, I was feeling pretty casual about Ethan’s first peanut exposure. I diluted a tiny bit of peanut butter with hot water, and then gave Ethan a small taste off of my fingertip. A couple minutes later, he started clawing at his chin and face and erupting in a red rash. Cue the panicked 911 call, ambulance, Benadryl, and trip to the emergency room. Overall, Ethan’s reaction was pretty mild. But, alas, he was definitely allergic to peanuts. 

Peanut Butter is a main food group in our house, so I was pretty devastated by this news. Justin and my late-night PB&J habit aside, being the parent of a food allergic kid can also be incredibly stressful. 

It led me down another path of research, in which I learned about Oral Immunotherapy, which is basically a protocol in which you start with small, regular micro-doses of peanut, gradually increasing the dose every 2 weeks until the child can either just eat peanut, or at least have “bite-proof protection,” i.e. not have a life-threatening reaction if they accidentally consume the allergen. 

Not all allergists offer this treatment, as it’s not FDA-approved (unless you go the Palforzia route—a medical-grade peanut powder approved for children ages 1 and up—the treatment is not a drug. It’s just food). However, many studies have demonstrated its efficacy. Luckily, I found a doctor about 40 minutes away from us that offered it, and we started Ethan on the protocol when he was 8 months old. 

After bi-weekly peanut dose increases—while under observation in a medical setting—for the next 6 months, Ethan ate 16g of peanut (about a tablespoon of peanut butter), and he graduated from peanut OIT at 14 months old. It was about the best case scenario we could have hoped for. He never had an allergic reaction during the entire process, beyond a few contact reactions when the peanut touched his skin, and some eczema flares.

He still gets contact reactions (a slight rash around his face if peanut touches his skin), but the kid can eat peanut butter, and for that I am insanely grateful. 

I tell you this story not to scare you about introducing allergens, but to encourage you to do it early! OIT works best with very young children, as their immune systems are more malleable. The allergist also mentioned that it’s much easier to do with babies and toddlers because they haven’t yet developed any fear or anxiety around the allergenic food. 

I am not a doctor, and you should absolutely consult your pediatrician and get lots of opinions from pediatric allergists in your area, but this was our experience. 

Of course, after the peanut reaction, I was a bit nervous introducing the remaining allergens, but we forced ourselves to introduce a new allergen every week or two, until all 9 had been covered, and I’m glad we stuck with it. Luckily, Ethan was only allergic to peanuts, but OIT is also available for allergies to milk, egg, tree nuts, sesame, soy, and wheat. 

The toughies are finned fish and shellfish, but hey, that’s what dried fish and dried shrimp are for, right? Do the Asians need to let the allergists know that those are an option? That said, it might be harder to mask their flavor in a cup of applesauce…

7. Don’t Give Up On Foods Your Baby Refuses

It can be easy to see your baby refuse a food a couple times and then write it off. But apparently, it can take upwards of 20 different exposures to a new food before a baby accepts it. We found this to be true too. Ethan’s first few times trying blueberries, he wasn’t into them. Then on the sixth or seventh try, he somehow got really into them—even blueberries that were on the tart side for me! A food I thought he didn’t like became a favorite seemingly overnight. 

As he’s grown into a toddler, we’ve had similar experiences. A food that he really liked a few months ago is suddenly a no-go. Then he goes back to liking it. It could perhaps just be a mood thing, like I’m sometimes just not in the mood for eggs, and the next morning I’m ready for scrambled eggs on toast. When you’re always in control of your own eating, those day-to-day shifts in preferences can get glazed over. When your toddler is throwing eggs on the kitchen floor, it’s much more obvious.

If a food really isn’t sticking, it can help to prepare that food in lots of different ways so they can try it in different contexts—pureed in a soup, in a stir-fry, in a pasta bake, made into pancakes or fritters, etc. (He’s been pretty stubborn with zucchini, and I’m still working on it.) 

It can also help to involve your toddler as he/she gets older in food preparation, which can help them have more interest in eating the food they helped make. 

Bottom line: keep trying!

8. Add A Little Green To Lots of Different Meals

An interesting tip I got in my research was to add a bit of green to lots of your meals in order to accustom your baby to seeing and eating green food. The thinking is that a little basil on top of a bowl of pasta or a bit of spinach in an omelet could mean having a five-year-old that doesn’t turn their nose up to green veggies! Not sure if anyone’s ever tested this theory, but it can’t hurt.

9. Try Preloaded Spoons

We found that by scooping food into a spoon and then handing it to Ethan to self-feed, he got to have control over the meal while also minimizing mess and frustration. Incidentally, familiarity with the spoon also made it easier when we did want to spoon-feed him in a more controlled way (i.e. with his daily peanut doses in applesauce). It also helped him pick up independent utensil use much quicker when he hit toddlerhood. 

