Starting Solid Foods

Esther is the happiest kid ever.  She is always smiling and loves to interact with people.  She can already wiggle herself around on the floor a bit and get into things.  Lucy likes to make her laugh and can really keep her going.  I can't believe our sweet baby is six months old already!  She's been trying to swipe our food and moving her mouth while watching our every bite, so we decided to let her try some things recently.

So far she's had mashed up banana (she's not quite sure what to do with it but she gets a big smile when we give it to her), frozen mango, and frozen peach in a mesh feeder (she loves that and really works hard on it).  We're taking a relaxed approach to feeding her, letting her try small bits of fruits and veggies rather than spooning lots of food into her mouth.  She still nurses frequently and up until about a year I'm not concerned about her needing anything other than mommy milk.  Here are some of the things we're using now:

high chair - Lucy and Julia both still use a Fisher Price Healthy Care Booster Seat, which we love but we didn't have another chair available to strap one on to.  In looking for a high chair, many have vinyl padded seats that we wanted to stay away from.  Vinyl is one of the worst plastics because of the phthalates that are added to keep it soft.  It can also contain lead.  The high chair we got from Ikea is made of polypropylene, one of the safest plastics.  Its still a bit big for her, so we tuck a towel in with her.  It is priced very inexpensively, and a tray is available for it as well.

bibs - Bibs are another place that lead can hide.  Wal-Mart even issued a recall for some bibs with high lead levels.  We got rid of all plastic bibs and have a stash of homemade ones that work great.  My bibs even have snaps on them so we don't have any more velcro chains in the wash.  If you're not interested in sewing, aden + anais has some great bibs that I'll post a review and giveaway for soon.

utensils - We have inexpensive Gerber bowls and spoons.  I double checked the Z Recs Guide to be sure they were all safe.  I do not put hot foods in the plastic though, and we hand wash them rather than using the dishwasher.  Esther also likes the mesh feeder we have.

cup - Gerber sippy cups work well for us.  I just got a new soft spout cup as the old version of this did have BPA in it so we tossed it.  Esther was so excited to have her own sippy cup and put it right to her mouth.  She doesn't actually drink out of it yet, but she is pretty proud of herself.

Happy 1/2 birthday Baby Esther!