solids anxiety

Not for Sami... for me!

When I went to Sami's 4-month appointment (which was really like 4.5 months for her because of snow and rescheduling) I was given a form instructing me on how to feed my child solids for the first time. So, as any new parent would do, we strapped her into her bebePod that night, put on a bib, and prepared a serving of rice cereal, under the impression that although it might take a few spoonfuls to get the hang of it, this would work out for the best...

Not so much.

We struggled with the rice cereal eating for maybe 2 weeks, but it was clear she just didn't enjoy it, and me giving her more than half a teaspoon of cereal with 2 teaspoons of breastmilk just wasnt giong to cut it... so I told myself we would stop for a week, give her some time to regroup, and then try again.

Sadly, this didn't work out as well as I wanted to. Combine sickness - both Samma's and my own - with my lack of pumping and just overall lack of milk supply, and it took maybe 2 weeks to get Sam back into her bebePod to try rice cereal... but in vain. She hated it. Maybe moreso than before. So then I thought maybe it was rice that she didn't like, and was going to try the oatmeal that Angel gave me to see if that was an improvement. But this was the Thursday before I called the pediatrician to ask about forumla to get reemed out about not having my daughter "well on her way through solids." Sigh.

Like I said before, I was torn between whether to start Sami on Fruits or Vegetables first. Some say starting on fruits is better for breastfed babies because the sweetness is more like that of breast milk, while others say starting on veggies is better, because starting on fruits will make it harder for the baby to go from something sweet to something not so much. I was all ready to get her veggies first, but then the pediatrician suggested fruits first, Chris's research suggested fruits first, and common sense to just get her to eat something solid led me to picking up the Gerber First Foods like I did. Rice cereal and oatmeal be damned.

I started with Apples on Saturday night, and it was a battle. The same thing happened on Sunday - she just did not want to get her tongue out of the way and open up for the spoon! I mean, we got some in her mouth, enough for her to taste it... the reaction wasn't anywhere near as bad as it was for rice cereal, let me tell you. And let night was our breakthrough -- she actually started opening her mouth for the apples when I brought the spoon towards her, so YAY!

So we have apples for a couple more nights, and then we can move onto a new fruit. I'm thinking Bananas! Nom...

My plan is to continue with fruits at night for a few more weeks, until she's 6 months, and definitely while we're getting her onto formula in the daytime. So other than that we're breastfeeding in the mornings and in the evenings. It's a little routine, but we still need to work on it and expand.

6 months is when I think I'm going to really try to start with the breakfast routine. It's going to be hard for all of us, I know it. As it is, getting myself and Sami ready, plus getting Chris out of bed and Loki fed and taken outside, we can't be doing this last minute stuff anymore. Mornings have to be a little bit better planned, and we're all going to have to work on it.

After a month of fruits, we'll finally start with veggies. So at 6.5 months. Not too bad, right? I just hope we don't come up against any major allergies... luckily Chris and I are pretty much allergy free, but this is a topic for another post for another day.

Ideally I would love to get Sam back on cereal or oatmeal of some sort. I mean, she's going to need SOMETHING other than fruits and/or veggies each meal... if we can get her to really eating solids with the fruits I think we might try it again come 6 months and the breakfast/dinner routine, where we'll give her some cereal and fruit in the morning, and then some cereal and some veggies at night.

And don't even get me starting with the whole sippy cup ordeal! Research shows 6 months is when a sippy cup should be introduced, if you should even use a sippy cup at all! There are some that suggest you should forgo the sippy cup for a cup and a straw! Really?! I guess I don't know where I stand in all of that. Sippy cups have covers, which means less mess... but cups and straws can help better develope the sucking motion not like a bottle.

We have one cup right now -- I think I'm going to give it to Sami, empty, and see what she does.

Gods, I hope I'm doing this right...