Feeding Time Favorites: Top Essentials to Make Mealtime Easy

Whether your grands start with purees or your kids want to try the baby-led-weaning approach that is popular now, you'll need a few items on hand as the littles start to experiment with food. Here are the things I stocked in my cabinet when mine began solids, around 6 months. (And yes, there are affiliate links with some of these items!)

There are so many highchairs to choose from, and really you just have to think about where you're going to place it, and if you can leave it out all the time or if you need to store it away when the kids aren't there. I leave mine out all the time: the Graco Made2Grow 5-in-1 Convertible Highchair. I love it because it will convert to a toddler seat and big kid chair later. And I have a friend who has this folding one that she puts away in her laundry room when it's not in use- Graco Slim Snacker High Chair--it even has reclining positions!

I love these Munchkin-the Stay-Put Suction Bowls and the Munchkin Gentle Dip Self-Feeding Spoons. And what I ended up doing was tethering the spoon (Baby Spoons Holder Strap Highchair Accessory) to the highchair so it wouldn't keep landing on the floor! All dishwasher safe! As they got further along into self-feeding instead of the purees, I used these Stay-Put divided suction cup plates from Munchkin.

I do love these KeaBabies 2-Pack Silicone Bibs with Pockets that catch all of the things that don't actually make it to their mouth:) These mealtimes are SO messy while they are learning how to eat, and I'm not sure if I'll ever go back to a "regular" bib now.

Cups--where to start? Should they learn from a spout or a straw first? Should they just go ahead and begin with a normal cup with no lid? Well, no strong opinions here--I just got what my kids said they would like to introduce first to the grands. So we started with this Munchkin 7oz Plastic Any Angle/Click Lock Weighted Straw Cup and then taught them to drink from the Munchkin 7oz Simple Clean Trainer Cup with Handles.

And food itself--we made some of our own with this Baby Brezza One Step Baby Food Maker Deluxe--it steams and blends all in one, and from there you can store the food in pouches or jars. You can even adjust the blending level, if you want a really smooth puree or leave it a little chunky when they are ready for that. During the weeks that we didn't have the right produce on hand, or maybe no time to make the food, (or we were just lazy?) we did keep a small stash of BeechNut, Once Upon a Farm, Serenity Kids, and Plum Organics jars and pouches to use. We liked the ingredients--nothing added, just the fruit or vegetable or meat! It took mine a little while to get used to sucking out of a pouch, but eventually that worked and so it was pretty nice to take those on-the-go. I also found these Happy Teether teething crackers and these Little Spoon rings and I would offer those at the end of the meal while I was cleaning up the bowls and spoons and the FLOOR:)