A solid start

We have officially started giving Lil Z his first solid food.  He is 2 weeks shy of 5 months, but I confess, I was antsy to see if he would even know what to do with a spoon.  That, plus he is hungry as a horse lately, and I gathered it just may be time for something other than milk.

 His first food: Earth’s Best Organics Rice Cereal.  I bought the ‘Convenient Packets’, and I would recommend doing so in the beginning since the little one may not get the hang of it right away, and this makes sure you only open a little bit and the cereal stays fresh.  I used Tommee Tippee feeding utensils, simply because I wanted to give the company’s products another try.  My prior experience with their bottles was not so successful, but I am happy to say that the feeding bowls and spoons are awesome, and we give it a big thumbs up.  I also bought food pots for on-the-go feeding because they just looked so darned cute.

Z-Bear looked like such a big boy sitting on his Bumbo chair when we began the feeding.  We love the Bumbo chair, and not just because it has such a fun sounding name.  It works great at this stage, before we are ready to move on to a highchair, and it uses up such little space.  For the first feeding, I used half a tablespoon of Earth’s Best Organics Rice Cereal mixed with one tablespoon of breast milk.  He was definitely intrigued by what mama and papa were so excited about when we began the feeding, but it didn’t click with him that he was supposed to eat it.  So the first try was not really a success.  I wasn’t discouraged and we tried a few days later.  Only this time, I added equal parts cereal and milk, and what do you know, Lil Z was opening his mouth wide and ready to eat the second time around.  He gobbled it up in a matter of minutes.  We were so proud!  Can’t wait until he is ready for more foods and I can start preparing baby food for the little gourmand.

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Message in a bottle

In a perfect world, I would not need to make a single baby bottle for Lil Z.  In a perfect world, I would have breastfed him until he was 2.  Yes, that’s right, 2 years, as in 24 months old.  That’s what I would have wanted to do.  But, alas, perfection is not always attainable.  So Lil Z has been drinking from a bottle, whether breast milk or formula, for quite some time now (whatever ‘quite some’ of 4 months is).  We’ve tried 3 different bottles for the Bear, and here’s my review of them.

Dr. Brown’s Standard Plastic 4 and 8 oz bottles : When doing my research on baby bottles, Dr. Browns kept coming up as a favorite amongst reviewers.  So I went out and bought a pack.  I like these bottles.  A lot.  And I use these bottles for Z-Bear. That being said, there are a few drawbacks, but even then, these bottles always come out a winner.  The look: I like the traditional look of these bottles with the cylindrical shape, the white cap, and the clear nipple.  Inside the bottle is a two-piece internal vent system that reduces air bubbles.  The result: Lil-Z seldom has problems with gas, burping, or excessive spit-up.  An added bonus is that they easily fit the Medela breast pump I use, so I can pump directly into the bottle if I want. The bottles are BPA free and we are happy with them.  They are a pain to clean though because of the extra parts inside.  And a little tricky to assemble when bleary-eyed at 3 in the morning.   But simply putting them in the dishwasher at the end of the each day and preparing the bottle before going to bed can easily solve these two problems.  They are durable, we have been using the same bottles for over 4 months now, and they are still in very good condition.  A more serious issue is that they tend to leak when not assembled just right.  I don’t have this problem anymore, but in the beginning when getting used to the bottle, it was rather frustrating.

Tommee Tippee Closer to Nature 5 oz bottles:  I read some good reviews on these bottles; they were particularly recommended for breastfeeding moms because of the nipple shape.  They are cute to look at, but after trying them out, I would not recommend them at all.  They just aren’t very user friendly.  The bottle is awkward, the nipple is more awkward, and often during feeding the nipple would fold into the bottle and frustrate Lil Z.  He didn’t like the bottles, and neither did we, and we retired them after a few short weeks.

Medela 5 oz feeding and storing bottles:  I like using these bottles when I pump, and they are just as easy to use when feeding.  Simply put on the Medela nipple and you’re ready to go.  These are the bottles we use for on-the-go feeding.  We take the stored breast milk out of the fridge, throw it in the diaper bag along with a nipple and we are good to go.  I definitely recommend getting a few of these if you plan on pumping.

 Tips:  Get a dishwasher basket to wash the parts for the bottles.  I use Munchkin, and it works great.  Wash the nipples by hand with soap and hot water and then use a sterilizer in the microwave (we use the Dr. Brown’s one).  It will make the nipples last a lot longer and keep looking like new vs. putting them in the dishwasher every time.  I am amazed at how many people say that a bottle warmer is a waste of money; for us it has been a lifesaver.  We use the First Years babyPro SmartWarmer, and I like that it has so many settings to choose from.

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