First time setup a iphone for my kid without another apple device. Have I hit an SMS limit? What happened?

I'm trying to setup an Iphone for my 11 year old. I do not own any other Apple device and it turns out it is very difficult to do what I'm trying to do.

Where I hit the wall is in the Connect to Family stage. When I go to the "Waiting for Parent of Guardian Device" I select "Other options" and whatever i try I can't seem to go further. For a while I got stuck entering my Apple account and password, only to be shown a two factor screen in which I'd enter an SMS I'd receive on my android device. 

The two factor would seem to be accepted but I'd be presented with a "Continue" button where, upon clicking, I'd be presented with another Two factor SMS request. I did this a number of times and the end result is that now I no longer get SMS messages and at this step I get a "Verification failed" message saying "Verification codes cannot be send to this phone number at this time. Please try again later"

I seem to have his some spam filter or some such. Do you feel this is temporary, or have I broken something completely? And, even if I start getting messages, how do I know I would not just bump into the original issue? 

What is the proper way to setup the device for a child without having an Apple device, with only an Apple account?