You and your baby (whether 3, 4, 5 or 6 months old) aren’t too young to start preparing for solids! There are many routines and skills you can begin working on that will help both of you feel confident and ready for this exciting new milestone. By establishing these three steps, you’ll pave the way for a smoother transition when starting solids.

Step 1: Consistent Baby-Led Oral Care

Before diving into solids, it’s essential that your baby’s oral development is on track. Baby-led oral care (BLOC) is an approach that builds on the principles of baby-led weaning, offering an intuitive way to prepare your baby’s mouth for solid foods. By focusing on oral care early on, you can help your baby become familiar with different sensations in their mouth, ensuring they are ready to handle various textures safely and effectively when they begin eating. 

Here are two tools to help make oral care successful:

• The ezpz Sensory Tongue Depressor is a versatile tool for parents. Use it to assess for potential lip, cheek or tongue ties and to monitor your baby’s overall oral development. By gently introducing your baby to sensory input in and around their mouth, you help them get comfortable with touch in this sensitive area. The more familiar your baby is with these sensations, the smoother the transition to solid foods.
• Age Range: birth - adult
  
  
• The ezpz Baby-led™ Toothbrush goes hand-in-hand with BLOC, encouraging your baby to explore oral care while also developing their fine motor skills. By incorporating the toothbrush into your baby’s daily routine, you’re not only helping to clean their gums and early teeth but also building oral sensory awareness that’s critical for starting solids.
• Age Range: 3 months - 15 months (or baby’s first molar)

Step 2: Practice Pre-Feeding Movements

Motor planning is a vital skill that helps babies learn to remember and perform specific movements, such as bringing a spoon to their mouth. The ezpz baby-led handles play a key role in this developmental process, making it easier for babies to transition from oral exploration to self-feeding. The short, fat, round handles are designed for baby's palmer grasp (the grasp they will eventually use to eat BLW strips + cubes of food, as well as a baby-led spoon). 

The handles of these products are designed to help your baby practice pre-feeding movements,  which will graduate into coordinated self-feeding actions when used consistently: 

• The ezpz Baby-led™ Toothbrush encourages hand-to-mouth coordination and prepares your baby for starting solids. 
• Age Range: 3 months -15 months (or baby’s first molar)
  
  
• The ezpz Oral Development Tools help develop munching, biting and chewing skills, the sensorimotor movements used for eating. The tools build strength and coordination of the lips, tongue, cheeks and jaw, which helps decrease drooling and improve swallowing.
• Age Range: 3 months - 3 years
  
  
• The ezpz Baby-led™ Tiny Pops are a great way to start age-appropriate nutrition (breastmilk or formula at 4m+) from a popsicle designed for baby’s hands and mouth. That’s right; popsicles can be a positive sensory experience that offers a new temperature and texture and prepares baby for first foods!
• Age Range: 4 months - 24 months

These handles are designed to grow with your baby and promote emerging skills. They help build muscle memory and motor planning, which makes oral and feeding development more successful.

Step 3: Get Baby Familiar with their Mealtime Gear

When babies first start solids, they may not dive into eating right away. It’s common for them to be overwhelmed by all the new experiences… sitting in a highchair, using utensils and exploring new textures. To make the transition smoother, introduce your baby to their mealtime gear a few weeks before offering food.

Start by letting your baby interact with their highchair, mats and utensils during playtime. This allows them to become familiar with the environment and objects without the added excitement / pressure of eating.

• The ezpz Baby-led™ Tiny Spoons have the same baby-led handle as the rest of ezpz’s infant products. This continuity helps babies learn how to dip and scoop independently, which is an important feeding milestone. 
• Age Range: 6 months - 12 months

BLW is a gradual process that focuses on your baby’s independence. It may get messy, and not every attempt will be perfect, but that’s okay! Focus on the experience and celebrate every baby-led success. Happy Feeding!