"Solid" Food

Per the doctor's recommendation, our concern that he was still hungry, and our own desire for sleep, we've started giving Chase solid food. I had hoped to wait until Chase was closer to 6 months and perhaps try baby led weaning where babies don't start solid foods until they can pick them up and put them in their mouths themselves, but his behavior during his nighttime wakings (particularly his screaming until he was fed and then feverishly nursing for a long time) led me to believe that it was a hunger issue.

We started on Thursday with organic rice cereal mixed with breast milk (again, per the doctor's rec). To be honest, it does not look appealing...

Baby's first feeding is supposed to be more about him experiencing the sensation of something new in his mouth and perhaps swallowing some rather than actually eating. By all accounts, it's normal for babies to have kind of a "WTF?" look on their faces when eating new foods. Chase did not disappoint.

Part of the problem was that we started late and he was tired. This is what Chase looked like BEFORE we even gave him any food.

His first bite:

His very discerning palate was none too pleased:
But it went better the next few days:


(We also didn't take the high chair down from the attic until this week, so he's tried a variety of seating arrangements)

Per the Super Baby Food book (Thank you, Carrie!), we gave him rice cereal for 4 days before starting a new food (to ensure he wasn't allergic to rice cereal). Our doctor had recommended another type of cereal next, but at this point he was STILL waking a lot at night and the carb-heavy rice cereal did not seem to be doing it. So we went with a great whole food, with plenty of healthy and, most importantly, filling fats: Avocado.

Stephen and I both love avocado (and guacamole) so it's almost always in the house. Plus, prepping it for Chase is easy- just mash up, mix with breastmilk, and serve. And not only is avocado nutritionally superior to many other foods, it's also green, which makes feeding time fun!

Yum

ALL DONE
Overall, Chase seems to be liking this new experience. And I'm happy to report that the nights after he had avocado, he slept better (knock on wood. seriously). The social scientist in me needs to admit that it wasn't a true experiment because we varied a number of factors (sleep position, timing, medicine for his teething) at once, but introducing Chase to foods serves to do more than help him sleep so it doesn't really matter. Plus, feeding time is fun for all of us.

Up next? Banana!