Aug 10

EB the Big Girl

Category: Family Blog

Friday night EB kept looking longingly at DB, his dad, and me as we ate dinner - as if she wanted our food! Then she started pretending to chew as she watched our food.  It was pretty cute - and we decided it was probably time to start feeing her some solid food.  DB mixed some rice cereal and we found her baby spoons and that little girl ate off of that spoon as if she had been dong it her whole life.  She thinks she has to chew it like we do, but other than that, she is a pro now!  We tried it again last night, and it went great!  

How long should she eat rice cereal before we begin vegetables?  Should she be eating cereal after every meal or just once a day right now?  What is the recommended time frame on this?  To be honest, I am not really ready to start feeding her food - I was perfectly happy feeding her a bottle 4 times a day for the rest of her life.  But she is clearly ready for something new, and so I am going to go with the flow and allow her to grow up before my very eyes.  The doctor said to wait until her 6 month appointment unless she was acting like she wanted to eat, and at that time I thought she would never be interested in eating.  

SO right now we are just going to give her a few spoonfuls in the evening for practice, but she doesn’t seem to need a lot of practice.  OH - and what about her little digestive system - what should be we expect now that she is eating cereal - what should I be watching for?  I am going to call the pediatrician tomorrow, but I WELCOME any info anyone wants to share!

3 Comments so far

  1. Katie August 10th, 2008 9:03 am

    whoo, hoo, the world of solid food! so fun! :) there are tons of opinions and “rules” about this, but most of them you can largely ignore and just go with your instincts. for example, i know rice cereal is the most common first food, but we didn’t start any grains until molly was 10 months (due to research about early intro of grains causing digestive problems later in life). her first solid was mashed bananas. then sweet potatoes, peas, carrots, etc. then we just chucked all the rules and gave her almost anything, EXCEPT the big no-nos like honey, egg white, nuts, etc. we did one meal a day (dinner) for one month, then added lunch and after another month added breakfast. that’s what worked for us. :) a GREAT website is http://www.wholesomebabyfood.com. they have info on how-to introduce solids, recipes, etc. it was a lifesaver for me.

  2. Holly Furtick August 11th, 2008 6:54 am

    A great book for you is Super Baby Food. It gives recommendations on how much for each age and what foods to introduce when. It also has tons of recipes for making your own baby food (something I expect you will need!) Graham ate rice cereal or oatmeal mixed with unsweetened applesauce. This smells so much better than formula and is a lot cheaper! We started out with breakfast and then added lunch because he went to bed quite early. the main thing is to only introduce one food at a time so you can know if they have an allergy. Soon the bottle will be secondary to food!!

  3. christie August 11th, 2008 10:54 am

    hey! congrats on the solids, they are so fun! Eden began with the rice cereal for a week, then I added veggies, waited a week, then fruits. I think the Babywise book suggests for breakfast: cereal and fruit, lunch: cereal and veggies, and supper: cereal, fruit, and veggies. I corresponded these with the bottle feedings,(7:30am, 11:30am, 3:30pm)and then the last bottle was at 7:30pm with no food. Makes feeding time a little longer, but it is fun!