10. Be Okay with Some Mess

While we did want to minimize messes, baby-led weaning will get messy, and it’s best to just sort of let it happen. I don’t mean letting your toddler throw food or misbehave, but letting your baby get food all over their face as they explore it without swooping in to wipe their face or the tray every five seconds. This can help create more of a relaxed, low-stress experience at the table. 

(A slathering of petroleum jelly on Ethan’s face before mealtimes helped minimize sensitive skin reactions to acidic foods like yogurt and tomato sauce, as well as foods that he had contact reactions to, like peanut and walnut/pecan.)

One of our single most favorite baby items is the Catchy, which is a large tray that goes under your high chair to catch errant food scraps. It reduces wasted food (you can just pick it up and put it back on the tray) and makes cleanup after the meal so much easier.

11. Try Practicing with Straw Cups and Open Cups Early

Similar to the preloaded spoon, practicing with straw cups and open cups early made transitioning off bottles and sippy cups so much easier. We started this practice when Ethan was 7 months old (below, left), and he did pretty well with it! Then we took a bit of a break from open cups until he was around 1 year to focus on straw drinking, but he picked it right back up! Now his open cup skills extend to slurping egg drop soup right from the bowl.  

12. Don’t Hover or Force

If baby isn’t eating, try not to pressure, hover, or force them to eat. Staying calm—especially in a situation in which a baby might have bitten off more than they can chew—is important to creating a safe, positive, and relaxed eating environment. (See this article on choking hazards & prevention.) 

I’ve been guilty of hovering over Ethan when I’m anxious that he’s not eating his dinner, and Justin is always quick to remind me to stop. It just adds stress and makes the situation worse while rarely getting him to eat any more. 

13. Try Changing Up Textures

I found that changing up the texture of a dish could help Ethan enjoy it more. For instance, if I served him our Vegetable Moo Shu as is, it would be a bit stringy and difficult for him to chew, even though he has 14 teeth at this point.

But taking a pile of the tofu and vegetables, chopping it finely on a cutting board, and then mixing it into a bowl of Quinoa Rice not only made it easier for him to chew, but also much more palatable and enjoyable.

One time, my sister was watching me trying to coax Ethan into eating some chopped up leafy greens, and she said, “Isn’t the experience of enjoying leafy green vegetables more important at this stage than just getting him to eat it?” She was right. I’m not saying you have to hide vegetables in things or smother them in cheese sauce. Sometimes a slight textural tweak is all you need. 

14. If They Didn’t Like What You Served, Don’t Give Them An Alternative Option 

This one is controversial, because it can be seen as harsh or withholding. Of course your precious angel child needs to eat! If they didn’t like the dish you served, you need to make them a pot of mac and cheese so they don’t go hungry until their next meal. Or you’ll give them a snack in a little bit so they can at least eat something. 

This type of thinking is so natural, but also apparently where a lot of picky eating starts. Not eating between meals is a big part of the French philosophy as laid out in French Kids Eat Everything. If your toddler is snacking a lot, they won’t come to the table as hungry for the actual meal, making them fussier and choosier. 

My pediatrician even said to me at our 15-month appointment, “No short-order cooking. If you have to put him to bed a little hungry, he won’t starve. He’ll just eat more at breakfast.”

I have found that a good happy medium here is to always have something at the table that you know your child will eat, particularly at dinner, the last meal of the day. Try more adventurous or new foods at breakfast or lunchtime, when their next meal is only a few hours away. If you still do milk before bed, you can give them a little extra if dinner didn’t go great. 

The pediatrician also said that babies and toddlers are better than adults at listening to their hunger cues, and that their appetite varies widely with their activity levels. If they’re playing with their food, they’re probably not that hungry. 

Again, you can feel free to ignore me and just do what feels right for you! 

15. Minimize Snacking

Many American resources suggest 2-3 snacks per day for a toddler, in addition to 3 meals. Think about that for a second. That would mean your toddler is eating around every 2 hours, which is eating more often than when they had a bottle every 3-4 hours as a little baby! 

At first, I was worried Ethan wasn’t eating enough, so I did 3 meals, plus a morning snack and an afternoon snack, in addition to the couple cups of milk he was getting daily. We definitely noticed more fussiness at mealtimes, and how he just wouldn’t be hungry when we sat down to a meal.

It just felt like it made more sense to stick to the feeding schedule we’d already established in babyhood—4 opportunities to eat, with breakfast, lunch, an afternoon snack, and dinner. Since switching to this format, mealtimes have gotten much easier. Doing fewer meals/snacks is also less work! 

