I started solids a few days before June was officially 6 months. I have a belief that babies should be allowed to explore foods in a natural, but safe way. So we arent using purees as her first foods. Not to say I don't plan on making some purees for on the go foods later on, but every thing I make is cooked and cut to be safely eaten by a baby and to minimize the risk of chocking. I've heard this method of feeding called Baby Led Weaning. I don't really care much for labels but I've used that phrase when doing a lot of my research on safely cooking the foods.
Day one: We started her off with a banana cut in half with the peel only half removed so she could hold it better. We did banana for the first three days to see if she would be allergic.
Day 2: We had a banana for breakfast and then introduced baby oatmeal for dinner. She loved being able to play with the spoon. She of course had more oatmeal on her and the high chair than had even touched her mouth.
Day 3: We did oatmeal and Bananas so I could see how well she did with multiple choices. She favored the banana but was really tired so we didn't get much food practice in.
Day 4: I moved onto Broccoli. I steamed broccoli florets and let them cool. She absolutely loved it. I think she enjoyed sucking on it more than anything. Since I've never heard of a broccoli allergy I didn't strictly do broccoli for multiple days.
Day 5: We tried out strips of plain toast. I had also prepared a banana but she only wanted the toast. She did really well with the toast.
Day 6: We tried Avocado. I cut it into strips as big as my finger. I tried to leave the peel on half so she'd have somewhere to hold it but it fell off one piece and while she was eating the other it was coming off to easy I didn't want her to get it in her mouth by mistake. This made it much harder for her to eat, so I tried rolling it in some of the dry oatmeal but it didn't help much either. I decided to push this one back for a few days until I find a better way of giving it to her.
Day 7: We have now started sweet potato. Which was definitely my favorite food to do so far. We cut it into finger size strips and steamed them until soft. I will in the future steam them for a tad less time but they still worked well. She seemed to like the flavor a lot more than some of the other foods.
Now that I'm reflecting on June's first week of solids, I believe it's going really well. Besides the normal bouts of gagging to tell us she has a working gag reflex she's really doing well. She can pick up and hold her food really well and she has gotten better at only putting smaller proportions in with each bite. I've also noticed her practicing her pincer grip randomly throughout the day. I can't wait to add more than just the one meal each day!
Comments
Post a Comment