My little baby is growing up so fast...he's finally started eating solids. I've put off giving him solids until he seemed ready. There was much conversation about this in our family. My husband wasn't sure it was a good idea and kept asking each day when I'd give him some real food. I like the quote, "Food before one is just for fun". So long as the child is healthy there is no real reason to force solid foods on the baby. My parents, friends, my in laws all started questioning me about why Logan wasn't eating solids yet. I'd simply answer, "because he's not ready yet". I did purchase a scale though and found out that he's 21 pounds at 8 months, he's not hurting for nutrition! Loving the scale. I put him on it before a feed and then again after a feed and he takes in about 8 or 9 oz. I will only weigh him once a week just to see how he's gaining. I like not having to go to a germ infested doctor's office, or public health office to weigh him. So it's been nice having it at home. Logan seemed happy to be at the table with us at meal times, just playing with his toys, until recently...
His sister Jasmine (now 8) was ready for solids far before 6 months but we waited until then and she nearly jumped out of the high chair when I fed her her first solids, rice cereal. We always joke that her first solid food was page 59 from the Sports Illustrated Swimsuit edition that she'd found on the coffee table and ingested before daddy could get it all out of her mouth! Jasmine's always been a very good eater, and enjoys her veggies, whole foods and international flavours.
Andrew (Age 6) is another story. He is an extremely picky eater and it is incredibly challenging when it comes to getting something healthy into his mouth. In retrospect I believe I started solids too early with him. He was disinterested in food at 6 months and although he was just able to sit up, he was also crawling and did not want to be kept in one place long. He too we stared on rice cereal at 6 months. He would eat it but not with any enthusiasm. One food he used to LOVE was Avocado...not anymore, he always makes remarks about my avocado when I eat one. Maybe had I waited things out until he was excited about food, perhaps he'd like more variety now. Come to think of it I would get the gag reflex every time I tried to eat salad while I was pregnant with him. So either he made me feel that way or due to my inability to get many greens down me I inadvertently have made him a picky eater. Either that or the joke that Andrew's first food was fishy crackers! Jasmine had left them out from and he had five in his mouth, at about 5 months of age not knowing what to do with them. I quickly got them out and had to laugh as dairy and wheat were two things my kids never ate until they were almost 2 years old!
They were introduced to dairy and wheat late as I was concerned about allergies, not because of how I eat now. Then, Jasmine got seasonal allergies and I wondered about possible asthma as she coughed every time she ran a little bit. When we cut dairy out her running cough went away and her nose no longer ran seasonally. Andrew never had another ear infection after we cut out dairy from his diet. They have it occasionally now, when at a party or out for dinner but we don't have it at home, instead we drink almond milk, rice milk and other home made nut milks.
In my first two pregnancies I ate vegetarian, with a small amount of fish at times. I ate absolutely no sugar in the first trimester of Jasmine's pregnancy but with Andrew didn't eat as healthy as that. While nursing I ate vegetarian with both, but ate lots of carbs! With Logan's pregnancy it was all about how much green I could get into my body. I ate mostly raw vegan/vegan or what I've heard termed beegan. I still eat honey at times. I ate more veggies with his pregnancy than I did in the other two combined! I did include some cooked foods, steamed or baked veg, sprouted breads, quinoa, and maple syrup, but kept it as healthy as possible!
So when Logan was not interested in food at 6 months, we delayed introducing anything to him. And waited...and waited. He did not sit up unassisted for any length of time until 7 months. He never grabbed for our food until just the last couple of weeks! He always grabbed for my drinks though so at about 6 months we gave him water in a sippy cup. He can actually drink from a straw better than from a sippy! This will be good for green smoothies, for sure! So this last week, I've started giving him some of what I'm eating in a kind of modified BLW (Baby Led Weaning) type of way. If he grabs for it I give him some. Here's what he grabbed for this week: nori sea weed sheet (this was messy!), banana, and sweet potato. I don't think he really ingested much of the banana or the sweet potato, but he licked it and liked it. The sea weed was another story. He would hold some in his hand and suck on it and I'd tear off little pieces and put it in his mouth. He would suck on it and then reach for more. I can no longer eat it without giving him some! He really loves the stuff.
We're still nursing 24 hours...he's not up as much at night but when he's teething he is much more in need of being close like that. In the daytime he's very interested in what's going on around him so our nursing sessions are short but he's taking in a lot of liquid...so his diapers are telling me. The goal is to keep him hydrated, full and enjoying some fun while experimenting with new foods and tastes. He will eat vegan, mostly raw for as long as we can. The other two kids eat like their dad - the standard North American diet. They eat vegetarian until dinner and even then we eat veggie or vegan about half the nights of the week. It's good to have some influence over how they are eating but I also have to remember that I'm not the only parent in the house and have to respect James' wishes as well. Still working on that though, in a gentle nudging sort of way! :)
Can't wait to see what he'll be interested in next...I'm thinking avocado as I have a few ripe ones on the counter ready for the weekend.
Here is to happy healthy kids! What was your child's first food?
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