This post is sponsored by BJ’s Wholesale Club. As usual, all opinions are my own.
Gosh! Who knew feeding a baby is complicated. Determining what to feed my kids and when to feed them has led to some of the most stressful moments on this motherhood journey. I drove myself crazy with the first child fussing about everything but I discovered simple is better for them and their bodies. So I wanted to share some things that worked for me because we’re all in survival mode during our baby’s first year, whether this is your first or third like me. Here are a few simple tips for feeding your baby through all the stages of the first year:
Breastfeeding
Breastfeeding isn’t easy! Nursing can be complicated but to simplify things, I will tell you that getting the right latch is the most important thing. Focus on getting it right by getting informed, ask for help if you need to and keep at it. I always tell my girlfriends that if it hurts when you feed the baby that’s an indicator that the baby isn’t latched on correctly. Call a lactation consultant to get help, and if you can’t nurse your baby, please don’t be hard on yourself.
Paced bottle feeding
I breastfed all three of my children, and I always pumped so my husband would be able to bond with them by feeding them too. It seemed important to him to feed them, but I was scared that they would prefer bottle feeding. So, I researched and found the paced bottle-feeding technique which has worked well for us.
Paced feeding forces the baby to drink milk in her bottle similarly to when I nurse her. We alternate the position of the bottle (never removing it from her mouth) so that she doesn’t drink too much at once, so the feeding is paced. We let her lead, so she usually pushes the bottle away when she’s full.
The right bottle makes all the difference, and we love the Avent Classic + Baby Bottles. These not only work, but they’re also very easy to clean and they never leak. We got our bottles at BJ’s Wholesale Club; it’s such a great deal because the box included five bottles plus a brush. My baby doesn’t have colic, but these bottles are designed to reduce gassiness and colic.
Introduce solids only when your baby is ready.
It’s simple, don’t introduce solids before they’re ready. All three of my children were ready to try solids at different times in their first year. My oldest was interested much later than my younger two. This baby started showing interest by reaching for food and opening her mouth as we ate dinner when she was only four months old. To be safe, I usually wait at least three days before introducing a new food to her diet to monitor for allergic reactions.
Last month, when I took her in for her 6-month checkup, her pediatrician told me that this is a good time to get her started on yogurt so last weekend I got her Stonyfield Yobaby yogurt at BJ’s. It’s déjà vu because I used to buy this yogurt for the older kids too and I always got it at BJ’s because it’s the best price. Yobaby is my favorite for babies’ little tummies because it has probiotics. So far, she seems to be a fan of the vanilla flavor.
Get baby on a schedule.
This is most important for feeding your little ones because babies aren’t fans of surprises, they love structure. They like to know when to expect their meals and where they will eat them. If you’ve found that your baby wants to skip a meal or two, it may be because you’re off schedule. Consistency is key. During the warmer months, I usually take the kids outside after breakfast, so these days the baby expects a bottle around 11 am while we’re at the park before we head back home for her nap.
Keep Snacks Handy.
The next stage for us will be snacking. She only crawled a few times in the past few days, but mainly army crawls. As I shared before, I’m already prepared for when she starts crawling so she can snack on her Happy Baby Superfood Puffs. I even got her cute Skip Hop Zoo Snack Cups. My preschooler loves to borrow for his snacks, and I love that the cup is designed so snacks don’t easily spill but it’s easy to open and close. BJ’s sells the two pack so she can share one with her brother.
I hope you found these simple tips for feeding your baby during every stage of the first year helpful. As you can tell, shopping at BJ’s makes feeding my baby simpler for me. I save time too because I make these purchases while I shop for our groceries and other household necessities, so it’s a one-stop shop. I can even digitally clip coupons from the BJ’s mobile app and add them directly to my membership card with BJ’s Add-to-Card feature. Click here to sign up for your BJs Wholesale Club membership and you will receive a free $25 gift card from BJ’s.
