since parker can sort of sit up these days, i wanted to give his high chair a try. it was his first time sitting in it and he totally had this air about him like, “look at me! i’m a big boy!” it was adorable. in a month (or so) he’ll be trying real food, so he’ll get to know this chair well.
speaking of food, when did you all start feeding solids to your babes? what was their first food? how did it go? did they keep wanting to eat or did they hate the stuff? parker hasn’t shown much interest in real food yet, so i’m not sure if i’ll start him at 6 months (which is coming up this month. i can hardly believe it.) or wait till a little later. we’ll see. i plan on making his food and starting with sweet potato or butternut squash i think. i’m roughly following this book which has been my sister’s go-to with my nephew quinn. any other must-see websites or books? gimme the deets!
and, in case i gave the impression that parker is sleeping through the night in my vlog, he ain’t… no he ain’t. some nights, he surprises us and wants to nurse 2 or 3 (say at midnight and 3ish) times at the most and we both fall right back to sleep while doing so, but other nights (i think teething is the culprit! damn teething!) he’ll fuss from 3 am and on for over an hour and nursing doesn’t help. fun times!
wow, he really looks a lot like steve in these pictures! getting so big 🙂
With my oldest, she would not eat solids for anything. I made all the awesome baby food, but she wasn't interested and continued to spit it out. So I stopped trying so hard. She didn't really eat solids until she was one year. I nursed her all. the. time. though 🙂 Then until she was 18 months all she wanted was peas corn and carrots and my green smoothies, so we went with it. She is a petite little thing now at 3 1/2, but is thriving, so I am happy. My son also wanted nothing to do with mushed up food, but he got teeth much earlier than my oldest, and started eating solids around 9 months. Now he will eat about anything I put in front of him, he is 17 months now. The big love in our house for first foods would have to be avocado, baby sweet peas, butternut squash, and sweet potatoes.
We started at 4 months with all the grains. By 5-5.5 months we were on yellow veg, then green veg, then fruit, then combos. My daughter (who is 16 months now) showed a huge interest in food and would watch us eat with envy. If you haven't checked out my blog, you can go there and see pics and KNOW she loves, loves, loves her food. Hehe! Good luck!!
I cannot believe little Parker is already 6 months either! – It seems like you were just introducing him to us yesterday!
He is looking oh so grown up in his high chair!
xoxo
Jenna
I started Everett at 6 months, as you know.
But then we both sort of lost interest for a couple weeks, because I was all, this is boring, and he was all, this is not boobies.
But then we came back strong at around 6.5, so don't worry if you wait a little longer. He is a big time eater now, but ALSO a big time nurser still. I guess I thought one would replace the other, but it hasn't.
He makes this little chomping face now when he wants solids. It's the solids form of pecking around for boobies, and it's so cute.
he's so darling. we did start matilda on solids at 6 months. just the basics, bananas, avocados, apple sauce, etc. i would make huge batches and then freeze them in ice trays. it worked out great. happy eating parker!
started both my boys on solids at 5 months. instead of starting with rice cereal like most people we started with sweet peas and they both did great. and we never did feed them rice cereal. we did baby oatmeal. good luck with solids. it's a wild ride (when their poop gets smellier)!
I always did it when my milk wasn't enough. Different ages for different kids. Don't be in a hurry. Baby food is a pain 🙂
Love your blog 🙂
Stop it. These pics are too damn cute!
Parker looks ready to take on the world in his big boy chair.
Oh no! I hope he starts to sleep through the night soon (for both you and his stake)! I can hardly believe that he's almost 6 months old! It seems as if it was only yesterday when he was introduced to us! Sweet potatoes were my favorite growing up (and they still are) so I would suggest starting him on that!
That is the coolest high chair. That's not a regular bumbo, is it? Evelyn started eating "solids" at 5 months. And by that i mean watered down rice cereal. She hated it for about a month. I didnt start giving her spoonfuls of stage 1 until about 6 1/2 months.
I'm in love with these pictures! Parker's growing up!
I started my daughter when she couldn't sleep through the night on milk. Which was 6 months. I made all of her food. The doctor told me to start with green vegetables first. After I did them I just made all different ones so we knew what she would like and didn't
@kendra, thanks! it's a keekaroo with their infant insert.