Again, if you’re not doing this and your meal/snack schedule works for you, that’s great! Just continue to ignore me. 

16. Avoid Processed Food As Much As Possible, but Don’t Obsess Over It

I definitely want Ethan to be able to identify and appreciate whole foods—fruits, vegetables, grains, meats, etc. A big part of exposing him to all those foods is not filling those mealtime opportunities with processed products. But also, if we’re out and about and the only option that he’ll eat is frozen chicken tenders and french fries, it’s fine.

17. Have a Plan

As a food blogger and recipe developer, I have a lot of recipes in my arsenal, but I’ve found that I definitely need to do a lot of pre-planning at the beginning of each week. I have a week’s “food plan,” in which I lay out each day’s meals, and shop according to that plan, so I don’t need to think about every meal, just execute. It also helps to have some emergency freezer meals (usually leftovers from previous meals) available so you have something in a pinch. I’ll be doing a separate post soon showing what a sample week looks like!

Feeding Tools

In case you’re creating your baby registry or just wondering what products worked best for us in the sea of options out there, I’ve come up with a list of all the products we’ve been using in the last year. Note that these are Amazon affiliate links, so any purchases from these links will support The Woks of Life with a small commission. 

WeeSprout Silicone Baby Spoons: Ethan’s first spoons. The narrow shape and soft texture were perfect for those first few months of giving him loaded spoons. He became proficient with them very quickly, and was using utensils this way very early. They were especially helpful in feeding him his mashed fruit with crushed peanut for peanut oral immunotherapy, because the narrow shape of the spoon allowed us to feed him without getting any of the peanut on his face, preventing contact reactions. We used these spoons for about 6 months, until the 1 year mark, when he moved to toddler utensils. 

OXO Tot Roll-up Bibs: We love these bibs. A stiff silicone “catcher” for any bib is essential (it has saved us from countless potential messes and spills). In our experience, those smock bibs with a flappy fabric “catcher” do not work. What I like about this one is that the top of the bib is fabric with velcro, which makes it more comfortable and adjustable than the all-silicone versions. We’ve been fine with only 2 of these bibs, as we always have one ready to go and one to wash. We hand-wash them right after each meal and hang them to dry. They dry pretty quickly, so the one you used for the last meal is always dry and ready. If the velcro gets gunky, cleaning it with a soft bristle brush works well. 

EZPZ Mini Cup + Straw Training System: Many feeding therapists recommend moving toddlers off sippy cups sooner rather than later to support better oral development. Ethan picked up straw drinking with this cup before he turned 1. It took him a while to get the hang of it (Solid Starts has a great guide to straw drinking), and we used the “pipette” method with this straw. Once he got it, though, this cup was great.

It’s the perfect shape and size for tiny hands, and he used it exclusively for drinking water for many months. It was also great for open cup practice, which we started around 8 months or so (a longer journey. At around 16 months, he got much better at open cup drinking without pouring water everywhere). Now he loves taking the cup apart and playing with it at meals, so we’ve moved him to a more secure cup (below). 

Zak Designs Stainless Steel Straw Cup: I love that this cup is stainless steel rather than plastic. (I have not an insignificant amount of anxiety around microplastic. Though the straw inside is plastic. Sigh.) It has a leak-resistant design that prevents spills. (Definitely not completely leak-proof, though!)

Ethan uses these cups for water at mealtimes. It also fits in our car seat cup holder so he can grab water on his own when we’re in the car. The hole in the straw stays mostly covered while the child isn’t actively drinking and opens up when they start drinking. (Note that your toddler will have to work to get the liquid out of the straw. This isn’t the worst thing, as the flow in other straws could be too fast for Ethan, causing a bit of choking and sputtering.) There are other plastic-free options out there, but I haven’t found a great alternative with leak protection. If you have the perfect cup, inquiring moms want to know—let us know in the comments! 

Nuk 5 oz. Learner Spill-Proof Sippy Cup: Ethan got used to drinking water from straws, but milk was a different story. After weaning him off breast milk around 10 months and moving him onto formula and then a couple months later, cow’s milk, he drank from a bottle until we transitioned to this sippy cup around age 1. This cup is meant to be used to transition off the bottle, as the sucking pattern is very similar to bottle drinking. It took a few days for him to warm up to this sippy cup, but not long. We kept him on it for about 2 months before moving to milk in a straw cup, which took a bit longer (about 2-3 weeks of fussing and refusing his formerly beloved morning cup of milk), but we held our ground and now he drinks his milk from a straw like a champ. 

