Starting Solids

Haley is almost 6 months old, she has doubled her birth weight, she can sit independently for a while (until she gets interested in something else and flops over to it), she is interested in adults food, she indicated when she is full, and she is always putting things in her mouth. So what dies this all add up to?

She is ready for Solids!

So we got started... I pulled out and washed her new spoons and bowls

I heated up about an ounce of breast milk (2 tablespoons) to mix with about a 1/2 tablespoon of rice cereal.

* I started with half of the recommended amount because tit was after class and she had an once of her bottle left that I didn't want to waste and I wanted to stick with the recommended consistency. We started with rice cereal, as the experts suggest, because it is easy on the digestive tract and less likely to trigger allergic reactions than other cereals and solid foods.

Then Haley went to town! (sorry for the blurry pictures but it's what I've got.)

Haley was all about her food

She wanted to feed herself, which made it very difficult to get the food into her mouth.

It was a grand old mess.

Tonight we will go for solid foods, take 2. In reading some more I found a few tips I might try. Putting some of the food on her tray for her to play with, and feeding her some from my finger so she can get a taste for it. I will probably also give her a spoon of her own to play with, and I'll remember to actually use one of the many bibs we have been given.

I think we will wait until Haley is 6 months old to start introducing other cereals and fruts and vegetables. Leavig the recommended 3 days between foods to make sure she does not show signs of any allergies. (Luckily Zach and I don't really have allergies, so hopefully she won't either- but my mom is allergic to everything, so I will try to be cautious)

Check out some great food charts at Tiny Playground, Garden of Eden, Sympathy Pain, and Web MD

There are a lot of great articles and tips for starting solids at Gerber, Huggies, Baby Center, Healthy Children, Ask Dr. Sears, Keep Kids Healthy. Also, What to Expect, Parents, and the Baby Zone have several links about stating solids.