Introduction of Solids: Gear
I have a post about Baby Led Weaning all written and scheduled, but BEFORE I dive into our experience, I wanted to write a quick post about the gear we are using in this awesome adventure, so that when referring to a high chair or plate or spoon, you’d know exactly what we are using and why.
Let’s start with the big one:
HIGH CHAIR
There were only two things I “agonized” over when it came to baby gear in general. It was strollers and high chairs. I mean, there are SOOOO many options, and they are all SOOOO different!
The options are crazy:
Big tray vs. small tray Full high chair vs. chair/table add-on Wooden vs. plastic
Toxic materials vs. Safe Modern vs traditional Stands out vs. Fit into the decor
“Hose-able” vs. not Expensive vs. Cheap Popular vs. relatively unknown
I can go on and on and on.
I kept going back and forth between settling for a cherry wood one like Eddie Bauer or Svan, or going for something cool and modern looking like Boon Flair or Bjorn.
I finally decided to go with Boon Flair. I know the company, I know its commitment to non-toxic products like no other, and it looks darn cool.
Having used the chair for a month now, I realized how silly my initial dilemma was. Of course, a sleek, easy to clean one is the way to go. What was I even thinking considering a wooden chair with a cushion. I laugh at myself now knowing first hand exactly HOW messy feedings can be. Boon Flair isn’t without its flaws, of course, but I’ll get to that.
LOOKS:
Let me begin with how STINKING COOL it looks! From the aesthetical standpoint, it gets a TEN out of ten! One day I rolled it outside to hose it off and I just couldn’t handle the awesomeness of its looks. I mean, look at it! Have you seen a more beautiful sight? I bet you haven’t! :)
It comes in a few colors: white+orange, white+blue, red+white and green+white and you can buy additional color cushions if you wish, separately.
Now that you’re done gazing lovingly at the Boon Flair chilling among colorful hammocks….
VERSATILITY:
It has a cool looking silver pneumatic lift that raises the chair to your desired height. Ours fits PERFECTLY under our breaskfast table. Flair takes up little room due to its design so if you’re short on space, it’ll fit nicely under your table. It fits a baby up to 50 lbs, till 4 years of age. The shoulder straps are kind of annoying, in my opinion, because they don’t let Lexi move as well as she likes to (she’s an active baby). However, I feel the crotch strap, coupled with the snap-in tray and parental attention is good enough so that the shoulder straps aren’t necessary unless you’re leaving your child alone in the chair.
It doesn’t have a recline some high chairs “boast”, but in my personal opinion, as well as a few materials I’ve read, a baby should NEVER be reclined while eating. EVER. That’s a direct train to choking town. If your baby can’t sit up yet, then he/she isn’t ready for solids. As simple as that.
EASE OF CLEAN UP:
LOVE IT! I roll the chair outside, take a hose and go to town while Lexi watches in a carrier (or I just have Andrew do it). The design of the chair is practically seamless. There are virtually no spaces for food to hide it, nothing to scrub out. Both the pad and the chair can be wiped clean if needed, but I prefer hosing it down, since Lexi is a messy eater :) The tray is removable as well and the tray covers are dishwasher safe AND fit into the dishwasher nicely. There is only 1 flaw that I could find that I hope Boon eventually addresses. While the whole chair is completely seamless, the plastic snaps on the straps are not. They have crevices, and these crevices catch food, and it’s just really hard to get it once it dries. Not impossible, but requires a hose. I would have liked to be able to just wipe them up, instead. And since Lexi feeds herself, she little dirty hands get all over those straps.
EASE OF USE:
The crotch straps easily adjust with a button on each end, so you don’t have to fight with traditionally adjustable straps. The pedal in the base of the chair turns the breaks on and off, so you can go from rolling the chair around to securing it in one position. It rolls really easily on hard floors, too. The tray snaps and unsnaps easily with one hand which is a life-saver when you have to hold your wiggly baby back while putting the tray in. One aspect of the chair I have to bring up is the size of the tray. I know my first reaction was that it was small. Seeing the massive trays of other high chairs, I was worried I am missing out on something. However, bigger is not always better! What I found out is that the small tray ROCKS! Small tray means Lexi can reach ALL her food on the tray. She spends half her time pushing the food around, trying to pick it up, especially when it’s slimy, and if it wasn’t for the small tray, then the food pieces would get out of her reach quickly enough. With Boon chair she pushes the food to the edge of the tray and picks it up with the other hand. Brilliant!
