Baby Items- Food edition.

(Here you can see my other editions.)

Norah has started eating solid foods! A few weeks ago she started rice cereal, and recently/so far has tried pears, carrots, sweet potatoes, and apples. It's going well!

We have the Beaba Babycook Pro Baby Food Maker to make Norah's baby food. (They also have a double one!) I am making all of her food myself. I know that can be a tough decision to make for some (buy vs. make), and you have to choose whatever is best for your family. Personally, we chose to make Norah's food because it's more cost effective, I know exactly what's going in it, and I am thankful to have the time to make it. (Even if you are a parent who works outside the home, I still strongly think you can make your own baby food if you really want to. It really doesn't take that long.) I am not against buying baby food- sometimes I will buy it for traveling, but for the most part I have chosen to make it.

Getting a special baby food maker is not really a necessity, but it's super nice to have. We a thankful to have received this as a gift at a shower. I love it because you can cook/steam, blend, and even defrost/reheat right in the same machine. Yes, you certainly could cook the food in a pot and blend it in your regular blender, but if you can afford it, it's really convenient to be able to do it all in one. 

Verdict: Yes, if you can afford it, or just get a NutriBullet instead (but the downfall with that is you cannot actually cook the food in it). 

Update: Still use this often and love it. Though, the older Norah gets, the less I use it. I used it a lot before Norah turned one, and I made a lot of food in advance and freeze it. Now that Norah is older and eats more finger foods, I usually just make her food in our NutriBullet whenever I need to blend something. I absolutely love it and use it all the time, whether it's for Norah or to make smoothies for us. We went through two blenders that both broke, and now have a nutribullet and I will never go back!

I also have the OXO Tot Baby Blocks Freezer Storage Containers and I love them. They are the perfect size for storing individual food portions (and also for storing breast milk, if you choose to mix smaller amounts of breast milk into your baby's cereal/food). I started with two packs, already bought a third, and have already wished for a fourth. 

Verdict: Yes (or get something similar).

Update: Still love them and use almost daily.

When I have a surplus of food, I freeze the extras in a regular ice cube tray, which works fine too. I just like the storage containers because they keep it more fresh and are better for freezing longer.

Norah has some of these OXO Tot Bowl Sets,

OXO Sippy Cup Sets (with training lid),

OXO Tot Divided Plate, 

OXO Tot Plate,

OXO Tot Roll Up Bib Set,

OXO Tot Forks and Spoons,

and OXO Tot Feeding Spoons Set.

Norah has not used the sippy cups yet, as she is still a little young for that, and we have not used the bibs yet. Since we are feeding her, she doesn't get too messy, so we just has fabric bibs. I'm sure we will use the more heavy duty, plastic bibs once she starts feeding herself!

I have been happy with everything but the silverware. I like the cups and bowls, but honestly think that any cup or bowl would work just fine. I don't like the metal silverware because it's too hard, and I don't like the rubber silverware because it's too soft. Norah just sinks her teeth into the rubber and wants to bite on it instead of eat. Plastic spoons are perfect for her at this stage. These First Years Infant Double Ended Spoons are my favorite.

I also really love the First Years Take and Toss Bowls. They are durable and also incredibly cheap. 

First Years Take and Toss also has a variety of sizes of cups and silverware. I just discovered this variety pack! I really like this brand because it's so affordable, and it lasts. You'd think that maybe it would be cheaply made for costing so little, but I have ran mind through the dishwasher numerous times and they are still great!

We also have the Munchkin Plates,

Munchkin Bowls,

Munchkin Cups,

Munchkin Suction Bowls, Which I think will be super nice once Norah starts feeding herself, so she can't fling it to the floor!

 Munchkin Snack Catcher, Which will be great for traveling/not making a mess, hopefully!

and Munchkin Deluxe Fresh Food Feeder

All the Munchkin products we have have been cheap, but also nice and durable.

So, I have had experience with OXO Tot, First Years, and Munchkin, in regards to their feeding items, and have been overall pleased with all three!

Update: I ended up donating away the OXO cups because I didn't like the little parts inside to clean, and Norah didn't like the hard tips. I also did not end up liking the fresh food feeder. Everything else is nice! In my personal opinion, the OXO tot items are not worth the money, and they are larger so they aren't as easy to store, but they are nice quality. Norah liked their silverware better as she got older. First Years is probably my favorite because it's the cheapest, yet durable and incredibly easy to store because they stack together so well.

Since Norah didn't like the OXO sippy cups, we have been using the Nuby sippy cups and the Munchkin sippy cups. We have the Munchkin ones with the handles, which are nice to have when they are younger, but aren't necessary. (We also just bought these Munchkin sippy cups too, that are a little bit bigger, both in spout and cup size.) Sometimes we have problems with the Nuby cups leaking if the plastic tip isn't in just right, so I would say the Munchkin ones are my favorite.

Update: We ended up getting rid of the Nuby cups because the leaking kept getting worse until it just wasn't worth it anymore.

                                        

Also, Norah has a Chicco Polly (now discontinued) stand alone high chair. I can't believe how fast things change, because the one from her registry isn't coming up on the website anymore. We debated between a stand alone one and a compact one, but we went with this and I really like it. No complaints. It's fairly easy to wipe clean. Sometimes I wish it were easier, but I think the pads make it more comfortable than high chairs that have no pads at all. 

Update: We used the above Chicco high chair until Norah was about 15 months. I like it and we are definitely still keeping it for our next babies, but now that Norah is feeding herself more it was getting hard to clean the pads after every meal. There are so many nooks and crannies and it was so hard to clean! I would recommend this chair for younger babies so you don't have to clean the pads. I had read reviews about the Ikea high chair, and heard that people liked it, so we ordered one for Norah and I love it. So easy to clean!