When it comes to feeding your baby, you want to make sure you are prepared with the proper products. We know all the stuff out there can be overwhelming – so Moms at Odds is here to help. Read on to hear about some of our favorite items!
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The Ones We All Agree On
Some things are just so awesome that we can’t debate their value. When it comes to feeding, there are a couple items that we both agree are necessities:
Cleaning bottles can take up a fair amount of time, so it’s nice to have a dedicated spot for them to dry away from the rest of the mess of the kitchen. This drying rack is great because you can put anything anywhere. The “grass” allows you to put any size or shape bottle, nipple, or random part on the rack to get airflow and dry. We also love the little tree accessory
Additionally, we both agree that Amazon
Rachel and Jo’s Faves
We didn’t do everything exactly the same. Here are some areas where we each had our own specific favorites
Philips Avent Natural Bottles 
I love the Avent Naturals! The wide nipple is meant to mimic the breast as closely as possible. We had no problems with nipple confusion, leaking, or fast flow (thought I always used slow flow nipples). Also, they have an anti-colic valve to prevent gas and the shape of the bottle is easy to hold. What I like best about these bottles is actually that they are only 3 pieces making them incredibly easy to clean and assemble.
Comotomo Baby Bottles
These were the ONLY bottles my second baby would take willingly. Other moms who exclusively breastfed have similar stories about these bottles as well. Their “natural feel” design includes a super wide nipple that is supposed to be the most similar feeling to breastfeeding. The actual “bottle” portion is very soft and simulates a mother’s skin. Biggest downside is the price… but to me they were worth every single penny.
Dr. Brown’s Bottles
These bottles are a close second for me. They have a special internal vent system that helps keep baby from getting air bubbles. The downside is that they have a bunch of parts so cleaning and assembly are a bit of a pain. Bonus: the narrow neck design is compatible with a Medela pump so you can pump directly into the bottle.
These bottles are BPA-free, but if you are concerned about plastics both Avent and Dr. Brown’s have a glass bottle option
Tommee Tippee Bottles
Tommee Tippee is one of the most recommended bottle brands, and for good reason! They’re an excellent mid-range priced bottle. They have a nice wide nipple to give it a similar feel to nursing, come in two different sizes, are easy to clean (but if you have problems, they even make a special brush), and are a comfortable shape to hold for mom and baby. One of my favorite things about this bottle was how easy it was to assemble and how secure it felt. As a bonus, the tops pop on and off very easily for traveling.
Mom Pro-tip: Some babies are picky about their bottles, so you may want to invest in a few different types (instead of stocking up on just one kind) until you know what your little one will prefer.
Fisher-Price Rainforest High Chair
I loved having a dedicated high chair for my son. First of all, he was super messy and with the amount of food I’ve cleaned off of every single part of this seat I’m sure some would have gotten onto our dining room chair if it were a space saver seat. Second, the space saver seats don’t fit all dining chairs well. Finally, I liked that we still had all 4 chairs to use around our table. This particular high chair had a nice wide base and felt very secure even with my little wild guy throwing himself all around. It also has an awesome toy that clips on and my son loved to play with and would occupy him for a while when needed.
Fisher-Price SpaceSaver High Chair
This space saver high chair is a great option for every mom, regardless of how much room you have. Traditional high chairs have a HUGE footprint and can take up a large amount of room in your kitchen or dining room. This high chair is easy to clean and makes your baby feel included at the table in their own dining chair (rather than ostracized in a separate area). Bonus, the seat is easily removable if you need the extra chair for company. Even though they attach to existing dining chairs, I have had no problems with stability in this particular chair. My youngest feels very sturdy even when she’s dancing around while she eats.
Soft Tip Infant Spoons
These long handle plastic spoons are awesome. My little guy was not the quickest at learning to use utensils, so the long handle made feeding easier for me. He also liked to throw, beat,and wildly wave his spoons around, so for me plastics spoons made me less worried that he’d poke his eye out or chip a tooth.
Skip Hop Utensil Set
Not only are these spoons super cute, but they are also very easy for young hands to use and hold. The wideness of the spoon is perfect to help kids learn to use utensils without them getting frustrated over not being able to pick up enough food. Personally, it wasn’t long after my kids started eating solid foods that they wanted to try feeding themselves. I found the plastic spoons with the long handle impossible for them to use. The handles were too long for them to navigate. These wide, short handles are perfect for use long term starting in the infant stage and throughout toddlerhood.
Stay Put Suction Baby Bowls
I love these suction bowls. My son ate most of his food out of bowls regardless of what it was, since they seemed easier for him than pushing food across a plate. Also, the suction part of these is great for keeping bowls and their contents on the tray and off your floor.