A stainless steel straw cup for milk: I don’t have an exact product recommendation for this one, because I have yet to find a perfect solution. I liked the idea of keeping milk secure in a tightly sealed plastic-free straw cup, but Ethan didn’t want to drink anything but water from the Zak cups, and the EZPZ cup comes apart too easily. I ended up going with this Stainless steel sippy cup that has a straw, but found that the straw it comes with isn’t great. So I just use a different silicone straw that I purchased separately. We only have 1, and just clean it after each use. It’s been working well for us for milk! 

Stainless Steel Food Scissors: Some years ago, I was at lunch at a Chinese restaurant with my cousin Amy. Her daughter was a preschooler at the time, and I watched in awe as she took a chopstick full of noodles from a serving dish, plopped it in front of her daughter, produced a pair of small scissors from her bag, and cut the noodles into manageable pieces with a few swipes before turning back to her own meal. I filed that piece of parenting wisdom away for later, and can now confirm that these are an essential in our diaper bag. Cutting food with scissors can be so much easier than chopping it up with a knife—especially at restaurants. This set comes with two pairs, one for the house or grandparents’ kitchen, and one for the diaper bag.

Munchkin Raise Toddler Fork and Spoon Set: We transitioned from silicone spoons to these metal ones (and intro’d the fork!) We also just hand-wash them, though they’re dishwasher safe. The fat handles and small size are great for toddlers, though more often than not, Ethan just wants whatever utensil we’re using.  

Stokke Tripp-Trapp High Chair: Okay, now for the big expense. There are high chairs out there that are a LOT cheaper than this one, so don’t feel at all pressured to get this particular one. (The IKEA Antilop chair is well-reviewed and costs $20.) You can also find this high chair used on FaceBook Marketplace sometimes (I have bought so much deeply discounted used baby stuff on FB Marketplace. Always start there!) Having tried a few different high chairs, this is the one that Ethan feels most stable in. It’s important for their feet to be flat on the foot rest and for the chair to encourage them to sit upright rather than reclined.

Inglesina Fast Table Chair: This high chair fastens to the edge of tables (it only works with tables that have a stable base and flat undersides). We find it great for travel and use in restaurants, as it’s more comfortable and supportive, making it easier for him to sit through a restaurant meal. (He got fidgety in restaurant high chairs, which don’t have much support). This could also be your ONLY high chair. It packs away easily, making it great for apartment living, you can take it everywhere you go (grandparents’ house, traveling). I like that your baby also has a seat at the table with you. That said, their feet are dangling, so you might want to put a table under them with a stack of books as a footrest so they have that extra support. 

Catchy: Okay, so this is another pricey item, but it has saved the rug under our kitchen table, countless blueberries, and sanity. It’s basically a piece of molded plastic that attaches like a big tray under your kid’s high chair, creating a “catch” for all the food that gets thrown or spilled. Make sure you get the one compatible with your high chair. It’s fiddly to install and definitely feels expensive for a piece of plastic, but we’ve found it to be worth its weight in gold. It’s so easy to clean, and when food lands on it, it’s a food-safe, clean surface, so the food doesn’t go to waste. We can just pick it up and put it back on the tray. They go on sale every once in a while, so look out for that! 

A note on silicone suction plates and placemats: I know you guys are probably wondering, what about plates or placemats? We didn’t use our silicone suction plates for very long. As I mentioned earlier in this post, we found that the silicone absorbed the flavor and scent of dish soap. Even after hand-washing! It gave any food on it an off-putting flavor. I also don’t find placemats to be of much use—just another thing to clean! More often than not, we put food directly on Ethan’s tray. (We spray his tray and catchy down with a mixture of vinegar and water. Then we just wipe it up with these great Swedish dishcloths.)

Then he started showing interest in our plates. Believe it or not, Ethan started using regular dishes around 16 months. We set boundaries around their use. If he picked up a dish to throw it or tried to knock it over, we took it away. These days, he just uses them as they were intended (for now, anyway). Sometimes he picks up the plate to put it back on the table when he’s done eating, but as long as we keep an eye on him, we haven’t had any drops or breaks! 

I’ve found the best sort of plates for him to be small shallow pasta bowls with a rim like these. They are just deep enough to keep food in the dish, while also being shallow enough so that Ethan can see and access all the food in it. The rim helps prevent him from pushing food out of the dish as he tries to scoop it with a spoon. 

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Phew, I think that’s everything! I hope you found this post helpful and instructive (and not exhausting at all). My next post will be more focused around serving Chinese food to babies and toddlers, so look out for that! 

If you have any questions, tips or suggestions, or fun stories to share from your experience with your own little ones, please leave them in the comments!