SAFETY:
Aside from the spotless record that Boon has in the recall department, they are BPA, PVC, phthalate, lead and cadmium free. I actually emailed them to verify that it applies to their high chairs and they confirmed that all components around the feeding area are free of the aforementioned toxins.
PRICE:
At around $200 on Amazon, it’s a good price for a chair with these feature and quality. It doesn’t look or feel cheap. The construction is very solid and doesn’t feel cheap plasticky like some other chairs. It comes with 2 removable tray covers, which is nice, because we never clean them right after eating :) You can buy replacement cushion or one of a different color for $22, which is nice (I hate when accessories are crazy expensive).
BUY IT: Amazon
WIN IT: Enter Boon Flair giveaway at the end of this post
FEEDING SUPPLIES
After I was done deciding on a chair, I needed to get the feeding items. Again, the issue here was finding something that is verifiably 100% free of BPA, PVC and phthalates. I have a Pinterest board that I started collecting items that I have researched and are NOT toxic that you can visit.
I didn’t know what was going to work for Lexi, so I ordered a few things off of Amazon to see if I like them.
PLATES
At first I decided to go with the Bjorn plate, it looked cute and was just as good anything else out there. Except for, it didn’t fit the tray. Whoops! That got put away for later non tray use. But the spoons are used on daily basis.
So I figured, if I’ve got a Boon chair, why don’t I try Boon plates. They worked out really well and that’s what I’ll be ordering from now on.
I ordered the following:
The Boon Saucer is awesome. It’s the perfect size for the tray, which means it doesn’t slip and is NOT easy for Lexi to pick up and throw ( another bonus of having a small tray). It has three compartments. I usually load the farthest two with food and then put 1 food item in the bigger one closest to her, this way she doesn’t go crazy and overwhelmed swiping the items of the plate.
The Bowl with the Catcher is even better. It has a suction cup on the bottom, Lexster can’t pull it off and throw it either unless she is really bent on it. I love using it for soups and pureed things like hummus or guacamole.
I am iffy on the edgeless dishes, simply because she has no problems picking them up and waving them over her head, so I put them aside for future use when throwing plates isn’t as fun anymore :)
CUPS:
OXO training cup has a special lid with small openings to help babies learn how to drink and not spill.I am not sure how much the lid with openings does, but the cup itself is really nice. Light, completely safe and easy to clean. It also comes with handles on both sides if your baby prefers that. The lid is meh, we use it mostly without.
SPLAT MAT:
Kushies mat is non-vinyl, non- toxic, easy to clean, easily to spread on the floor. I am not a fan of the patterns, but it’s a splat mat, so who cares. To be completely honest, though, I find it easier to clean food off the floor, than to have to wash the mat. What it does a good job of is catching food she throws and keeping it clean so that I can put it back on her plate.
BIB:
Tried a silicone Bjorn bib with a pocket, tried conventional bibs, but the only thing that worked out was a complete coverage bib from Bumkins. Everything else was a joke. The best thing that works for Lexi is naked with that bib. We’ve been successfully using this one for weeks now.
Baby Led Weaning Book and Cookbook
I wrote about the cookbook in this Awesome Book Finds post and would recommend it to anyone who does Baby Led Weaning and searches for ways to make healthy and fun meals for their baby. If you are not currently using the BLW method, I’d highly recommend you read the BLW book. Not necessarily because you want to try a different method of feeding your child but because it has a lot of good ideas on how to build a strong and health relationship with your child when it comes to mealtime.
Disclosure: I was not compensated for this post. Boon Inc provided me with a high chair sample to review. All opinions are 100% my own.