Abbey's First "Solids"--a family affair

Abbey taking her first taste of rice cereal.

 
I can't believe our baby girl is ready to eat solids!  Actually, at Abbey's four-month well-check, I expected her pediatrician to give us the green light on giving her solids.  We started Luke out on the rice cereal/breast milk blend around 4.5-5 months of age and then introduced new foods weekly thereafter.  However, Abbey's pediatrician recommended waiting until Abbey was 6 months old.  She said that actually infants really don't need anything more than breast milk for nutrition and that introducing solids is for introducing different textures more than anything else.  One of the risks for introducing solids too early is eczema--since Luke had eczema, we were more than happy to wait.

Actually, kellymom.com, an awesome parenting and breastfeeding website that I like, states the following:

"Health experts and breastfeeding experts agree that it’s best to wait until your baby is around six months old before offering solid foods. There has been a large amount of research on this in the recent past, and most health organizations have updated their recommendations to agree with current research. Unfortunately, many health care providers are not up to date in what they’re telling parents, and many, many books are not up to date.

The following organizations recommend that all babies be exclusively breastfed (no cereal, juice or any other foods) for the first 6 months of life (not the first 4-6 months):

• World Health Organization
• UNICEF
• American Academy of Pediatrics
• American Academy of Family Physicians
• Australian National Health and Medical Research Council
• Health Canada

Most babies will become developmentally and physiologically ready to eat solids by 6-9 months of age."

The web page goes on to list all sorts of reasons why one would want to delay introducing solids to their infant.  I honestly had no idea that was the recommendation by so many organizations--maybe something changed since Luke was an infant?

Abbey will be six months old on July 3.  But, the doctor said we could start her a couple of weeks prior on rice cereal so that we can discuss any issues she may be having at Abbey's six-month well check visit.  So, we are going to stick with the rice cereal/breast milk mixture for a while and not be in any kind of rush to introduce other new foods as we did with Luke. 

Luke BEGGED to try some of Abbey's cereal.  I told him that he would not like it, but he still wanted to try it. We let him.  This photo was taken right after his bite.  Unfortunately and to our surprise, he loved it and wanted more.

Drew and I figured that our 19-lb, 5.5 month old baby girl would probably be a good eater.  She did not disappoint.  In fact, after only the second day of eating rice cereal, she was literally begging for more.  Or, perhaps it was more of a "yelling" for more.  We started teaching her the sign for "more" and "eat".  I have a feeling she is going to try to learn those signs as quickly as she can! Here is a video of the "family affair" of feeding Miss Abbey her first "solids".