@kirtley, you mean your daughter WAS sleeping through the night?! jealous.
Westley is 8.5 months and still much much prefers breastmilk to food. When I get out food and offer it to him he purses his lips and turns away.
My doc said to not over think it, he'll eat when he is hungry he told me, so I have resolved to suspend worry about this matter.
But yeah, I make food and have bought Earth's Best and Ella's kitchen food. He seems to like the store bought better. I also got some Happy Baby food that are meat ones, like turkey and chicken. I gave W turkey and he straight up gagged both times I tried. It was funny and sad. So I haven't tried it again.
Either way I think I will be nursing until he goes off to kindergarten or junior high or something.
I started my kids at different ages depending on my milk supply and their interest. I bet you'll know when to start. Just found your blog a few days ago and have read through a lot of your archives. Love the blog.
I made all of Connor's food, too. His favorite was the butternut squash and it makes a ton! We also did pears quite a bit because he was a reflux baby and it was good for him. Check the web site Wholesome Baby Food for great tips, recipes, etc.
he looks so much like his older sister in these photos!
Is it okay to say that I'm glad to hear I'm not the only one whose baby is having sleep issues?! Lulu was born July 18, and I love reading about Parker because it feels so familiar 🙂 Sleep is my new obsession of course.
I am planning on starting solids around 6 months, and I'm curious about the book Baby Led Weaning, although I haven't read it yet. I like the idea of self feeding. Maybe strip her clothes and let her sit on the floor with bananas and avocados and the like? At the very least, it will mean cute photos, right?! I have heard, though, that food is just for fun up to a year, because breastmilk is all they need for nutrition. Good thing Lulu still loves that just fine!
I started my daughter on solids at about 6 months. We started with avacado (we were visiting relatives in CA at the time, so who can resist?), and she loved it from first bite. I made all her food, too, and often referenced this site, which had handy food charts by age so I could introduce things in a systematic way:
http://wholesomebabyfood.momtastic.com/
Have fun!
I started my son on the Happy Bellies rice cereal mixed with breast milk when he was about 6-7 months. We gradually added new things one at a time (starting with veggies), waiting a few days between each new addition to make sure of no reaction. I made most of his food with one of those $10 food mills that you can by almost anywhere and it worked great. I remember being worried that introducing solids would cause him to lose interest in breastfeeding. But, he is now 2 1/2 and was completely weaned just a few months ago so I guess it was kind of a silly worry for me! …I have never commented before, but thought it was time to say "hi!" Love coming here every day! ~Erin
Ummm so cute. We started foods for our little gal about 5months. She didn't show a whole lot of interest at first, but now is a pro. We did avocado first. I read that it is super low on the allergy list and is full of good stuff. We also make all of our own food. So easy, yummy and SO MUCH BETTER FOR THEM! Here is a great website that has a ton of recipes and stuff.
http://wholesomebabyfood.momtastic.com/
Love following your blog. My daughter is just a month older than parker. Come stop by if you have time (yeah right, time was a thing before an infant huh?)
http://www.laballews.blogspot.com
oh his sweet little face says so much! love these pics! he's so proud of himself!! loved your vlog too. gutsy girl, you! as for feeding baby…i probably started a little after 6 months. i used another baby food cookbook, the william sonoma one whose title escapes me now. i skipped the jarred stuff and made my own. i added lots of fresh herbs from the get go to veggies, things like mint with pureed green beans, and he loved it. i think he has a more adventurous palette today (3 yrs. now) than his older brother did at this stage because i skipped the bland pre-made baby foods. either that or he just likes food more and as i'm learning with most things, parenting only takes you so far, they are just who they are 99% of the time! 🙂 happy 2012. thanks for your blog. it's so different from all the others i read and i like the breathe of fresh air! xo, tessa
W is six months. Last night he got up four times.
Thank you for making me feel better.
We started experimenting with food a few weeks ago. He could take it or leave it. Mostly he just wants an open buffet to my boobs.
Parker is so cute and that high chair is sweet! I don't know how to answer your questions, but I did read! 😉
a lot of you mentioned that site – totally checking it out! and avocado… ooh, that's a good one to start with. such good fats in those things!
My husband and I were watching our 4 1/2 and 21/2 year old children eat the other day and reminding each other how neither of them EVER ate pureed food.
