Simple way of feeding baby solids on the go?

[daisymommy]

Since Joshua is only eating solids 2-3 times a day, and taking bottles the rest of the time, I usually make it easy on myself and just bring a bottle with me when we go out. Yesterday I decided to be brave and feed him solids at the mall. What a major production! He will only eat jarred baby food mixed with cereal at this point (not just straight from the jar). So heres what I brought:

baggy of dry cereal
formula to mix into cereal
jar of food
bowl and spoon
vinyl wipe off bib
wet washcloth in baggy to wipe up messy face and hands

Good grief!!! There has got to be a better way of doing things! Any suggestions on how you all do it? I thought about making up the cereal with formula, mixing it into jarred food, and bringing it in a tupperware container pre made up. But wondered if it would go bad if it wasn't used right away. Does the consistency get funny? Does it spoil? Any help is appreciated!

[Marisa6826]

God, I am SO not looking forward to this! I'll be keeping a close eye on this one!

-m

[abigailsmom]

Here's my experience. (or lack of) I bought a (Gerber?) bowl that had 2 or 3 sep. areas and a lid. 1 for cereal and formula mixed together already, 1 for baby food, and the last for different kind of baby food or the wet washcloth. Spoon and bib in a ziplock.

Another alternative is a travel bowl thing that holds a several jars of food, spoon, bib, and you feed out of it... then use a take and toss snack cup with cereal. Make an extra ounce or two in the bottle you will probably need any ways and use that to mix...

HTH,
travels alot with my p-nut

edited to add: Here is a link to a pic of the bowl thing I was telling you about. http://www.gerber.com/prodcat?catid=576

[nigele]

Amy,

Tom is really into his Baby Safe Feeder and it has been a godsend when I go out to lunch with friends. I load it up with cantaloupe (his favorite) and he munches it for 10-15 minutes straight without a peep, until he's ready for more. I also bring crackers or Gerger apple cinnamon crisps.

The last time I brought baby food to a restaurant, I started feeding him carrots and he grabbed the jar and threw it on the floor. What a mistake!!

Good luck!

[brubeck]

I invested in a small collapsible cooler bag which is barely big enough to hold a 6 pack of soda. When I go out with the kids it holds 2 sippy cups, 2 bottles and some tupperware containers plus the ice packs. When Amy was in the jarred food stage I would premix the food and cereal and put it into those small tupperware containers, but then I would put it next to the ice pack with her bottles. As long as it remains cold and is eaten within 24 hours there should be no problem.

Unless of course Joshua decides he doesn't like cold food.... :-)

[jeneli]

My son will eat his fruits & veggies by themselves, so even though I usually mix them with cereal when we're at home, he'll eat them without it when we're out. That said, I think one suggestion would be to try using plain water instead of milk/formula with the cereal when you're out. I mixed cereal with EBM or formula for my son when I first introduced solids and he was eating cereal by itself, but now I find that I can mix a bit of cereal into his fruit or vegetables with just a drop or two of water, or sometimes even without adding any liquid at all (now that he likes his food thicker and with more texture, and depending on the consistency of the particular fruit or veggie that I'm starting with). If I happen to have bottled water on me, I'll use that, or else I just take a couple spoonfuls out of my water glass (if we're in a restaurant, etc). That does the trick just as well as formula, and I figure he's getting enough milk from me anyway (when he nurses) so he doesn't really need the milk in his meal too. Plus, since the fruit or vegetable are so flavorful, I don't think he misses the sweetness that the EBM/formula provided when he had the cereal by itself.

For mess prevention/clean-up... although I do use a vinyl bib at home, I use "Pocket Bibsters" when we're out. I know it's not the most eco-friendly option, but they work great! After the meal, I can usually use the bibster itelf for clean-up, but if it's a particularly messy meal and the bibster itself isn't sufficient to clean-up, I generally dunk the corner of a napkin (paper or cloth) in some water and finish the clean-up that way, so that could eliminate the washcloth from your bag. The bibsters themselves don't really take up a lot of room, and that way you don't have to carry a soiled bib around with you the rest of the day.

Good luck!

[egoldber]

As you get used to feeding them out and about it becomes more second nature. And when they get older and off formula, it's even easier. When we go out for lunch, I bring for Sarah:

milk sippy
water sippy
container of veggies
container of fruit
string cheese stick or yogurt
half sandwich
couple cookies
bib
fork & spoon
hand&face wipes (I often just use diaper wipes)

She doesn't always eat all of this, but I like to give her a bit of variety just in case something doesn't suit her fancy. I can get all of this (except the water sippy) in a small-ish insulated bag that I slip inside the diaper bag. I can usually use the insulated bag that came with the free diaper bag from the hospital. I also have a slightly larger insulated bag that I got very cheaply at Baby Depot. Sometimes I can feed her off my plate when I eat out, but I don't like to count on that.

Do you have to mix the cereal with formula? When I thickened jar food with cereal, I just added the dry cereal directly to the jar food. Also, I used to carry the cereal in the same travel container that I used to carry powder formula in. In one section I kept formula, in another section cereal and in another section something else (like Cheerios).

HTH,

[daisymommy]

Wow! Looking at Sarah's list of goodies I see that it doesn't get any easier to travel light...bummer. However, I never realized that you could just add dry cereal to the jar food. I thought you had to mix it up with formula first. Hmmm, that does make things a little easier. It's good to know that others of you mix your food up ahead of time and bring it with you, and I could use diaper wipes for clean up. I just bought some Bibsters today as well. I feel some freedom coming on in the feeding department! Thank you everyone!