Thank you to Gerber for sponsoring today’s post, all opinions are my own.

We recently got to try the new Gerber’s 3rd Foods® Lil Bits™ Recipes and I just wanted to share more about it and Vivian’s thoughts around it. Gerber’s new Lil’ Bits recipes are made with perfectly sized soft bit of fruits or veggies to help babies learn to mash and chew. Chewing is an essential milestone in a baby’s development and Lil’ Bits recipes offer a gradual texture progression which helps babies learn the skills they need to transition to table food. Introducing pureed foods with advanced textures at the Crawler milestone is highly recommended for children to explore and feel multiple textures within the mouth without having to manage numerous separate food components. As older babies develop side to side movement of their tongue they can begin to move small, soft pieces of food to their jawline for mashing, the early skills of chewing. Children who have not been exposed to “lumpy food” that require mashing and chewing before 10 months of age have experienced difficulties transitioning to more advanced foods. Vivian still does not have any teeth yet at almost 11 months old so we’d always been so hesitant to give her solids that weren’t completely mashed, but these Lil’ Bits are just the perfect transition food.

Lil’ Bits recipes come in 7 fruits and 3 veggies – and there are 10 different recipes available. Vivian got to try out the Sweet Potato Apple Carrot & Cinnamon and they come in convenient plastic tubs of two, which don’t need to be refrigerated, which make them great for travel as well. There was a lot of research that went into creating this product as 80 experts spent over 120,000 hours on product development for Lil’ Bits recipes. Over 80 taste tests were held with 700+ samples to ensure that Lil’ Bits recipes had a baby-approved taste. Gerber tested 30,000 spoonfuls of Lil’s Bits recipes to develop perfectly sized bits to help babies master chewing. Gerber is really filling a gap in early childhood nutrition and development.

Vivian was a huge fan of this Lil’ Bits recipe. When she gets to the point where she wants to grab the spoon herself and squeals when food is not in her mouth at all times, that is a tell tale sign that she is a fan. We are at the point where we do give her some finger foods too, but I have to say it is much easier for her to get full and for us to be satisfied with the amount she is eating when we spoon feed her sometimes.

Currently, Gerber is running a fun Gerber Chew U Instant Win Promotion where you can:
1. Applying your little ones to Gerber Chew University
2. And return to the site daily to for a chance to win! 100 winners per day will receive Class of 2015 Chew U prizes. Promotion period ends on September 4, 2015 at 11:59 p.m. ET

This is a sponsored post written by me on behalf of Gerber.