feeding baby

a few weeks ago, Olivia hit a huge milestone when she sampled her first "solid" food. since she was born i'd been excited for this time to come, but didn't want to rush her. i'm trying to enjoy every phase and stage, though i have to admit: it keeps getting better with age. maybe it's because i had a rough go of the whole feeding thing right off the bat, but i didn't particularly enjoy the newborn stage. now in the "infant" stage, i get to enjoy so many more things, and eating is one of them!

i waited until right before LW's 5 month birthday to try her out on cereal. i told myself that if she didn't like it, i would just wait another week and try again, especially since i've heard it can take a baby up to 10x to try something before they like it! whenever we eat in front of Olivia, she is VERY interested and will always lean forward to lick what i stick out for her- a carrot, cracker, etc. i never actually let her eat it, but she's always keen for a try. plus, she is eating rather large bottles and has a hard time stretching out the time in between. poor girl is probably hungry all the time!

i checked with our pediatrician on the right time, because there are so many conflicting opinions that it's ludicrous. i think some of them are just to scare wayward parents, because i really doubt feeding my child 1 extra month of food before her 6 month birthday is going to push her into obesity. come on.  also, my pediatrician said that when he came out of Med school, the opinion was 1 way, and now it's completely the opposite. so i guess i get to use the Mom card and do whatever i want!

all that to say, Olivia did pretty well with her first solid, rice cereal. here are some pics of the first go round:

Such anticipation!

 

Nice. She grabbed the bowl and dumped everything!

Beautiful mess

it's been almost two weeks and we've tried rice and oatmeal cereal, and also fresh bananas. so far, we've only done 1 feeding a day, and the first bite she gives me a disgusted look, which is hilarious. she's getting the hang of it, and even opens her mouth wide when she sees the spoon coming- adorable. now that she thinks she's a "pro" she's beginning to play around during meal time, which is funny and obnoxious all at the same time. i constantly have to call her name and shove the spoon towards her face. she's either sucking on the high chair tray, watching the scenery:

 or trying to grab the bowl or spoon from me:

i don't know about her, but i'm kinda over the whole cereal thing. is it really that necessary? it looks gross and she doesn't seem to care all that much. i'm sure it's pretty flavorless too. anyways, next up we're trying fruits and veggies!