Both of my kids followed the principles in this book:
http://www.amazon.com/s/ref=nb_sb_noss?url=search-alias%3Dstripbooks&field-keywords=baby+lead+weaning&x=0&y=0
I knew about the author as she'd come to lecture about baby lead weaning when I was a student midwife studying at King's College in London. Her theories are supported by the UK NHS, as their health visitors are now also receiving training, plus baby lead weaning is recommended by Unicef.
The long and the short of it? Go straight to SOLID food, 'handle' size pieces of real food – so steamed carrot, toast with cream cheese, pear, banana, whatever your baby is interested in. And no, they don't choke, what they do is chew with those gummy gums of theirs and they LOVE exploring the food THEY want to eat.
Go the baby lead weaning way and you say goodbye to jarred food, purees and feeding your baby gloop and hello to infants who enjoy food, recognise what they want and develop fantastic little pincer grips and hand-eye coordination. Plus they get to eat whatever the family eats. I kid you not, they'll be eating all sorts when their friends are still on puree stage 1! Just one last note. It can take time, so be patient – the key is that you continue to breast feed so they get all the nutrition they need from your milk and discover food in their own time.
I'd really recommend it – my kids absolutely thrived and are excellent eaters.
Check out this blog from my friend, Sarah, who discovered baby lead weaning after seeing my daughter thrive with it:
http://grenglish.wordpress.com/2011/05/31/baby-led-weaning/
Hope this all gives you food for thought!
Lindsay x
(UK midwife and mum of 2)
http://www.mymumruns.blogspot.com
Avocado was one of the first foods I fed both of my kiddos…bananas, too. And squash, sweet potatoes, carrots. This lady has awesome recipes in general, but did a little baby food section when she had a baby. Check it out:
http://smittenkitchen.com/baby/
If Parker doesn't care for the mango and banana puree, I'm sure you will love it! 😉 I was known to make a batch just for myself…
Oh, and William has the same lion hat as Parker – so cute! He's nearly 2 and runs around growling and roaring at people when he wears it 🙂
@lindsay owen, what age did you start "solid" foods then? that's fascinating…
@emsie, yay for matching lion hats!!
So cute! Can I please get that outfit for my nephew? So sweet!
First off, I loved the vlog! I love putting a real voice to the written voice and compare it to what I had imagined!
We have three kids (5, 2.5, 11 months) and each was different. The first started at 6 months and liked squashes, apples, pears, etc. The second HATED purees and loved to nurse all day long. She started solids at 8 months and never looked back. My third (our first boy) was ATTACKING us for food at 4 months so we started him then and by 6 months he was doing finger foods and mostly ate what we ate just mashed up. He is our best eater…he will eat ANYTHING but loves beets, broccoli, green beans, and peas! His absolute favorite though are meatballs…to the point we may do a meatball themed first birthday!
He is so cute! I love his booster seat to his high chair! Too adorable! Thanks for posting all the lovely pictures!
xo. A Southern Bee Diary
🙂
Such a cute babe. Seems like just yesterday we were reading your sweet little maternity notes to Parker!
i started mason on foods around 6 months-pureed peas! he loved them! i introduced a new food about once every 1-2 weeks. i usually only feed him 1-2 times per day. mainly because he acts like he is DYING when he sees us eat and he has nothing in his mouth. the little mesh sucker thing (can't remember the name!) is awesome. fill it with frozen peaches or peas-a teething baby's dream!! or i'll peel a big carrot for him to gum while we eat. that usually does the trick. my doc said that for the first year baby ONLY needs breast milk. food is really just an experience so don't over think if he is getting a "well balanced" diet and all that. just play around with certain things!
his facial expressions. THE best.
I tried feeding my daughter the typical purees at 6 months and she started to hate it after a couple weeks and refused until after 7 months. This next time around I'll wait until 7 or 8 months and try the child led weaning technique of letting them eat when they can feed themselves. I definitely don't want to stress over purees the way I did the first time around.
