Starting solids

We started solids a week ago - well, solids only in that we started giving the Babe rice cereal and then oatmeal, though they are both quite liquidy (liquid-ish?). She will be six months next week and she had started showing interest in our food, so we figured it was go time. I strapped on her bib, sanitized her spoons and expected her to understand that eating cereal means putting your chin up instead of down with an open mouth. No such luck.

She didn't love rice cereal, so after two days we switched to oatmeal and she seemed to hate it less. I spent the next 30 minutes holding the spoon in one hand and her stuffed caterpillar in the other, dancing it in the air while trying to get her to swallow her mouthful. More of the cereal ended up on the Bumbo and her bib than in her stomach, I'm sure of it. This week I attempted squash mixed in, but that was met with a grimace and a locked jaw, so we've paused on the squash for the moment. I'll try again in a day or so, and perhaps attempt food in lieu of a feeding rather than in addition to. Fingers crossed!

~ H