When Kalena was a baby I was SO excited to start feeding her "real" food. That was because I didn't realize that baby food is a big fat pain. You have to buy it (or make it) and spoon feed the baby and it makes a giant mess and maybe she'll like it, maybe not. UGH. At Will's 4 month appointment the pediatrician said the recommendation about solid food has changed and 6 months is now the recommended age to start. This did not make me sad.
In fact, I was sort of thinking I'd skip the baby food altogether this time. I think I'd just prefer to nurse until he's ready to eat ACTUAL food. (Kalena quit eating baby food altogether at like 8 months, so it probably wouldn't be too much longer anyway.) Maybe he'll get super interested (like my nephew Eli who is just a little older and LOVES baby food. Seriously, check out this video.) If that's the case I'll deal with baby food. Otherwise, I'm just not so interested. What do you think of the baby food stage?
HATED it! I'm with you - huge pain. It is so nice that Millie can just eat what we're eating now. However, I have to say it was nice to know she was getting all her required nutritional needs met during that time. Now I stress over her veggie intake. :)
ReplyDeleteI breastfeed until they are a little older than one, but do solids at six months (well some at four months for Lib cuz she'd jump out of my arms for food). You would be breastfeeding a lot without giving the kiddo some other food. I mean A LOT. Cuz I give my kids both and I still feel like I breastfeed a lot.
ReplyDeleteI did not mind it with Nora because she would eat it and not waste it. Leah would take one bite and waste a whole jar. I also made Nora's food so it was easier to just thaw what I knew she would eat. Neither of my kids did the baby food thing for super long though, Leah just never ate much and Nora started on mushy solids really young and I think she has fed herself almost every meal since long before she was one.I never did anything before 6 months with either of them though.
ReplyDeleteit's super messy and carrots do not come out of clothes! BUT - it is nice to just grab two jars on the way out the door...pretty nice when you are on the run.
ReplyDeletethey do say the longer you wait to introduce it, the harder it is for the kid to adjust, but molly never really did the baby food thing, she didn't even like for me to spoon feed her. baby cereal was out of the question, so i just mushed up whatever we were eating around 6 or 7 months (except for meat). she did pretty well with that.
ReplyDeleteWe attempted and realized Cooper wasn't ready and hated eating from a spoon. Charlotte switched to finger foods shortly after she came home and when Cooper showed interest then we just gave him finger foods (around 9 months or so). Way easier!
ReplyDelete(It's also called Baby Led Weaning...there are books and websites about it. There are other studies that show this approach is the more natural approach to introducing solids.)
Most babies need to experience baby food to learn how to 'chew' and swallow a different texture/ thickness. Baby food gives them practice for the real stuff. It sure is a messy stage!
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