How I introduced solids... Please note, I am not an expert. I am a jackass.

Before we get started, I want you to know something very important. I know as much about introducing solids, as any first time mother. With that said, let's get started.

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As you already know, Porgie developed eczema as a newborn. According to her pediatrician, this puts her at a higher risk for developing food allergies. Therefore, the doctor recommended that Porgie not have solid foods until at least 6 months. Apparently, babies who are given food too early are also at increased risk of developing food allergies. So, I am going to play it cautious and recommend that all babies wait until they are 6 months old before eating solids.

Before starting solids, I read this book. It has a wonderful chapter on introducing solids and finger foods. Also, there are lots of kid friendly recipes in the back of the book. However, this book is geared toward vegetarians. I should probably mention that I am a vegetarian, and I will be raising Porgie as a vegetarian too. All this means for you is that I will not be discussing how to introduce meats into an infants diet.

My Routine vs. Solids
I was very stressed out about introducing solids. I was confused about how many ounces of veggies I should feed her vs. how many ounces of formula I should feed her. No one really explained this to me, and I found it very frustrating. My biggest fear was that she wouldn't get enough calories during the day, thereby waking me up even more during the night to eat.

With this said, I stupidly tried to keep our daytime bottle feeding/napping schedule the same, while squeezing in a meal of solids somewhere during the day. This did not work. Porgie wasn't hungry enough to eat the solids, and I was growing increasingly frustrated. So, I changed our schedule completely - even naps.

Prior to introducing solids, Porgie was taking three naps per day. She had a strong sucking to sleep association, and would only take a nap while drinking a bottle. This is what a typical day prior to solids looked like:
7:30 - up for the day
9:30 - feed 6 oz bottle/nap
1:00 - feed 6 oz bottle/nap
4:00 - feed 6 oz bottle/nap
7:30 - feed 6 oz bottle/ go to sleep for the night
In the weeks leading up to introducing solids, Porgie was starting to refuse the 4:00 nap. I stubbornly tried to make her take a nap anyways. When I realized that our schedule was going to have to change due to the introduction of solid foods, I decided to put Porgie on a 2 nap per day schedule. This is what her new schedule looked like:
7:30 - up for the day
9:30 - feed 6 or 8 oz bottle/nap
12:00 - 2 ounces of fruit
2:30 - feed 8 oz bottle/nap
5:30 - 2 ounces of veggies
7:30 - feed 8 oz bottle/go to sleep for the night
This is the feeding schedule we still use, except I now feed her a little fruit in the morning too. Her sleeping schedule is basically Moxie's 2-3-4 schedule.

You will notice that I went straight to two solid meals per day. Some people recommend starting with only 1 meal, and slowly working your way up. Porgie NEEDS a pretty rigid schedule to be a happy baby. Not wanting to change our schedule multiple times, I just took the plunge, and started out with two meal per days. This worked out great for Porgie.

First Foods and Picky Eaters
I was very fearful that Porgie would develop food allergies. Therefore, I was very cautious about introducing new foods. I only introduced one new food at a time, and feed it for at least 5 days before moving on to a new food. This gave me ample time to watch for signs of an allergic reaction (rash, wheezing, stomach ache, diarrhea, etc.).

The very first food I gave Porgie was rice cereal (1 tablespoon of cereal added to 3 tablespoons of formula). The first several times I feed her, it was very cute. However, the cuteness quickly wore off. It turned out the Porgie didn't really like rice cereal. She started crying every time the spoon came within 10 feet of her clamped little mouth. VERY ANNOYING. After trying for five unsuccessful days, we moved on to oatmeal. I encountered the same results. So, I stopped trying to feed her cereal. It just isn't worth it. She was miserable and so was I. However, you should definitely try to feed your baby cereal. It is a great source of iron, especially for breastfeed babies.



Porgie's doctor recommended that I start Porgie on green veggies first. She explained that some babies who start out on fruit, will never want to eat vegetables. I blindly followed her advice, but in hindsight I think this theory is a crock of shit. Babies like what they like, regardless of the order you introduce foods. Go on and introduce fruits first if you want to. It won't matter in the long run.

Following doctor's orders, I started Porgie on sweet peas. She hated them. Next I gave her green beans. She hated them. I was starting to think that Porgie didn't like any food. But then I tried carrots. She LOVED the carrots, would eat the entire 2 oz. jar. It was amazing. This was an important turning point for Porgie. Meal time finally started being fun, instead of frustrating. Here is a list of the other foods I tried and Porgie's response to them:
sweet potatoes - LOVES
squash - LOVES
bananas - HATES
apples - HATES
pears - LIKES/HATES (depending on the day)
peaches - LIKES/HATES (depending on the day)
prunes - LIKES (works great for constipation, but causes diarrhea if she is not constipated)

For two months, I attempted to feed Porgie 2 or 3 meals of solids per day (not that she always ate. She is a little stinker!). Just in case you haven't heard, your baby's poo will match what she eats. For example, Porgie likes carrots, so many of her poo poos are bright orange. Have fun!!!

Finger Foods
At the end of the seventh month, I decided to try some finger foods with Porgie. We started with bread. I would toast a slice of bread and cut it into 4 strips. At first, I was terrified that she would start choking, but she didn't. She gagged occasionally, but has never really choked - thank goodness! Porgie loves feeding herself and it is very liberating for me as well. I was growing pretty tired of the whole "baby sits in the highchair, while I try to navigate food into her mouth before she slaps the spoon away and gets carrots all over the floor" routine.

When I seen that Porgie could successfully feed herself bread, I made her some flax seed waffles to eat too. Yummy! Next, we tried various pasta noodles. She had a hard time getting the floppy pasta noodles into her mouth, but she managed to eat few bits.

Now, I find myself constantly giving her some of whatever I am eating - pieces of banana, sips of rice milk, slivers of apples, yogurt, refried beans, mashed potatoes, etc. I no longer wait 5 days between introducing new foods, although I know that I should.

Since Porgie started feeding herself, she has began grabbing food off of my plate. For example, last weekend I was eating a burrito and talking to my husband. A few minutes later, I noticed that Porgie was chewing on something. I had no idea what she could be eating, so I frantically pulled the object out of her mouth. It was a piece of the tortilla. She had ripped it off of the burrito when I wasn't looking. She is a sneaky little devil!

Should She be Eating This?
I have decided that Porgie can try anything I am eating - however, I am trying to be vigilant about not giving her too much dairy (because babies really shouldn't have dairy and also because of her eczema). We don't eat foods with eggs or honey, so that really isn't a big concern in our household.

It feels good to have Porgie feeding herself. I want to wean her from the bottle at about 1 year - that is less than 4 months away! (AAAAAAAAAAAAAAHHHHHHHHHHH!!!) So, hopefully we are on the path to three square meals per day, with no bottle.

I hope this was helpful. Good luck with your feeding adventures.