Time to Feed Baby Solids? + Orchard Fruit Medley Oatmeal with Gerber Lil Bits

Baby B is 9 months now and has been crawling for quite a while.  Its adorable, but exhausting chasing around a little guy that wants to get into everything.  He’s also a little foodie, and I can’t seem to stuff his face fast enough.  That said, knowing when to feed baby solids wasn’t an issue.  Just like with S, when it became a huge fight to keep his hands out of my plate or from steeling my fork, I knew it was time to begin exploring with baby foods.  He took to them immediately.

My struggle really was: how do I know when I should be feeding baby solids?  And more-so, how do I know what size solid food he’s capable of mashing with his gums and a single tooth?

You know, with the first baby, I simply gave her some food chunks and hoped she was ready for them.  Many times, I knew the food was soft enough to mash between her gums.  Meats were a little more of a gray area, but she did well.  With baby B, he’s so much more impatient when it comes to food, and he’s practically inhaled foods before really mashing them.  We’ve had a few scares simply because he’s so overzealous.  Transitioning from purees to solids hasn’t been nearly as easy this time around.

Look who’s crawling and ready for transition to solids!

This is where Gerber 3rd Foods Lil’ Bits comes to the rescue.  I don’t have to think about how small B’s foods are, or whether or not he’ll easily be able to mash them.  And, I can still provide him a huge variety of foods.  Additionally, making a variety of foods isn’t always feasible.  Plus, I can’t seem to have a huge variety of fruits and vegetables on hand during the week without creating a bunch of waste.  And again, having these pre-made means I’m not really wasting anything.

The next step is to figure out how to continue to expose him to a variety of different foods.  I want him to continue experiencing different tastes while also adding appropriately sized bits, therefore preparing him for a more successful transition to table foods.  And, I need to make sure he’s getting rounded nutrition.

As B hasn’t been fond of his plain baby oatmeal, I needed to find a way to use it.  I decided that I would use some of his Orchard Fruit Medley to make a super nutritious oatmeal for breakfast.  Since he’s loved his Gerber 3rd Foods Lil’ Bits, I knew the Orchard Fruit Medley would make his baby oatmeal more appealing.  Providing him a healthy breakfast, exposing him to more textures and tastes, and not wasting something I’d previously purchased really makes me happy.

Orchard Fruit Medley and Oatmeal

Make baby oatmeal as you normally would.

1 T baby oatmeal
1 T breastmilk for protein (or formula)

After you mix your oatmeal to the consistency your baby likes, add about 1.5 T Gerber Lil’ Bits Orchard Fruit Medley.

B really enjoyed his breakfast after the addition of the Orchard Fruit Medley.

I’ve enjoyed the ease of feeding him a variety of different foods that I might not, otherwise, have around the house.  And, on those days mama’s lazy and eating things like corn dogs, I can provide him something so much better!

If you’re thinking about transitioning your crawler to solids, be sure to check out Gerber 3rd Foods Lil’ Bits flavors here.

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