You know that a baby’s mealtime can go from adorable to downright messy in two seconds flat. Not only do we want our babies to enjoy their food as much as possible, but we also want them to be able to eat it without risking getting anything smeared across their clothes. That’s where an easy-to-clean high chair and other baby kitchen must-haves come in handy!
With the right kitchen utensils, you and your baby can enjoy the creative baby meal ideas you’ve exerted so much effort on. So, if you’re a parent who always channels your inner chef to provide healthy meals for your little one, read on—this article is for you!
Characteristics of The Best High Chair (Easy-To-Clean)
Let’s begin by finding the best easy-to-clean high chair not only for your convenience in cleaning but also for your baby’s safety. You will see different types and designs, but it is important to check specific details to know you are only getting the best. You can start with the following:
Has a detachable tray
Choose a baby high chair seat with a removable tray. When your child begins to eat solid foods during the early months, it will be easy for you to bring the tray to the sink and wash it. You can skip the hassle of using a damp cloth to clean food spills on the tray and doing it several times to ensure it is clean. Then, as your baby grows, you can use the high chair as a regular chair without the tray.
Made with easy-to-clean materials
You’d also want to pick a high chair that is easy to clean as a whole. For instance, if there is a seat cover, it should be detachable so that you can wash it regularly. Some of the materials used for high chairs are vinyl and wood, which you can also easily wipe and disinfect after use. You need to watch out for products that have cushions and cloth that cannot be detached—these are most difficult to clean.
Foldable and portable
Babies are unbelievably energetic, so food spills not only on the high chair tray but even on the floor when they eat. Aside from cleaning the high chair itself, you’d also want to keep the dining area spic and span. This is possible with a high chair you can easily fold and keep to a corner. You can also easily fit portable high chairs in your car for when you want to dine in restaurants and outdoors.
Multipurpose
If you want to get your money’s worth, you can pick multipurpose high chairs that you can use for the following purposes:
- A rocking chair
- Floor chair
- Feeding high chair
- A table
- Regular kid’s chair
- A sleeping crib
- Reclining seat
- Dining chair
With the best quality there is, your baby’s high chair can even last until they’re 5 years old and be around for newer generations. So it is indeed a good buy and worthy of every dime spent!
Must-Try Creative Baby Meals
Now that you know how to find the best baby high chair—easy-to-clean, safe, and multipurpose—it’s time to get cooking! As a parent, your main goal is to provide healthy meals for your little one, but many babies are picky eaters; hence, you need to be a real master chef! Here are some meal ideas to help you.
Everything Puree
At your child’s fifth month, you are surely elated while you search for the best food for babies transitioning from an all-milk diet to solid foods. When the sixth month arrives, you are ready to puree all kinds of fruits and vegetables.
You can jumpstart by using the following ingredients—some don’t require any cooking, while others need to be boiled before mashing:
- Avocado
- Potatoes
- Sweet potato
- Banana
- Peaches
- Squash
- Apple
- Broccoli
- Peas
Generally, all fruits and vegetables can be pureed and mashed in the early months of solid food eating. As your child grows older, you can also begin mashing foods that are more difficult to digest, like chicken and fish.
Champion Recipe Suggestion: Even a baby beginning to eat solid food will appreciate dessert, so squeeze some fruits or vegetable juice and add yogurt. Place them in popsicle shapers for some lovely iced lollies.
Going For More Solids
The early eating months consist of mashing and blending, and the gastronomic journey and development of your cooking skills continue. From nine months onwards, the dishes you can prepare become more and more exciting.
Check out these dishes you can cook:
- Porridge
- Different types of pasta
- Mini burgers
- Cheese sticks
- Pancakes and crepes
- Rice
- Bread and muffins
- Eggs
Level up your plating as your little one already appreciates patterns at this stage. For your pancakes and porridge, slice fruits and use them to create fun shapes and even animal figures. Bread and muffins are opportunities for shaping. Instead of the usual slices, bake using pans with different shapes.
Champion Recipe Suggestion: Prepare porridge with fruits shaped like a cat by cooking the porridge first; then, slice a strawberry into half for the two ears, cut another circle from the strawberry for the nose, and use blueberries for the eyes and nose tip. You might even get an adorable little “Meow!” from your baby.
Ready For Toddler Food
Your little one isn’t that little anymore and is already independent and filled with energy to discover the world around them. With such activity, babies need to be powered up with energy-giving food.
Champion Meal Suggestion: Feeding them with a healthy combination of protein from meat, carbohydrates from rice and bread, and fiber from fruits and vegetables is a must for energy sustenance. Even at this age, breastmilk is still part of the menu, together with water and assorted juices.
While you can feed your child a wide variety of food at this stage (almost anything), keep in mind the following tips to ensure your child is taking in only healthy foods:
- Always go for natural and organic and draw away from processed food.
- Be aware of any food reaction your child manifests, and immediately seek medical help. Some of the most common food causing allergies in kids are nuts, different kinds of shellfish and seafood, and milk.
- Serve bite-sized food to avoid choking.
Other Kitchen Must-Haves for Babies
Ensure the best mealtime experiences for your little one by providing not just a sturdy and comfortable high chair but also kitchen utensils safe for babies. They can eat more and better through them, and you’ll have less post-mealtime cleaning to think of.
Bowls And Plates
Your bowls and plates should look child-friendly, so go for bright colors or those shaped and designed with cute cartoon characters. For babies still developing motor skills, using bowls with suction cups is advisable to keep babies from shoving them easily, causing the food to spill.
Spoon and Fork
Complementing the bowl well-designed for babies, baby-friendly spoons and forks are also a must-buy. There are baby utensils with anti choke barriers to prevent babies from putting the spoon or fork deep inside their mouths. There are also those which can bend up to 90 degrees—babies can scoop and put the food in their mouths without bending their hands.
Bibs
Washing baby clothes is one of the most challenging tasks to do as a parent, especially when there are stains! You can keep any shirt and pants from having food stains through baby bibs with cloth and rubber designs. We recommend going for rubber bibs with a food catcher because it is easier to clean and ensures food crumbs are caught neatly.
Sippy Cups
Finally, as your child transitions from breastfeeding or bottle feeding to cups, using a sippy cup would be a great transition. You’ll find several designs which are best for your child’s age. Silicone spouts are best for babies’ soft gums, but when they start to teeth, using a hard spout sippy cup or a cup with a straw is most suitable.
Tips in Making Mealtime Joyful
There is no mealtime experience more joyful than when your baby has all the kitchen utensils fit for their age and when you start preparing your baby’s meals like a pro! The meals you prepare will serve as your baby’s source of nutrition, and since they are made from healthy and organic ingredients, proper nourishment is assured.
But even with the healthiest and most delicious meals, if they only end up with a larger portion waster or spilled, your baby won’t get the nutrition. While it is an option for you to just feed them yourself, looking into the different baby-friendly utensils and allowing your baby to eat independently is also viable and highly encouraged.
It is also important to keep the menu varied, so your child can explore different flavors and get excited about mealtime. Finally, presentation and plating matter in creating a fun mealtime experience.
Easy-To-Clean High Chair from Ashtonbee
We hope you found this blog post helpful. If your baby is just starting to eat solid foods, or perhaps you’re expecting a little one soon, we highly recommend picking up Ashtonbee’s wooden high chair for baby. It is safe, durable, and easy to clean.
With all these kitchen tools for babies, do not also forget to be creative! Experiment with different textures, shapes, and colors of food on their plate; try feeding them or let them explore by themselves through baby-friendly utensils. Have fun exploring new recipes that will delight not only babies but also the inner chef in you!
