Lili,
You have had more or less a pretty love/hate relationship with solid foods as of late I have to say. Some days you take them. Some days you don’t. Either way as the spoon nears your mouth you give me a look as if to say, “Sigh…this again?”
Granted several Moms have given me a heads up that not all babies like baby food ie: mush. My challenge has been however your gag reflex. I attempted to give you a Cheerio one morning recently and you gagged and ‘choked’ until the bits flew out your mouth. Did I mention the Cheerio was CUT IN HALF and soaked in breast milk?
So when all these people kept telling me to give you bits of chicken and bits of tofu, etc. I was like What??? when you can’t even swallow a Cheerio. But tonight I attempted something in between.
I boiled some Pastina – those teeny teeny tiny star shaped pasta – and added some juice from a can of Organic whole peeled tomatoes and a tiny pinch of salt. I took a bite and proceeded to eat half the dish because despite being simple it tasted very good. You watched me eat it and motioned for the spoon and leaned in opening your mouth.
Um. Ok.
So I gave you a tiny spoonful and you moaned and flapped your arms and legs and leaned in again with your mouth open this time as if to say, “FINALLY WOMAN! You are not serving me blended mush!” It was cute because I watched you chew it and mush it around in your mouth with a furrowed brow and then I watched as the light bulb went off in your head and you panted MORE MORE.
Babies moods and likes and dislikes change at the drop of a hat. I’m slowly getting that. Tomorrow you could hate this meal but tonight you ate a hearty portion for a little one your size. Good work little one.
xo
I was always a nervous wreck when starting solid food. But, we never did baby food, just our table food and watched the kiddos gag and choke. The greatest pediatrician alive (aka Dr. Beazley) assured us that it was a natural process for babies to learn to keep themselves from actually choking. It works, they never actually choke. Keep the faith!
our son Roman was/is the same way- he hated the purees and it was a constant struggle feeding him anything but breast milk. finally we gave in (around 9 mo) and served a bowl of pasta with red sauce- success! now at 10 mo the challenge is finding a variety of “real food” options that aren’t choking hazards!
funny we have dr beesley, wonder if its the same. im thinking of switching. hana just started eating rice cereal and applesauce and peaches and bananas. she’s crazy for it all. she was starving for it apparently. mostly she just wants the whole bowl in her mouth at once. its the cutest most fun thing in the entire world. this made me crack up, i can’t wait for pasta. and cheerios. but next week, avocados.