The Start of Solids

At Carder's 4 month Well Child Visit, the Pediatrician suggested that we should start solid foods - starting with Rice cereal and moving to veggies and fruits if he tolerated it well.  He also recommended that we follow the 3 day rule between introduction of new foods.

We gave him his first taste of solids by introducing Rice Cereal on October 15th.  I must admit, Carder wasn't a big fan.  I think the first few times we fed him, he may have swallowed a couple of bites and that was it.  The rest was spit out.  Or sneezed out.  A small taste of it and I couldn't blame him.

After some Internet research, I determined that it wasn't necessary to start with Rice Cereal.  So, we moved on to something with some flavor - Carrots.  These went over a little better than the rice cereal.  He still wasn't eating a ton of it, but he definitely seemed more interested.

Daddy feeding Carrots

Carrot Face - Don't you love how my mess coordinates with my bib?

We spent quite a bit of time keeping his hands out of his mouth.  And the carrots got all over his sleeves.  (Note to self:  Strip baby before feeding something brightly colored...)

I had decided to attempt to make our own baby food - but hadn't gotten started yet - so I had purchased the carrots.  But, since some friends of mine had made their own in the past and said it wasn't too hard, I was going to give it a shot.

Through another Internet search about the order of which to introduce solids, I came across the Wholesome Baby Food website. 

Carrots weren't one of the veggies they suggested to start with if you were giving solids to a 4 month old.  And, since he still wasn't swallowing a ton of it, I decided that perhaps I should give him a taste of something a little sweeter to get him kick started.

That night, I mashed up a banana and mixed it with some formula to thin it a little bit.  He seemed to enjoy them and he ate/wore about half of the serving.  For this feeding, I decided to stop fighting his arms and let him hold on to my hand as I fed him.  I also let him spend some time gumming the spoon.  I think that both of these actions really helped.  By the next day, you would have thought he was an old pro as he ate every bit of his bananas.  It didn't take long before he was readily opening for the spoon - and sometimes even lunging towards it.  He "talks" about his food (I normally say "Mmmmm, yummy!" after he takes a bite.  He responds with something that resembles "a-boo")

After about a week of bananas, we introduced avocados.  He loves those as well and ate those for almost a week.

Yes!  I want that bite of Avocado!!!!

While we were serving bananas and avocados (which can just be mashed up with a fork), I spent some time making other foods to store in the freezer.  I have butternut squash, pears, green beans, carrots, and peas all ready to go.  I will be making some apples and sweet potatoes next.  Making your own baby food really isn't that hard.  To me, the hardest part is pushing them through a wire strainer - and we don't do this with every food - just the ones that have parts that don't puree well (peas and green beans as the skins are rather difficult to completely puree). 

Yesterday, we started serving green beans and he seems to like those as well.

His first few attempts at feeding in the high chair didn't go too well.  He didn't seem to like it very much.  So, we would put him in there for a short time and would then move him to his bouncy seat.  He no longer seems bothered by the high chair - he will use his hands to bang on the tray and he will grab for toys that I place on the tray for him to play with if he isn't eating.  He will sit there and wait for me to bring his food and then will sit there contentedly for quite a while after he has finished his meal as well - especially if I give him some toys to play with.

And I have to say that even though it is partly sad that my baby is growing up so quickly and is now eating solid foods, I really do enjoy watching him enjoy the tastes of solid food.