My Parker was born almost a year before your Parker (July 26) and he didn't show any interest in food at 6 months. It wasn't until close to 7 months that he started to show any interest. I first started with rice cereal and then switched to homemade sweet potatos, squash, carrotts and he gradually started to love them. I also did not keep a strict eating schedule. Pretty much the only solids he ate was at dinner time. Oh, sleeping through the night. For get about it. I didn't get that until 13.5 months. Those darn breastfed babies like to wake their mommies up in the middle of the night. Cherish it all though!
Love the chair, will you please share the brand?
I made some great baby food using Tyler Florence recipes. Baby Lils gobbled them up! Plus, they were fairly easy to make. Lemme see if I can grab a link to them… no link but found one that I'll post here.
Roasted Apple and Blueberry Puree
Prep time: 5 minutes
Cook time: 30 minutes
Total time: 35 minutes
Ingredients4 large Golden Delicious apples
1 cup fresh blueberries
PreparationsPreheat oven to 350 degrees F. Split the apples in half and remove cores. Set on a roasting tray, cut-side down, and bake for 20-25 minutes, until they puff up. Add blueberries and bake for another 5 minutes. Remove apple skins, and puree roasted apples and blueberries in a food processor until you achieve a smooth consistency. (Makes approximately 3 cups)
he looks so big and grown up in his big boy seat! love these photos.
I just want to squeeze those darn cheeks. I think in these pictures he totally looks like Steve in these pictures, love that 🙂
We did rice cereal at around 4-5 months, I know shame on me we didnt wait the whole 6 months. She needed it. She was a big girl. Girl was sitting up pretty well.. it was time. Sweet potatoes are always a hit 🙂
Everybody is different with when they feed their babies, etc. And the differences is what makes everyone a great parent.
I started all 3 of mine around 4-5 months. On rice cereal or oatmeal with breastmilk mixed in it. And they only had a little bit of it and didn't really care for it or want it. But I kept giving it to them for about 2-3 weeks out of a bowl and spoon, never a bottle. Then I just started on other stuff. Usually veggies first, then fruit. My youngest son, who is almost 2, got started on avacodas and he still loves them to this day. They are a good fatty brain food. Good luck with your feeding adventures.
http://wholesomebabyfood.momtastic.com/
http://honestfare.com/hungry-baby/
Not having any little wigglemunches myself I can't offer any help on the solid food front… I can however comment on HOW WONDERFUL those photos of Parker and Lindsey are! Made my heart smile 🙂
parker has a combover!!! haha so cute
love that photo of him and his big sister. precious.
The only advice I found really useful was not to pussyfoot around too much by only doing one food every 3 days or similar, just go for it. Most babies love to try new and different flavours, so don't stunt their tastebuds with 3 weeks of pureed peas. Plus, it will take you forever to wean them! I started on peas then baby rice and quickly just built it up to a wide range of fruits and veggies. Then about 7-8mths meats/fish/finger foods. Annabel Karmel was my bible, the recipes were easy/nutritious and the book was full of really useful information. Good luck, it's a fun time!
The Baby Led Weaning book and blog posted in the comment by Lindsay Owen are what I went by/go by with Sammy and Nathan and we loooove it! It is so easy and good for them!
My gosh I know I've said this but he looks JUST like your husband! Now he can pull his own seat up to the table 🙂
We started solids a little after 5 months & just kind of dabble in different foods. She's starting to get the hang of it. I'm doing a post on it next week- but basically I just pureed a bunch of different types of food, give them 1 to try for a few days so you can make sure they don't have allergies, and keep introducing new ones. Yellow squash, sweet potatoes, green beans, carrots, bananas, and apples are great starters! I just mix about 2 tablespoons in w/ a tablespoon of rice cereal or oatmeal & give it to her. Hope that helps!
@jamie, it's the keekaroo height right chair!
thanks everybody for your suggestions!
Parker looks absolutely adorable and so at ease in his big chair. He looks just like a little king on his big throne. And the pictures with his big sis are so sweet 🙂
Here we start with solid foods around 4 months (veggies first, fruit around 6 months). I remember our first time, it was carrots, everywhere but where it should be. It wasn't a big success, she was covered all over with the orange stuff and mama just couldn't stop laughing (bad mum, I know). It was hilarious.
But as she was born with a cleft palate, it took after her surgery to try finger food and stuff. Now she's a big eater who just likes to taste anything. A few weeks ago she tried truffles and absolutely loved it 🙂
And definitely make the food yourself, it's the best and tastes so much better. I was always more than happy to eat the leftovers 😉 that baby stuff is delicious,
Good luck and love to hear how it went!
