Babies & Food: Starting Solids

True Story: At Ford’s 4 month apt our doctor said “so you can start solids now” and I said “awesome any guidelines or rules?” and he said “the guidelines are: there are no guidelines. just give him a bite of whatever you’re eating”.

Also true, I left that appointment in tears. Partly because Ford hadn’t gained as much weight as I had hoped, partly because I was still “drowning” in new motherhood & postpartum anxiety, but also in part because I needed more direction and felt BEYOND confused on how to embark on this next journey with Ford.

I quickly reached out to a few friends a bit ahead of me with slightly older kids and they said: start with rice cereal and simple purees. One even sent me this calendar guide which I used for the first few weeks and it really made me feel more confident in what I was doing.

After about a month though the rice cereal felt pointless and Ford was ready to move onto more interesting foods. We tried some pouches but he was just semi into them. We started letting him suck on toast, testing yogurt & hummus as toppings. Somewhere in month 5 we tried eggs and had a slight reaction (tried again around 7m and same thing so Mr Ford is seeing an allergist in a few weeks). Five minutes before his 6m appointment I let him try peanut butter and thankfully no reaction there.

At his 6 month appointment we saw a different Dr in the practice who said that his current situation of having solids 1-2 times a day was good and between 6-9 months we should ramp up to 3 times a day. She said by 9 months his nutritional intake will be about half breastmilk/formula & half solids. This Dr by the way had a dramatically different approach than the first. The first was all about BLW, this lady said she didn’t understand that movement and just to stick with purees. Needless to say I have fallen somewhere in the middle. Anyways, fast forward to sometime in month 6 and I started feeling more confident in Ford’s eating abilities and so did he. It also helped that his nap schedule became 2 naps (at 9am and 2pm) so he was awake during lunch time which I start We got into a routine: 5% Fage greek yogurt & raspberries for breakfast, a pouch and maybe some bit of what I’m eating for lunch, dinner is either leftovers from what we ate the night before or homemade purees. Occasionally dinner is a banana - because he loves them and that’s where we’re at (insert shoulder shrug arms out emoji)

Since we have been in California though I’ve let Ford try a good bit more while out to lunch and it’s really fun to see him experience new flavors & textures. It’s still really scary when I see him working on a piece of something, I try to just stay reallllllly calm and say “chew chew chew & swallow”. Sometimes he gags. Sometimes he spits things out. It’s a learning process for both of us but I just try to make sure if I am giving him solids that aren’t purees that its cut up really tiny or its so mushy that it would after a little bit of gummy gnawing dissolve into something easily swallowable.

In terms of homemade purees, I was resistant at first but I’ve made a few and they’ve turned out well. No recipes but the first one I made was based off of me making a big pot of chicken soup which I smushed up for him and he loved so I made him his own batch of chicken soup but omitted the added salt. I basically sautéed carrots, onions, garlic and some dried herbs like basil & oregano. Then added a little bit of water and pureed it. I kept some out and sautéed in a bit of fresh spinach then again a little water and pureed it. I also made shredded chicken in my slow cooker using chicken and chicken stock, then shredded the chicken and cut it up really tiny. For all of these homemade concoctions that are in large batches I portion them out into ice cube trays, freeze them, then pop them out and place them in labeled baggies in the freezer. They heat up quickly and are just the right portion!

Check out some of my favorite feeding & baby food making items below plus pics of some of Ford’s meals!

Below are some pics of Ford’s meals including a free kid’s meal he got from Luna Grill (chicken & rice), his first time trying his big cousin’s Mac n Cheese from Joan’s on Third, having a bit of leftovers from our dinners like Moroccan Chicken Thighs, Roasted Salmon, and Orzo in Vegan Pesto