10 kitchen essentials to make introducing first foods to baby a breeze
After months of a milk-only diet, beginning to introduce solid food to your baby can seem like an epic milestone! After all, it’s their first new taste experience, so you want this introduction to be a success.
Fruit and vegetable purees, along with a cereal, are commonly the first foods your baby will try, and these are very simple to make yourself at home.
Here’s everything you need to make those first mouthfuls nutritious, tasty and fun for everyone (let’s ignore the mess factor for now!):
1. Whizzy stick blender
You’ll be able to introduce your baby to his first foods with confidence when you have a stick blender at hand – with a couple of quick pulses, you’ll have a lovely vegetable puree ready to serve in no time at all. The Contempo Stick Blender has two speeds so you can easily control what you are doing at all times.
Buy Contempo Stick Blender with Beaker
2. Stylish high chair
It’s worth investing in a high chair that is durable and stylish – because you are going to be looking at this particular piece of furniture for years to come.
The Grotime Lyon High/Low Chair has two position height adjustments; perfect for your growing child. It’s fully loaded with features such a 5-point safety harness, an adjustable and removable tray for easy cleaning (very important!) and sports a strong timber frame to suit children up to 15kg.
Buy Grotime Lyon High/Low Chair
3. Very smart baby spoons
Always choose a spoon for your baby that has soft tips and sides so it’s gentle on little mouths – once your baby starts grabbing for the spoon and jamming it into his mouth, you want to know that it won’t do any damage in there.
These Tommee Tippee spoons are particularly genius because they are heat-sensing – the tip of the spoon changes colour if the food is too hot – which means you can be confident that the temperature of food is always just right.
No more burning your mouth testing the temperature of your baby’s food, these clever heat-sensing spoons do it for you.
Buy Tommee Tippee Heat Sensing Weaning Spoon 4 Pack
4. Pretty-yet-practical bibs
Now, feeding bub is a messy business – there is no way to sugar-coat this fact – but all that mess is part of the way they learn about food and how to enjoy it. You can minimise the mess though, by using a bib every time they eat. Look for bibs that are plastic-backed so moisture doesn’t soak through to clothing. You will need plenty of bibs so stock up now!
Buy Dymples Baby Bear Bib – 2 pack
5. Clever suction bowl
There is nothing a cheeky little monkey likes to do more than upend his plate at meal times. It’s such fun to watch mum wiping food up off the floor!
Now you can foil even the most persistent bowl-swiper when you use a suction bowl. The Tommee Tippee Suction Bowls feature a unique, super-strong suction base design to prevent your baby from removing the bowl from highchair or table top surfaces. How clever!
Buy Tommee Tippee Suction Bowl
6. Handy snack box
One thing you’ll discover quickly is that babies need to eat often so being prepared with a bunch of nutritious snacks throughout the day will make you Supermum.
Just be sure to store your snacks in well-sealed containers so you don’t find any ‘surprises’ in the bottom of your nappy bag. These Munchkin Snack catchers have soft, flexible flaps so little fingers can easily access the snacks through the flaps. Those same flaps help prevent food spills all over the house and car! A must have for hungry little ones on the move.
7. Simple section plate
A lot of young children don’t like to mix their food up on the plate – this is oftentimes because the different textures of foods served all together can be overwhelming, and sometimes it’s just because they prefer one food over another. Whatever the reason, mealtimes are often calmer if you keep foods separated on the plate. Which is easy to do when you have a handy section plate like this one from Tommee Tippee.
Buy Tommee Tippee Section Plate – 2 pack
8. Spill-proof spout cup
Once your baby starts eating solid food, he’ll need extra hydration too. Offering water at mealtimes in a spout cup will begin the cup-drinking lessons and if you choose a cup with easy grip handles, your baby will quickly learn how to master the cup himself.
9. Nifty silicone freezer trays
When you’re whizzing up homemade purees for baby, you’re going to end up with more than you can serve in one meal. So use a silicone ice cube tray to freeze small puree portions and then once they are frozen, you can unmold them and store them in a labelled ziplock bag in the freezer, in preparation for future meals.
Buy Brilliant Basics Silicone Ice Cube Tray
10. Durable freezer pots
You’ll be surprised at how quickly your baby goes from eating a teaspoon or two of puree once or twice a day, to eating full meals three times a day – plus snacks! The Smash Blue Stainless Steel Snack Pots are leak-proof, air tight and perfect for transporting purees or snacks while on the go. The base is made from durable stainless steel, with a clear Tritan lid and durable easy-to-open clips. Smash Snack Pots also come in four colours: blue, sage green, blush, and black.
Buy Smash Blue Stainless Steel Snack Pots 200mL – 2 Pack
This is a sponsored post by BIG W, where you can find everything you need for pregnancy, baby and beyond.
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