Starting solids? PRIYApproved feeding tools
I have to say, I was really excited about starting solids. Before my child was even born. I actually wish I could go back and just have her breastfeed now, because solid food feeding involves a LOT more prep, gear and a different kind of patience. To be honest, I don’t enjoy it much (eeek!). I do enjoy cooking and watching my daughter’s reactions to new foods and foods she loves. I get a huge kick out of her improving self feeding; that fine pincer grasp she uses to pick up a quartered blueberry makes my heart soar.
Our breastfeeding journey was so hard, I was waiting and waiting to get to solids. While I don’t enjoy it as much as I had hoped, it has helped me solidify my professional recommendations for feeding tools! Let me pass on the research to you, so you have less to stay up at night Googling.
Important: If your child is having difficulties with any part of feeding (sensory issues, stuffing or pocketing food, gagging excessively, inability to transition forward in texture etc. etc.) you may need some additional/alternative tools and direct work with an occupational therapist. Get in touch if you have any questions about this or contact your local pediatric occupational therapist.
If my favorites change, I will update this list! These items are specifically for starting solids; I have a few other favorites for older kids & feeding. Remember, I like things that are good for development, high quality to last a while, low-toxin and can be used multiple ways. That’s what makes the items below PRIYApproved!
Here’s list of feeding tools to start solids.
If you don’t care about the WHY and just want to know what to BUY, scroll to the bottom for a summary list!
High Chair:
We settled on the Tripp Trapp Stokke because it grows with your child (even an adult can use it as a seat down the line!) and can turn into a regular stool/chair. Also, important for proper positioning: IT HAS AN ADJUSTABLE FOOT SUPPORT! SO IMPORTANT!!
I do NOT recommend the infant seat attachment, it’s restrictive. I’d rather you put your kiddo on a mat on the floor for free movement!
While I feel this is one of the best options out there, here are some annoying things and what to do about them:
Annoying thing 1: the straps get messy and they are hard to clean!
What to do: take the harness out, soak the straps in a giant bowl/sink of water with at least a cup of vinegar. Straps will come out fresh and new looking in about an hour or so!
Annoying thing 2: the bottom of the tray has lots of little areas for food to get stuck.
What to do: Same soaking trick with vinegar and water above, but you probably have to use the bathtub or a large sink.
Annoying thing 3: ezpz and other suction bowls don’t suction to this tray at all. This is fine until your child gets the strength and desire to pick up their bowls & plates and chuck them onto the ground.
What to do: One of the best things is the high chair is made to pull up to the table, so you can also use the tray just at the beginning to introduce solids, and then when baby starts to pick plates/bowls up, remove the tray and pull baby up to the table to eat with you as silicone will likely suction to your table better!
Bibs:
Green Sprouts Muslin bibs. Get 5+ depending on how often you do laundry. We like the royal color pack it hides stains well. The muslin is thick and allows the bib to hang down instead of fold up and near the mouth like those triangle ones. I also use the bib to wipe up the table after because it’s absorbent.
One full sleeve smock. Sometimes, especially early on, meals get very messy. I liked that I could strip this off and clothes underneath were totally clean and dry. This can be used for messy, sensory activities and art play as well. The smallest size runs big, so you can use these for some time.
Two of these BapronBaby rinse and air dry sleeveless bib-smocks. You just rinse them in cold water, squeeze out the excess water, and they air dry often by the next meal if your place is well ventilated.
Spoons:
I recommend num num pre-spoon GOOtensils to start! I’m not a fan of the material but they are good for purées, self feeding and I like that they are textured & can be used as teethers and help progress oral motor skills.
Then soon after I recommend adding ezpz tiny spoons into the mix and rotating between the two types. Ezpz has a nice handle that slightly weighted and built up to encourage appropriate grasp.
Both are good for self feeding/exploring with spoon & also having parent pre-load the spoon or feed baby depending on the texture of the food being scooped or dipped.
I also recommend one of these second stage spoons, as the “bowl” end is deeper, if you’re going to feed your child any type of soup or broth. Beaba is my favorite as some of the other ones I’ve gotten have broken or the silicone has ripped easily…
Plates/Bowls:
Some people just feed baby by putting food on the tray. That’s an option, too!
I found having trays and bowls helpful because I knew how much food my child was eating and it helped me have a visual cue to make sure I was providing a varied meal in terms of nutrition, texture and options for self feeding. Plus I involved her in meal cleanup since the first day she started solids, so having actual bowls for her to watch me (at first, now she does it!) rinse and toss into a bin in our sink was helpful!
I really like ezpz for ease of cleaning, quality, materials and size. We have one of each circle size bowl (small and large) which are great for starting feeding because you usually introduce one item at a time. Also good for curries, soups and “one pot meal” type items.
The ezpz divided tray plate is my favorite. We only have one and have been able to make do, because we have a small space and just get creative if we haven’t had time to wash in between meals. However, I wish I had 2-3 of these.
I also love this stainless steel plate; babies can see the colors of their food show up more on this one, it suctions properly to more surfaces than EZPZ and fits various tray sizes better, in my experience!
Cups:
Talk to your doctor about water intake before 1 year old. I personally felt it was silly to provide NO water before one year old. I didn’t want to suddenly provide water closer to one year and have my daughter have no experience with it taste & texture wise. Plus it helped rinse food down after a meal (we also brushed teeth/gums early on for this…) But what do I know, I’m not a doctor…
I introduced small sips of water when we started solids, generally after a meal.
