Orrin turns six months old this week, and we celebrated by giving him his first taste of rice cereal (made up soupy with breast milk)!
It was amazing to watch the transformation of his face when he first got that spoon in his mouth. He responded to food by becoming more focused, intent, and animated than I’ve ever seen him. After seeing that, I now think that the introduction of solid food really goes hand-in-hand with motor development -- that each one enhances the other. It makes sense, from an evolutionary standpoint, that food would be a great motivator to refine our motor skills.
Feeding is mostly play and exploration at the moment -- if you saw him when we were done, you might wonder if I fed it to him or threw it at him. But we are both having a lot of fun and really engaging each other in a new way during these feedings. Solon hasn’t had a chance to feed Orrin yet; he’s been at work at Orrin’s mealtime since we started the rice cereal. I’m looking forward to the two of them doing the feedings, since I think it’ll give them a new, rewarding way to connect. Obviously, Solon has not had the opportunity to do the breastfeeding bonding that Orrin and I have.
In other news…
…I signed up for a class in the fall at GCC -- my first semester back since Orrin! I’ll be taking Sustainable Energy to fill part of my science requirement for the Liberal Arts degree. It’s a Monday-Wednesday afternoon class -- let me know if you are interested in helping us out with childcare on the weeks when Solon is working those days!
…Many posts back, I had mentioned that I was a bit disappointed with my baby-carrying devices. Well, I am happy to report that we’ve hit our stride with carriers. The favorites at the moment are a simple Gerry backpack that we picked up for $10 on Craigslist, and the Hotsling that we picked up for $10 on a mishmash clearance rack at Target. We use the Gerry pack for walks and when I’m working with my hands in front of me, like cooking or doing dishes, and we use the Hotsling in a hip carry for social situations. Orrin is also more happy to sit or lie on the floor and watch me do stuff these days. Overall, I’m quite happy in this department!
…We’ve been spending time with the other moms and babies we met in our birth class. It’s been really wonderful to connect with other first-time moms who have babies the same age as Orrin. Talking out the challenges with other moms who are going through it at the same time makes me feel like we are not doing so bad.
…Orrin is teething, and he wants you all to know that it really sucks (we still think that he is a wonderful, happy baby).
…Does anyone want to take the magazines that I have subscriptions to after I am done reading them? You’d be doing me a favor, as I don’t want to keep them around the house and I feel bad just putting them out by the curb. I’ve got Real Simple, Lucky, ReadyMade, and Glamour. Let me know!
6 comments:
So he actually liked the rice cereal? I'm not sure I've met a baby who liked it first time before!
I've been meaning to ask whether you've heard about baby led weaning. (Actually I've been meaning to write lots of things but tend to get distracted before I'm done and the email never gets sent.) Here's a link. Thought you might be interested. We didn't give Marian whole loaves of bread or anything but I found the thinking behind the BLW approach really useful and interesting. Let me know if you want to check out more on it and I'll send more links.
I can't believe he's going to be 6 months old already! Come visit us again sometime soon.
Rosie,
I checked out the link, and that does seem to make a lot of sense. Although I'm trying to balance that with my naturopath's recommendations about how to introduce foods slowly, avoiding many foods as possible allergens ... it's all alot to think about!
I hadn't thought about introducing foods as weaning! That makes me a little wistful! ... I'd only thought of it as exploration.
Don't be too sad about the idea of weaning. It is all experimentation at the moment -- as a breastfeeding mama you'll likely be his primary source of nutrition for the first year. And Marian is 22 and a half months old and shows no sign of wanting to stop nursing, it can be a slow process. You'll figure out what works for you and Orrin.
We did follow the only-introduce-one-food-every-few-days guidelines for quite a while, so at first she wasn't eating the same food as us exactly. I think the primary concept I took from BLW was that of continuing the idea of feeding on demand and trusting the baby to let you know what and how much they want to eat and giving them as much control as is possible so they learn to manage their own eating well (motor skills and portion size).
I used to cook up a bunch of oats (just regular rolled oats, one part oats to two parts water) she'd have some fresh maybe with some breastmilk mixed in and then the rest would go into a jar. Cold and broken up a bit it makes great finger food (and now she helps me cook her oatmeal and raisins almost every day).
One snack that I would never have thought of but has been really a big favourite with Marian is Nori, and I think that's from pretty early on too.
I really like this article about "baby food" vs. "family food" http://www.culinate.com/mix/dinner_guest/baby_food_family_food
I waited until Miryam was showing interest, could sit up and was able to grab stuff and shove it in her mouth. I think it started around the (recommended) 6 month mark. She only ate foods she could feed herself, the exceptions being yogurt or soup if I was eating it and she wanted some because she, obviously, couldn't candle a spoon ;-)
Rice cereal sketches me out A LOT. It takes up space in a belly that could go to some nutritious like breast milk or real food, often constipates babies and is pretty much just carbohydrates...but, of ocurse you gotta choose for yourself.
Most folks seem to really just use it as a fun thing to do (feeding babies IS really cute) and if so I would recommend going to mashed banana, advocado, apple sauce, etc. But really, the most natural (and lazy...I mean easy) thing to do is to let the babies eat what you are eating, as they learn how to handle it. Food is for fun in the first year anyway if you are still breastfeeding.
Best of luck - watch out for the poop changes - I am so happy with Éamonn to be back in the land of exclusive breastmilk poops - so much nicer!
Gilly,
I sure do miss those breastfed poops -- they were so cute!
Yeah, the rice cereal didn't last long before we moved on to more interesting (and nutritious) foods. He still nurses just as much as ever, so I'm not worried about him replacing nutrition with empty calories. I think that he sees food as an interesting taste on his lips and something fun to squish his fingers through, rather than a way to fill his belly. Which is fine with me! I think that it's a magnificent, positive way for him to explore another one of his senses.
I still grab most of my meals while he's sleeping, so we haven't much of a chance to do any food-sharing, but I am looking forward to that!
Yes! Let's talk about childcare stuff for the future.
I'm so excited for you that you are taking a class!
About baby eating stuff- I wasn't able to get to the baby led weaning stuff (my computer wouldn't connect). How does it connect to solids? It's interesting how different babies need and want solids at different times. Atticus was close to a year before he really needed solids. Enzo can't get it fast enough, and very clearly signals what he wants and when.
Nursing and solids have been primarily 2 separate things with both my kids, even when Atticus was still nursing at 3 years old. Enzo will often eat or drink quite a bit of solids and still want to nurse. I kind of look at them as serving different purposes.
It's fun though, isn't it? I have the cookbook, "Feeding the Whole Family". It has good recipes with suggestions on how to serve some of what you are making for your baby.
Dulse flakes are also a great nutritious way to add to things like applesauce or pureed veggies. Enzo loves nori, too! And frozen bananas in his baby safe feeder for his teeth.
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