Skip Hop Divided Plates
I find most Skip Hop products to be adorable, well-made, and very functional – and these plates are no exception. We originally got them to match our cute forks/spoons
Prefold Cloth Diapers (as burp cloths)
If your baby is a big spitter-upper like mine, you need lots of burp cloths. I kept stacks of burp cloths all over the house, I could never have enough. While, I do have some very cute ones, it almost seems a shame to mess them up. My favorite are actually, these prefold cloth diapers. They’re bigger than many others and super absorbent.
Honestly I found burp cloths pretty much useless. My babies spit up a lot, but it wasn’t always when I was burping them on my shoulder. Sometimes they’d spit up when I was holding them upright, sometimes when they were smiling at me, or when I was getting them dressed. You know what would always catch it? A bib! I kept a bib around their little necks all the time, just to be ready if they happen to spit up.
Sippy cups get a bad rap as prolonged use may impact the growth of you little one’s jaw, but I have to say they definitely come in handy sometimes. These sippy cups are the easiest, most convenient, and all around best bang for your buck. While not completely leak proof, they do a really good job unless your little one pulls the whole top off. With just 2 pieces, they are ridiculously easy to clean and assemble. Best part is they are so affordable, you don’t feel bad if you lose them. I’ve tried so many more expensive cups that leaked, were a pain to clean, or had way too many pieces which inevitably got lost. As for sippy over straw cups, my son likes to pull out the straw which equals lots of spills.
Due to the advice of a speech therapist, we decided to skip sippy cups. Instead we started our little one’s directly on straw cups. I tried a TON of them, and I found most of the “spill-proof” ones were too difficult for my babies to suck on. You know what finally worked? The absolute cheapest straw cups out there – the ones that were meant to be disposable. We throw them in the dish washer and use them over and over. We bring them out and it’s not a big deal if they’re forgotten. They don’t leak when tipped to the side, but they will spill if you turn them upside down.
This is our absolute favorite water bottle. Most importantly, it’s completely spill and leak proof. I also find it very easy for kids to use (my youngest had it mastered at 9 months). Rather than needing to suck very hard to get out the water, they have to bit a little and then suck normally. We have two for each child and they use these almost every day for drinking water around out and around the house. And they come in the cutest designs!
Magic Bullet Baby Bullet
This saved us a ton on baby food. I got one as a shower gift, and wasn’t sure how much use it would actually get since I’m not much of a cook. We actually ended up making made most of our son’s food (and by we, I mean my husband). Those little jars of baby food can get expensive, especially if your little one is a big eater like mine. Instead we had a freezer full of pureed fruits and veggies. It is super easy and you know exactly what is in your infant’s food. The baby food maker is particularly useful when trying out new foods that you aren’t sure if your baby will like because, unlike a traditional blender, it makes a smaller amount. Once we knew what he liked and wanted to stockpile it, we started using a larger food processor too.
Hand Blender (for making baby purees)
I made baby food for both my kids (purees with the first and baby-led weaning with the second) and I did it all very easily without a baby food maker. Lots of fruit/veggies mash super easily with just a fork – things like bananas, avocados, cooked sweet potatoes, and cooked carrots. For other foods like green beans, corn, mangoes, meat, etc I just blended with my hand blender. For liquid to make it easier to blend, I usually just added some of the steaming liquid. If it needed more liquid when serving, I added breast milk. Freeze in ice cube trays
We both agree and say, “just skip it!”
Some items just aren’t worth the hype! Save your money and pass on these.
This may be nice, but it’s definitely not necessary. It is really easy to just put a bottle in a bowl of warm water or even just run hot water over it. Be careful about microwaving milk in the bottle directly as it can heat unevenly and cause hot spots that could burn baby.
Don’t waste your money. Aside from some medical conditions or unsanitary water supply, there’s no need to sterilize your bottles after every use. For occasional sterilizing, boiling or microwave sterilizing bags
The idea of this product sounded great! Just squeeze some baby food from the storage part of the spoon and baby is good to go. However in reality this product doesn’t deliver. For starters, filling the spoon is extremely difficult, messy, and time consuming. Secondly, the smallest little clump gets stuck in the tiny hole and is a bear to clean out. Finally, even though this spoon comes with a cover for travel, it just protects the spoon part itself. The baby food will still leak out the hole if you fill it prior to your destination. Traditional spoons and Tupperware are the way to go, trust us.
Keep reading on for more BABY REGISTRY ESSENTIALS: SLEEP EDITION
I don’t have any kids but I’ll keep these suggestions in mind for my next pregnant friend. Very informative list!
Cloth diapers have been so essential for my kids! I don’t even understand what the point of those silly littles ones even is. The big cloth diapers are sooo much better