Sammy Starts Solids!

What a fun milestone. I was incredibly excited about starting solids with Sammy. I'm not sure if it was opening him up to the world of food, or if it was getting a chance to see his reaction to tastes he liked or didn't or maybe it was getting a chance to use the fun eating stuff we'd registered for.  As the weeks grew near to his six month birthday, I was getting more and more excited about Sammy getting his first taste of solid food.

As irony would have it, as the weeks leading to Sam's six month birthday became days the worry wart in me came out and my excitement turned to anxiety about whether or not I knew what I was doing. I really wanted to try baby led weaning but also wanted to follow conventional wisdom and use puréed food.  Baby Led Weaning isn't puree friendly, so I really felt conflicted.  In the end, I stuck with my gut and what made me the most comfortable and decided to do purees, trying one food every 3-4 days to watch for an allergic reaction.  Over time, I have added in some baby led weaning and will continue to do so more and more.

Here's what I've learned over the last month.

HAVE FUN!

This more than anything has really taught me to embrace Sam right where he is.  Not longing for him to be itty bitty again (impossible anyways!), not wondering when he is going to roll over or crawl, or better yet take long naps, etc.  Just being in the moment watching him smear food all over himself and everything near him has been so much fun!  Babies are messy, especially when they eat.  I was semi prepared for this, but was caught off guard by how OCD I would be.  I was wiping here and there and quite frankly everywhere.  By about the 5th time trying food, I realized I was fighting an uphill battle and instead of using a billion baby wipes, I could just let Sam have fun and I could have fun in the process.  Every since this epiphany feeding Sam has been AWESOME!

TRUST YOUR GUT
I alluded to this earlier, but I had to do what was going to cause me the least stress.  I knew doing full fledged BLW would have had me in a panic wondering if Sam was going to choke.  I also didn't really like the principle of giving a baby the same meal I was eating right off the bat.  How would I ever figure out what it was in the meal that god forbid have given him an allergic reaction.  Going one food at a time, in pureed form gave me piece of mind.

DON'T RUSH
This goes hand in hand with having fun, but there were times especially in this crazy month with Paul in the hospital and out of town for close to three weeks that I was either way too tired to feed Sam anything but boobie buffet, or we just didn't have enough time in between naps and getting to and from the hospital that if he didn't get solids one day, he didn't.  His primary source of nutrition still was breast milk and will continue to be for the next few months.

THINK OUTSIDE THE BOX
I guess this sort of ties everything together, but for me I was sure that I didn't want to give Sam rice cereal or oatmeal as his first food.  Mainly both are suggested as first foods, for texture and their low risk of allergic reaction; however this can be achieved through more nutritive food such as avocado.  These mashed easily with a fork and he loved them, especially mixed with some breast milk to create a nice smooth consistency.

Here are some pics:
Avocado: 4/11/12

 Bananas!

Banana Flavored Baby Mum Mums

 I did end up a bit frustrated with the purees because I have Mr. Independent on my hands (no clue where he got that trait from...).  Every time I was close to Sam's mouth with the spoon, he was insistent on feeding himself.  Finally, my mom and then my sister later confirmed give him his own spoons.  So, now when I set out to feed Sam, I give him a few extra spoons and a solid (BLW) version of whatever he is eating and we go on our way.  Everyone is much happier!

 BLW: Apple!

 Trying out his sippie cup before I could seal it closed:

Here are our favorite food related products thus far:

Beaba Baby Cook- LOVE this!  It's great that everything is made in one place, simple to figure out and I'm sure with friends having babies and siblings as well it will get used plenty.  If you are going to make your own baby food and are impatient like me, this makes things a cinch.  Literally you put the food in one section, water in the other other section, turn on the steam section, then when the light turns off, you turn on the puree setting. 

OXO Tot storage cubes: These things ROCK!  They are an absolute must have if you are going to make your own baby food.   They come in two different sizes and have great trays to store the food.  They mimic baby food containers.  I've also heard of people putting baby purees into ice cube trays and then popping them into freezer bags once they were frozen.  I'd have done this if I was still working.


Peg Perego Prima Pappa Best high chair: Love that this is leather.  It was also a baby shower present, but with how messy babies eating are, I love that I can just wipe down both the tray and seat.

Boon Catch Bowls-These are great because of the large lip on the side to catch food as well as provide Sam some biting pleasure.  There is an essential suction to the bottom of the bowl.  The colors are vibrant which is catching for him.  Even better, I found them for $4 at homegoods and marshalls!

Boon Benders Utensils: I love these because they are soft, bendy and small enough for Sammy's mouth.  They also are in cool colors.


Tomme Tippie Sippy Cups:  These have great soft spouts and haven't been rejected whatsoever.  We are using a stage 1 cup which has been great considering Sam has probably only had 50 or so bottles in his 6 months of life.

Baby Bjorn Bib:  This thing has an incredible pocket at the bottom that saves Sammy's clothes and high chair from certain disaster.  I also began layering it over the top of an aden and anais burpy bib and he stays 90% clean that way.

So far Sammy has tried in the order below:
Avocados
Sweet Potatoes
Bananas
Pears
Zucchini
Peaches
Green Beans

Baby Mum Mums and Plum Organic Puffs

On the list:
Butternut Squash
Acorn Squash
Apples
Peas
Spinach
Broccoli
Carrots

Anything else he should try?  What are your favorite baby food products?