Adventures in Solid Food

We started the boys on solid foods as soon as they turned 5 months. The experts at the American Academy of Pediatrics actually disagree on when to begin feeding babies solid food, and their best recommendation is between 4 and 6 months. Then, at our last pediatrician visit, we were told to wait until 6 months, but if we decided to go ahead and feed solids, to start with vegetables. Since the doctor expressed absolutely no confidence in her own recommendation (and since another pediatrician in the office told a friend that starting at 4 months was fine), I wasn't too worried about researching the topic on my own and making a decision based on that research. What sold me on starting sooner than later was a recent study in the British Medical Journal that stated withholding solids until 6 months of age can result in children rejecting leafy green vegetables later in life. However, by presenting vegetables to my boys' developing tastebuds now, I may possibly end the "I'm not eating my broccoli" war before it even gets started.


First up were the orange vegetables (carrots, squash, and sweet potatoes), which didn't go over so well the first feeding, but by the second or third sampling, were a huge hit. I bought a special spoon that actually holds the baby food inside so I simply have to squeeze the food onto the spoon, thus eliminating fussiness while loading the spoon for each baby. When you are feeding two hungry mouths, you don't have time to reload! By the time we made our way to yellow and green vegetables, the boys were expert eaters, although not the cleanest or most polite diners to ever share a meal at our table.


It's important to run through the gamet of vegetables first; if you start with fruit, you run the risk of having veggies rejected after a baby develops a hankering for sweet foods. This became quite clear when we moved to bananas. It didn't matter that I had a special spoon--I could not shovel the food in fast enough for either baby's liking! Apples and peaches have been received equally well, and I again feel like that mother robin, only this time because I have two opened-mouth babes in my nest who have pitched their heads back and are crying for more!


While it's great to see my children enjoy something so much, there are some drawbacks. What goes in, must come out, and my how the exiting vegetables and fruit have changed the game! UGH! But what's worse than what comes out is what doesn't come out. Right about the time we moved to apples, the bananas worked a number on Ren for a day or two. It was nothing a few spoonfuls of prunes couldn't fix, but the poor baby suffered terribly in the meantime. While it broke my heart, it gave everyone else a good laugh:

I am happy to say that Ren is feeling much better these days!