Of Bow Hunting and Bibs

One of the things you need to come to terms with pretty quickly when dealing with an infant, is that you cannot rush their feeding. They will eat at their own pace, no matter what. Furthermore, do not be alarmed if they zone out and stare off at some unknown point in space while you are anxiously trying to feed them the next spoonful of pureed fruit melange. While your attention may be fixated on that little spoon and the possibility of getting its contents into your child's mouth sometime this century, their awareness is still taking shape. When they unglue themselves from whatever caught their momentary fancy, you need to be ready with a loaded spoon for the instant they remember they are hungry and open their little mouth. So, there you must sit, calculatingly waiting for the next opportunity to fill their little maw. Bloomp! It’s kind of like waiting for quarry when bow hunting; you need to be ready to let that arrow fly true at the first opportunity. Cultivate the hunter's instinct...

Now, you also need to be prepared for the mess that inevitably accompanies baby feeding time. Some babies are messier than others, but all of them are messy. They cannot help it; they’re still learning how to eat. You need to make sure you have a few things on hand, like a moistened cloth, a good bib, and a roll of paper towels. The first and last are self-explanatory, but the bib requires a little more examination.

I recommend a specific style of bib, and here are my reasons:

1. “Waterproof” is a key word when looking for bibs. Waterproof bibs are easy to clean, you simply rinse them off in the sink, and they dry quickly too. The really cool part is that such bibs may even keep your child’s clothing from becoming wet or soiled with baby food. It’s 50-50, but when you compare them to cloth bibs, the waterproof variety wins every time.
2. A flap catch-pocket along the bottom of the bib will help to mitigate messes from spillage and crumbs that may fall directly onto your infant.
3. The bib must be of a size big enough to cover your baby’s front completely. Need I say more?
4. The (preferably) Velcro fastener needs to be offset to one side as opposed to directly behind baby’s neck. Reason being, it’s a lot easier to fasten the bib in place when baby is reluctant to wear it and keeps bucking their head straight backwards. Also, for the same reason, it’s easier to unfasten and remove this style of bib when feeding is done.

More to come, when I get a break between feeding, walking, and changing baby. :)