Love from Belgium,
Cindy
ahhhhh! love the pics with Lindsey. You can tell they are equally enthralled with one another. Perfect!
your blog is ADORABLE! im following you, follow me??(:
hi all! bridget's sister kate is back on-line! as you know bridget, i started at 6 months and it was a sweet potato all the way. although quinn's favorite food is still probably avocado so you could go that way too. no cereal for this dude and he barely eats grains still at almost-16-months.
make avocados his first solid. that was mine, and its always been my fave. i was a freakshow in high school who would bring an avocado for a snack. its a good favorite!
poor thing! the teething stinks. hoping sleep for all.
too cute for words. i LOVE the photo of parker and lindsey. so sweet.
A D O R A B L E!!!
My daughter didn't seem super interested in solids at 6 months, either, so I held her off as long as I could. When she started wanting to nurse every 30 min-1 hour, I figured it was probably time (at 8 months). Honestly, I feel like holding her off longer has made her a really good eater… she isn't picky at all. She was so ready to eat solids that she was happy with nearly anything, and that's remained to this day (she's almost 18 months). Plus, it helped my milk supply to stay really strong, and she's still nursing today.
Hey Bridget! What a handsome little man! my little is 8 months and we started solids right after 6 months. she was showing all of the signs of wanting to eat, so we've been giving her about two "meals" of solids a day in addition to nursing. I also make all of her food, which is so easy and awesome to know what is going into your precious little baby's tummy. she loves sweet potatoes, butternut squash, peas and carrots, apples, pears, and bananas. just a little suggestions as well…i'm not sure if you are already giving him probiotics, but its so easy to just stir them into purees (in powder form).
We have a keekaroo high chair also and love it. It's on our second child now. I love when they're little people sitting up in the high chair for the first time, like they're older than they are…so funny:)
We never did the puree thing either. Usually the babies just sit in our lap, or in the high chair, at mealtime, and we give them little pieces of things we're eating. My kids nurse heavily (heavily??) until they're REALLY eating, though, so I don't worry too much.
Like your sister, I do try to stay away from grains, for the most part. But Noni, (my 3rd), wants EVERYTHING her brothers have. Today we made gluten free chocolate chip cookies as an after nap snack, and she definitely had half of one, at 13 months. Wouldn't have done that with my first. But I guess Parker sees everything his siblings are eating, so maybe you'll be in the same predicament.
He is adorable!
We started Teag on solids around 4.5 months, he loved it but he would get a rash from it. His tummy wasn't ready for it yet. We waited till he was around 6 months and started again.
His first food was purreed avocado.
Question, what kind of chair is Parker sitting in?
I haven't followed a lot of rules in terms of solids. I prefer to be more intuitive. I tried rice cereal for 2 weeks and she hated it – we went to typical first foods – and she is enjoying meal time more and more. I also let Liv suck on pear and apple slices.
Hey Bridget –
wondered if you'd find that intriguing…..;-)
You start at 6 months, as that's when a baby is able to physically use their tongue to bring food from the front to the back of their mouths. Anything before that, ie eating puree from say 3 or 4 months on is just sucking. So basically babies are sucking the puree of the spoon.
You probably already know, too, that the World Health Organization recommend starting babies on solids no sooner than 6 months, and that they should be on breast milk (ideally) up until then.
In practice, both my kids took a good couple of months until they were eating enough solids for me to start reducing their breastfeeds, but that's part of the fun. They should go at their own pace. Just start by putting food on their table/high chair tray, and let them practice picking it up and bringing it to their mouths. They'll drop alot, miss alot and make alot of mess, but slowly slowly, they'll start to actually eat. And you'll know their eating as you'll see what goes in literally come out pretty undigested in their diaper (that's normal).
