Solid Food

First taste of rice cereal!

I was originally planning on waiting until after Kinnick's 6 mo. check-up to start him on solid food. His check-up was scheduled for a few days after he turned 6 mo. However, 2 weeks before his check-up he started to get fussy when he would finish nursing, he began waking up an hour/two hours earlier than normal in the morning, and he would watch us like a hawk whenever we were eating--trying to grab anything and put it in his mouth. I figured he was probably ready.

I wasn't really prepared to make baby food yet and I had no baby cereal yet. We put both kids in the stroller and walked to Wal-Greens to buy one box of rice cereal and I let him try it. He was SUPER excited to see the bowl of food and the spoon, but he kept spitting it out. I determined that he wasn't ready or didn't like rice cereal. (Sadie GOBBLED anything and everything when she first started eating food!)

I took a break for 2 days and he continued to exhibit the previously mentioned ready signs so I decided to give it another try. This time I made rice cereal and squashed up a banana. He again spit out the cereal but LOVED the banana (so I mixed them together). The only veggies I had on hand to make were peas and carrots so I made the peas first. He wasn't thrilled with the peas, but ate them.

Next--the carrots... Oh my! Like I mentioned, Sadie never refused a food, she loved everything, I guess I wasn't prepared for a picky eater. Kinnick made the worst faces when I tried carrots. He didn't want to swallow them so he held them in his mouth. Then the gagging started. He made himself gag so much that he projectile vomited all of the milk he had just had. After 3 episodes of this, I decided we could try the carrots again later.

Well, after carrots, he decided he felt similarly about peas also. We had throwing-up episodes a few more times, but I kept trying the veggies and he is now at a point where he will eat them--yeah! The cereal, I still mix in with his fruit, b/c he's not a fan but he definitely needs the extra calories. So far we've tried... rice/oatmeal/whole wheat cereal, bananas, pears, peaches, applesauce, peas, carrots, and squash. Next on the agenda--plums and sweet potatoes! He LOVES the fruit, and tolerates everything else. We've also stared some juice in a sippey and he's doing pretty well with that.