Feeding the independent baby; silicone feeders

I posted not too long ago about teething and first foods.  Baby is a bit older now and is turning out to be quite the independent eater.  She doesn't want to be fed from a spoon.  Nor does she want to pick up little pieces with her fingers.  Oh no.  She wants it all in a mesh feeder.  She's a silly eater.  Those are handy for some things, but are quite a chore to clean up with most foods.  I started looking into options.  Here are my reviews on the several that I ordered....

This one arrived first; it is the Fresh Food Baby Feeder.  This one is size "Large"  I ordered it knowing my baby is older and would want more food.  She can also handle slightly larger chunks (just incase the holes ended up being larger as well).  On our first try I filled it with (homemade) butternut puree.  When that ran out we switched to jarred baby food peas (all would be a stage 1 consistency).  She LOVED it!  The purees were a bit thin for this and it ended up being messy, BUT it worked and more food ended up in her than if I'd tried to spoon feed those to her.  I've since used this with thicker homemade baby foods and it's worked wonderfully.  This also came with a cover which will be handy we are on the go.








The next set to arrive was a set designed for pureed foods, but will also hold liquids.  It has a slit on the bottom (in the picture it looks like it also has holes, but those are just bumps for texture).  They really only let food/liquids out when baby sucks on it.  I put beef broth in it for her to try.  I refilled it 3 times.  I think this would have been great a couple of months ago and I'll use it a bit now too.  It came in a set of 2.  My plan is to fill one with expressed milk and freeze it.  This will be helpful for teething or if she's sick.  I'd recommend it more for 4-6 month babies are just starting on foods, but we'll find it useful now too as she's not interested in a bottle or sippy cups.


 

I was super excited about this Kidsme feeder.  It comes in a size large and you can purchase replacement sacs for it.  The "sac" is a bit larger than the others and the holes are larger too.  It'll be great for pieces of fresh fruit etc.  I put homemade baby food in it for her first try.  It was veggies and beef, and a fairly thick mix.  None of it came out of the holes while I was filling it, but it seemed to come out nicely for her when she chewed on it.  The mess was no bigger than it would have been had I tried to spoon feed her, but she was much happier eating this way.  I do have one concern with this design.  The hinged latch for securing it closed.  It may hold up just fine, but if any part is going to give out on this I'm guessing that's the part.  Just something to consider.

The Boon is the last one we tried.  I ordered it with intention of using it with fresh fruits.  We were out of the softer ones like bananas and blueberries when it arrived though so we gave it a try with fresh homemade apple sauce.  She loved this one too!  I did notice a couple of small things that makes this one not-my-favorite, but it's still good.  1)the silicone portion is bigger and the holes go farther up...she can't get it all in her mouth so it makes a bigger mess.  2)I like the straight handle to help teach motor skills, but there is no place to attach it to a chain to keep it from falling on the floor 3)the base and sac are not attached making refilling more difficult/messy 4) when she dropped it on our tile floors it opened every time. 5) it has no cap/cover making it a bit harder to use on the go.  Baby loves this one and I'm glad we have it, it also costs less than any of the others.  I just noticed more issues with it.  It was certainly worth the $4 I spent on it.

 

Bottom line?  All of these were much easier to clean than the mesh ones we had been using.  All of them are more versatile in the types of foods they hold.  Baby LOVES them all.  All but the Boon are also great for on the go.  None of them hold more than a tablespoon, some less.  Each one is slightly different and I do like having several as they need to be refilled throughout our meals.

Do you have a silly eater?  This book is one of our family's favorites...The Seven Silly Eaters....it's about a large family of silly eaters and how they figured out a meal they all like and could work together on it (instead of mom wearing herself out trying to make her silly eaters happy).  I'd recommend the hardcover as you'll have to replace the paperback one a couple of time if you get that. ;) 

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Teaching about the Reformation

A friend recently asked me what we use to teach about the Reformation.  I thought while I was going about answering her question that I may as well make it a blog post.  We certainly do not go too far in depth, but it accomplishes our goals.  I suppose I should start with our goals...

1. We want to teach church history.

2. We want the kids to know about those that have given so much in obedience to God so that we may be able to read God's word and freely live out our faith.

3.  We want them to know and understand that following Christ is not easy.  Following Him involves suffering and sacrifice.

I have told you these things, so that in me you may have peace.  In this world you will have trouble.  But take heart!  I have overcome the world.  John 16:33

But even if you suffer for what is right, you are blessed.  "Do not fear their threats; do not be frightened." 1 Peter 3:14

For it has been granted to you on behalf of Christ not only to believe in him, but also to suffer for him.  Pilippians 1:29

Rejoice and be exceedingly glad, for great is your reward in heaven, for so they persecuted the prophets who were before you Matthew 5:12

We love the children's books by Voice of the Martyrs.  God's Pilgrim: The real story of John Bunyan and The Pilgrim's Progress and God's Outlaw: The real story of William Tyndale and the English Bible are two of our favorites.

While many went before him and many after as well, Martin Luther is considered by many to have started the Reformation.  We've enjoyed these two simple books about Martin Luther.

                                                         


                                                         

We've really enjoyed reading the book Courage and Conviction: Chronicles of the Reformation Church.  They are short chapters focusing on one person in one point of time during the Reformation.  The book can be read as a whole to give a bigger picture, or pick and chose the chapters to learn of individuals.  I've used this as both a read-aloud or assigned it to individual children.


                                                            
There are a few DVD's that we enjoy this time of year as well.

                                                           


                                                           


                                                            

We do have other books, many historical fiction that help bring the time to life.  Maybe I'll do another post another year?  For now this is a great jumping off point.  Many of these books and DVDs were found simply by searching for one book that lead to another, and then another, and another....

*I'm an Amazon Affiliate.  If you shop through the links (and images that are links) above I'll make a tiny bit of $$ off of your purchase.  It's a nice way of saying "thank you" to me if you appreciate the time and effort it took for me to post this. :)