Food, Glorious (Solid) Food!

All of my babies have been exclusively nursed. None of them have ever had a bottle. I tend to wait until they are six months old to begin solid foods. I guess I just want to hold onto that stage where I am providing their sole sustenance for as long as possible. I'm not sure what it is, but maybe every mother out there understands that thought that their little baby is just not "big enough" to be doing something new, even though you really know that they are.

So, with Holly I have been just as reluctant to start her on solid foods. I knew she'd be six months old at Thanksgiving and thought that seemed like an appropriate day to start. However, a few weeks before that holiday devoted to food, I decided Holly might need a little more in her tummy than I was providing. She just wasn't sleeping well anymore (and she had been a GREAT sleeper--going 10-12 hours at night) and was waking up to nurse in the middle of the night again.

I'd been thinking of getting her going for a couple of weeks before I actually got around to doing it. It was mostly a matter of pulling out the high chair and not being rushed at a meal. Finally, though, on November 10 we buckled Holly into the chair.

Look at her. So innocent. So tiny. (I purposely didn't crop out that big tray. Look how small she is behind that tray. Surely, she can't be old enough to be starting solid foods when the tray is so large and she is so small. Right?)

Well, we moved ahead and she seemed pretty amenable to the whole thing (as were her older sisters, who are just ecstatic at Holly's every milestone), until the camera came out. Then all she could do was stare at the camera.

Spoon? What's spoon?

Even here you can see that she has partaken of the rice cereal (yum, right?) but is still pretty fascinated with the camera.

Overall, it was a successful first attempt. I think she even did a bit better than her siblings, whose darn tongue-thrust reflexes were so hard to overcome.

Now, two weeks later, we're still figuring out how to fit these new solid food feedings in to her schedule, but she's doing well and slowly adding on new foods. Bananas are not a big hit--I should really get a photo of that face--but she loved the Thanksgiving yams. She does really seem to like her rice cereal. If she only knew how many better foods are out there.... All in good time.