Minimizing the Mess with Baby-Led Weaning
Just starting solids? Solid Starts Compass℠ is our guided app experience to help you navigate first bites and beyond.
Letting babies self-feed has a number of amazing benefits in the short and long term. But staying clean is not one of them! Baby-led weaning is M-E-S-S-Y. That said, there are a few things you can do to minimize the mess in the early days:
Cover your floors with waterproof splat mats. Use more than one!
Put baby in footed pajamas and cover with a bib. Then just unzip!
Order a ton of baby washcloths. Nothing works better!
Use a pitcher filled with warm water to wash hands, arms, feet and lower legs after each meal.
Kalani, 12 months, washes her hands and arms in a plastic container.
Amelia, 10 months, washes her hands in a cup.
Don’t rely on suction plates or bowls to keep clean.
(But do use these fabulous products to help your baby self-feed.)
Adie, 18 months, lifts her suction plate off the table.
Max, 19 months, tips his bowl upside down.
Use both a straw cup and open cup at each meal.
At the beginning of the meal, start with the open cup with just a little bit of milk/formula/breastmilk in it. Then as the meal wears on, switch to a straw cup. (The end of the meal is when babies are most likely to throw things.)
Mina, 8 months, plays with a straw up.
Get a dog. Or two.
(Seriously though, be careful with what your dog eats and if baby starts to feed dog a lot, put your dog in another room during mealtime so it doesn't become a game. xo)
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The content offered on SolidStarts.com and the Solid Starts App is for informational purposes only and has been created with typically developing babies and children in mind. The information here, including but not limited to suggestions on how to cut or prepare particular foods and the size and shapes of particular foods, is generalized for a broad audience. Your child is an individual and may have needs or considerations beyond generally accepted practices. If your child has underlying medical or developmental differences, we strongly recommend and encourage you to discuss their feeding plan and when and how to start solids and finger food with your child's doctor, health care professional, nutritionist or expert in pediatric feeding and eating (“Health Care Providers”). Solid Starts is not engaged in rendering professional advice, whether medical or otherwise, to individual users or their children or families. No content on this site or app, regardless of date, should ever be used as a substitute for child-specific, one-on-one advice from your pediatric medical or health professional or for direct medical advice from your Health Care Providers.
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