We used the ezpz cup to start, but I found that while my daughter preferred this to chew on, the nosey cups we had were much better to see and control liquid as it entered her mouth, as there is a big dip in them. You drink from the HIGH SIDE. This helped me feel less scared since I could see how much water was going into her mouth.
I notice that if you don’t have a nosey cup, you sometimes avoid practicing open cup drinking. Open cup drinking is an important skill, but also good for dental/speech development (ie. Better than sippy cup) so I like working on it as early as possible/you’re comfortable. This tool helped us a lot!
I don’t love the super popular 360 cups by Munchkin because they are SUPER hard to suck from and can encourage an unnatural drinking/sucking pattern. However, I like the idea of them, and my friend who is a speech therapist recommended this as an alternative, as you can press your finger on the middle part and help control the amount of liquid that comes out: Avent 360.
Talk tools purple plastic cup with handles is great (though, not my favorite - plastic material, but, balance is key. These helped my kiddo drink from an open cup so much!). Developed by speech therapists, two different tops to get less or more water out.
Green Sprouts: Totally open, no top silicone cup with handles - I would use this once your child starts to get the hang of things, and start with just a little water inside! I love the quality of this and that it’s made of silicone instead of plastic…
Straw Cups:
The Boon Snug Straw cup has a huge design flaw that makes it SUPER EASY to teach straw drinking. You just have to gently push down on the silicone top and it suctions water up into the straw so your child knows there is liquid to suck from. I love this thing, but some people I know despise it because if left to their own devices with this, your child may spill water all over the place :) I use this as a teaching tool. It helps me feel comfortable knowing I can help control the water flow to start, before straw skills get stronger. I love this thing. Even though it’s plastic. 80/20, my friends!
Elk and Friends glass jar straw cup. Glass is the best toxin wise and environmentally, and this one has a silicone protective sleeve for extra protection. I did break one though and was so glad the silicone sleeve was on because it prevented a huge mess. We also love the Elk and Friends stainless steel straw cups; we use them without the cover for independent open cup drinking. They are lighter and there is not chance of breakage. I actually like them even better than the glass ones, but both are great and I’m glad I have them both.
I love the idea of the PuraKiki straw bottle -their quality is amazing, but the straw & nipples are super hard to suck from, even for me! I would highly recommend them down the line for when your child is a bit older. Their nipples are interchangeable with some other popular brands, so that’s an option as well if you want to try their baby bottles. We have two of these, and will keep using them in different ways because they have interchangeable tops which turn them from bottle/straw bottle to sport bottle to snack container etc!
Food Storage:
I recommend making purees in bulk, freezing them in small 1.5 oz cubes in the food savers recommended below, then storing them double bagged in the freezer for easy defrosting. I defrost the cubes individually, each in a small glass jar with lid. PRO TIP: organize baby food, milk, drinks etc in a fridge organizer for easy meal prep during the day. ALSO, clear a shelf in the fridge JUST for baby items if you’re going to combine traditional weaning/purees for easy food prep!
Glass containers by Wee Sprout - to defrost each cube of food in the fridge
Freezer Tray by Wee Sprout - each cube is 1.5 oz of food. P.S. you can use this to freeze cubes of puree from grocery store pouches, too. When kids are little, they can’t eat the whole thing and if you don’t use it all 24 hours after opening, you have to toss or freeze.
Stasher Bags (to avoid plastic) or Ziplock bags - to store cubes of food once frozen. Don’t store them in the Freezer tray because they can leech flavor/smell into the tray over time and get freezer burn more easily.
Food/milk refridgerator organizer - also good for ask kids get older; you can store items for them to choose from in this container so they have healthy options and know right where to go to get it for increased independence.
Hand Held Feeder:
Silicone Feeder - You’ll also want to consider a silicone feeder (over mesh is my preference for ease of cleaning) for teething but also intro of some foods that are choking hazards or before she’s able to take bites. Make sure to get one that has all three sizes for the silicone part so you are able to use it at all stages: from infant on. There are cheaper ones, but they only come with one size. Also NOTE: you don’t NEED these, they aren’t required to learn to eat or develop oral motor skills, per se. But it is helpful to have one set to explore various textures, temperatures and teething options safely.
SUMMARY LIST:
Stokke Tripp Trapp High Chair (1)
Bibs (~5 Green sprouts muslin, 1 full sleeve smock, 1-2 BapronBaby air dry)
Num Num GOOTensils (1 set)
EZPZ Tiny Spoon (1 set)
BEABA silicone spoon (1-2)
EZPZ bowl(s) (1-2)
EZPZ divided plate (1-3)
EZPZ tiny cup/Nosey Cup (1 or 2 each)
Handled open cup (1 of each; Avent 360, Green Sprouts, Talk Tools)
Straw cup (1 each; Boon, Elk & Friends)
Food Storage Items (~12 Wee Sprout jars, 2 Wee Sprout freezer trays, Stasher reusable or disposable freezer storage bags)
Maybe a silicone feeder (1)
Good Luck!
P.S. I only link to products I love/use! I may earn a commission from some of the links above, which helps to run this website!