Over time, they'll decide what they like, and what they don't. And they'll get much better at eating. They don't need teeth, their gums are fine. You can help them out with harder foods by steaming (ie. apple chunks, carrot). I did spoon feed oatmeal and yoghurt, because that's just too tricky. I did make things like mini brocolli cheese bagels as they were useful on trips. But mostly from age 6 months they both ate a wide variety of foods like this (all cut into holdable sticks if poss):
fruit – apply, kiwi, banana, pear, strawberries, blueberries (they loved them).
veg – brocolli spears, carrots (steamed), potatoes, parsnips, cucumber
meat – not so much solid meat, but they both loved things like beef ragu sauce on pasta or chicken casserole. The ragu would be on normal pasta like penne or farfalle and they'd use their hands to pick it up.
bread – toast with cream cheese, butter, hummus.
cereal – dry on their table, or moistened with milk so they could pick it up.
pasta pasta pasta – lots of pasta
oh, I forget now. It seems a long time ago!
But listen. We've never looked back. It's worked brilliantly for them both.
I remember Gill Rapley (the author of the book) saying that humans are self feeders. If you put a new born on her mother's stomach it will 'crawl' to the breast, attach and feed unaided (this is true – i've seen it), infants feed themselves too. Gill then posed the question: why do we take away the self-feeding skills of children at weaning age? If you think of your favourite meal, pureed or liquidized it's not very appealing is it? Much more appealing is experiencing the texture, colour and taste of individual foods, which babies of 6 months and up are able to explore and eat themselves given time.
Lastly, for the record, both of my babies were 9 1/2 pounds at birth and are very tall and big kids. They were never hungry, breastmilk was enough to keep them nourished during the weaning process and neither of them ever choked (that gag reflex is a clever thing). They both eat well now, use cutlery well and have good appetites.
So there you go. Another babble from me! Hope it helps.
Lindsay x
http://www.mymumruns.blogspot.com
We started my second daughter with cereal and food a little after four months. But my oldest daughter waiting until six months.
I make (almost) all her food, have one book I swear by, and haven't met a baby that didn't love butternut squash (actually, I have more roasting in the oven as I type this…).
Check out my post about it here: http://www.trustychucks.com/2011/08/cereal-and-homemade-baby-food.html
And good luck! I'm sure Parker will take right to it especially with older siblings, he'll want to be one of the big kids. 🙂
My how Parker has grown!
We started Dylan on grains at six months out of a bowl, never in a bottle. I made my own baby food too, starting with sweet potato, then squash, avocado, and then carrots all in between normal milk feedings. It was usually very helpful to mix in a little of my milk the first few times she was trying something for a familiar taste and then just the puree.
I will say that unfortunately her little tummy is not handling solids well. We've had bad constipation issues that has not been helped with adding pears, prunes, or other non-constipating foods. My doctor's office recommended that I try jarred baby food that may be easier for her to digest for a short period, and then transition her back to home made baby food since it is obviously the ideal choice.
Good luck! The wholesome baby food website everyone mentioned in chock full of ideas.
Cute pics!!
Avocado is one of the best foods to start with…try to stay away from the sweets…aka fruit for a bit. And just so you know, always nurse before offering food…don't feed a meal and then offer the breast…it's a sure fire way to reduce your supply. The breast milk is still the best food for him…I am a lactation counselor. Love reading your blog.
Allison, the former Gordon student
I think the longer you wait the better (if they are breastfeeding). It is hard though, bc esp with your first it's so fun to see them try new things. I always start with veggies, starting with grains, esp cereal never made sense to me. It really isnt very nutritious. I never did baby food either. Such a pain. Whatever veggie we were eating got squashed up on baby's plate.
Your babe is pretty cute sitting all big in his high chair!
Looks like you've already been given a lot of advice…but we did rice cereal on the 6 month birthday. I used my breast milk and made it pretty soupy…making it thicker as he got the hang of it. It was an aquired taste for sure. The first time was funny…but then he grew to love it. He's been a great eater ever since. No issues transitioning from baby food to big boy food. I made every bit of his baby food too…first food was butternut squash. You may find out real food helps him sleep better. I know it helped us. HAVE FUN!
aw Parker looks so much like Steve!! He is the cutest little guy ever 🙂 You must be having so much fun with him!
Alright, I scanned the comments and no one posted an AMAZING site for nugget food:
http://www.weelicious.com
There are some awesome baby food recipes and it is focused on healthy choices for your kiddos and yourself.
Good luck with the introduction of food to Sir Parker, he is one adorable nugget!
what a love angel baby! so sweet! xo