@solidstarts and the baby food revolution!
Welcome back to my weekly social media community feature!
This week I'm going to share about Solid Starts. This may not be the most interesting topic, unless you also have small children like me, but it's a community that I am part of and checking in on constantly as I navigate the world of keeping my kids healthy and fed and attempt to keep them from becoming super picky eaters. A tall order in this world of fast food, frozen meals, and grandparents that don't know how to say no!
One of my favorite things about Solid Starts is that they have a free foods database on their website where you can type in almost any food (and they are adding to this all the time) and they will give a nutritional rating, description of the benefits (or lack of benefits), and how to cook/cut and when it is safe to serve to your baby (starting at 6 months usually).
The face of this account is Jenny Best, who has a super picky 5 year old who was the inspiration for beginning this account in the first place, and a set of 2.5 year old twins. She shares videos of them eating, trying new foods, learning how to cut food, talking about food, etc. Even this by itself is such a great resource to be inspired about what to cook and how to serve it to my 3 year old and almost 1 year old! She also shares other people's babies and kids eating, talks about gagging vs choking, incorporates food from other cultures, and gives some serious mom solidarity on getting through this pandemic with young kids at home.
While Jenny is the person we see most of the time, she doesn't run this account by herself. She has a full team of nutritionists, pediatricians, allergists, pediatric occupational therapists, a lactation specialist, a recipe developer, an editor, an executive assistant, speech language pathologists, and a diversity, equity, and inclusion coach that are all part of making the account and website a well-oiled machine!
I'll share a few of the highlights that are usually found on her feed below-
Hey Abby,
ReplyDeleteInteresting website. I can relate to having a picky eater! But, like said above, if he helps to make it (cutting , mixing, even picking out what he wants from the grocery store) have made a huge difference in his willingness to try something new.
Have you ever done baby led weaning?
https://www.parents.com/baby/feeding/solid-foods/dos-and-donts-of-baby-led-weaning/
We did this with our little guy 5 years ago and it was so controversial! Do moms still use it?
Hey Nicole,
DeleteI'm glad I'm not alone in dealing with a picky eater! We didn't really do baby led weaning with our 3 year old, but have been with the almost 1 year old. I just didn't really know enough about it a couple years ago when we started. I've really enjoyed doing it this time around, the only real downside is the mess after every single meal! I love that our youngest is totally self feeding at 10 months and will hopefully be a little less picky than his brother. We'll see!
I don't see as much controversy around it now, it seems like most people I follow are talking about it as a better way than JUST purees, but everyone is also so much more inclusive on individual choices these days! Do you find that to be the case as well? Even with breastfeeding, it used to be "breast is best", but now I see much more commonly, "fed is best". We're all just doing the best we can and making the decisions that are best for us, our kids, and our families - regardless of the "ideal"! There is so much more nuance in these kinds of things and I'm glad there is more support for all different situations.