Has any of the following happened to you?
1. Your child wants to self-feed but doesn’t have the ability to eat a lot of different foods yet.
2. You are out somewhere and your baby needs to eat. And you didn’t pack a bib, a bowl, a spoon, a high chair, wipes, and – that’s right – baby food.
3. Your child doesn’t finish the whole jar of baby food, and now you have to either a) feel guilty about tossing it, or b) feel guilty about keeping it with, supposedly, all its scary bacteria blooming.
4. You are tired of carrying clunky bowls or jars of baby food with you.
5. All of the above.
Thank you Elisa, for introducing me to a grand solution. I had bought baby food for Haley for our recent camping trip because it’s nearly impossible to pack homemade baby food camping, and, after all, it’s my vacation too. I was squirting this little packets of food into bowls and feeding them to Haley. As you may have read, Haley really wants to be in charge of her own meals. But she can’t spoon feed herself, and she can’t eat that many chunky foods yet (although the list is growing rapidly).
My friend Elisa saw our little battle and casually mentioned that sometimes when she is out and about and running behind schedule, she just hands an open pack to her one-year-old son and he sucks it down himself. No mess, no spoon, fed baby. Done. I thought, “Oh no, this sounds very easy.” So I handed it to Haley, and on her first attempt, she sucked down an entire packet of food plus another half. This is more solid food than she has ever eaten in a sitting. And I didn’t have to do a thing.
There’s the oh no – it’s too easy. Don’t forget to actually interact with your child, teach good eating habits, show them how to eat off a spoon, and spend quality time together as you hand your child a packet they can suck down while you’re grocery shopping. 🙂
Anyway, this is my new favorite trick. I now keep a packet in my diaper bag for crisis-type occassions and, if she’s already eaten most of her food from the spoon, I let Haley finish off the bag on her own. Dare I try to squeeze the remnants north for her like a toothpaste tube – that would mean taking the packet away, and that is met with staunch opposition.
p.s. I really like Plum Organics combinations. I tried Happy Baby and they’ve upset Haley’s tummy twice!
The Keene Family 