After about a month of intense anticipation, CJ and I sat down last Saturday (the first Saturday after Louisette passed the current recommended minimum age of four months) to give our little girl her first taste of food. Mmm. . . rice cereal mixed with watered-down formula. . .
I’d taken too long to get ready and she was grumpily sleepy before we began:
But she went for it! Hence my crazy eyes, and her “What just happened?” face:
We could have kept going but I didn’t want to overfeed her and cause problems for her tummy or kidneys. I’m so delighted she didn’t reflexively spit it out! Instead you can see her turning her head towards the spoon for another go. A world of messy delight stretches out ahead of us. . .
Since Saturday we’ve discovered that her preferred method of feeding is to be sucking on her hand at the same time. I knew feeding would get messy fast, but Louisette has truly done her bit in making it messier faster.
She’s been crying after feeds (both bottle and food), which is obviously quite disturbing, but it’s possible that all she really wants is more solids faster (I talked to a nurse about it, and most of the crying-during-feeding scenarios are already somewhat familiar – burping, wind, reflux, hunger, stress. . .). A desire for more solids certainly seemed evident during last night’s rice cereal feed. Now that I think I know the answer, I shall attempt to start breaking her hand-sucking-during-meals habit. And to let her eat more in a sitting.
This morning she’ll try her second food ever: zuccini mush. I’ll have CJ take a video, but I’m not posting it today. I have a Very Cunning Plan That You Will Love in the works, and filming her spewing bright green goo is just one of many parts of said plan.
PS: Long before Louisette was born, I planned to lay something on our dining table so I could lie her down and be at her level without crawling around on the floor. It worked very nicely when CJ and I had friends over last Monday – but the macabre overtones weren’t lost on any of us.
Mmm. . . delicious baby, buffet style.
PS:
Oooh solids, how exciting. 🙂 I think you’re right to take it slowly; these early stages are all about experimenting and learning, figuring out all these tastes and textures! She should still be getting pretty much all her nutritional needs from milk.
Stace: You can see from the final pic that she definitely hasn’t got the hang of keeping anything in her mouth. . . but I swear she ate a surprising amount all the same.
Oh, green! *goes green*
Great photo of baby buffet! (I’ve stolen it for my records).
W: Go for it 🙂 You know everyone there, including Louisette.