Mama Tip #1

Feeding babies solid food can be an, um, interesting endeavor. Those first few “meals” are sweet and fun, but after that, it turns into work preparing, serving and cleaning up food for baby.

We have held off until both kids were 6 months old to start solids. Why make a mess if you don’t have to? Once we start with solids, we like to kick it into high gear. We used purees with J for a few months, but have skipped them entirely with N and just give her soft food pieces.

So here’s the tip: When giving infants soft, slippery food chunks (avocados, bananas, soft-cooked fruits and veggies), first coat the food in a ground grain. This makes the food a bit grippier (made up word? not sure) and more likely to end up in the mouth.

I’ve used ground oatmeal (baby food style or just home-ground grains), ground rice, ground barley and wheat germ. I particularly like the wheat germ once baby is old enough because the germ doesn’t turn into a sticky goo the way other grains can when they start to get a little too friendly with the fruits and veggies. Enjoy!