first foods for baby #2
Miles officially turned 6 months last week, but since we were on vacation, I wanted to wait until we got home before we started him on solids. I have to admit, adding solids to the baby feeding mix is the most stressful thing for me during the newborn stage. With the potential for choking and the fact that MacKenna was a terrible eater, my anxiety is sky high right now. I am doing my best to not be too overprotective, but, well, that's not exactly happening...We did baby led weaning (BLW) with MacKenna and I really loved the ease of it, even though she didn't really get the hang of it too much. But, I completely believe that going the baby food route wouldn't have been any different. I've been doing some research, reading up on BLW as a refresher, and pinning everything I can about BLW and feeding baby. This time around, I will again be doing BLW with Miles, but I will also be spoon feeding him from time to time. Or at least putting some food on a spoon and handing it to him. This, along with the advice of waiting 10 seconds if he gags, have helped ease my anxiety slightly.
So far, things have been going really well! And as far as I can tell, thanks to his diapers, he's actually swallowed some! Ha!
We started with some sweet potato half moons (Brittany's recipe from her book) on Monday at lunch and dinner. After his 6 month appointment on Tuesday (he lost about 3 ounces in the last 2 months), we got the go ahead from the pediatrician to feed him 3 meals a day and not to worry about waiting a certain number of days before introducing a new food. She was also completely on board with skipping baby food too - have I mentioned how much I love her?!
Since then, he's had avocado (in the mesh feeder), oatmeal for breakfast (he kept grabbing the spoon so I just went with it), and broccoli.
For the most part, I think he gets it. The issue has been that he will get a piece of food in his hand and then, if it doesn't stick out far enough, he will just suck is thumb. Sometimes, even if he has a piece of food in his hand, he will try to suck his thumb, which has led to some gagging. He's gotten a little frustrated, but I'm just trying to be patient and remind myself (and Matt) that the main source of his nutrition should be from breastmilk for the first year. He's had a few bit pieces in his mouth that I've chosen to fish out, but otherwise, he's doing OK.
Yes, that is my hand trying to fish a big chunk of broccoli out of his mouth...
It's a good start and I'm excited to start including him in more of our meals. He's still getting separate meals for now, but hopefully he'll start loving all the food we do! Let's just pray he's a better eater than his big sissy!