On January 4th, Zara tried her first food! I wanted to wait a few weeks longer until she was 8 months (or even 9 months) to introduce her to solids, but Paul was anxious so I agreed to start a little sooner. I feel like we started Kitana too early and wanted to wait until it felt right with Zara, rather than feeling influenced by today's modern world! We started her on avocado, which is the same food we started Kitana out on as well. Kitana absolutely hated it (and still does!) Zara on the other hand loved it :) We had a slow start and she didn't each much food for the first two weeks because I introduced a new food every four days. Well, we were running out of things to try and I needed to go to the store to get more things so I decided to try bananas. She of course loved them! But had a hard time digesting them. It took a while for everything to get through her system, but we are back on and she loves eating during dinner time. Sweet potatoes are her favorite :) So far she's had avocado, sweet potato, acorn squash, carrots, peas and bananas. Next up is pears and apricots! I'm also making my own baby food as I did with Kitana...except this time around it's so much easier! I actually feel like I know what I'm doing and cook a lot more than I did 4 years ago so it's been a breeze. It feels so natural to just mash up some cooked fruits or veggies :)
Right before her first bite...she has no idea what she's in for! We had a feeling that she was going to LOVE food since she loves putting everything in her mouth....we were right :)
Her eyes say it all...yummy!!
More please!
Kitana really wanted to join in the fun and is so excited that Zara can finally eat some real food. She asks me all the time when Zara will be allowed to eat whatever she's eating.
This picture makes me shutter! I hate messes like this! This was the next day and here is the story...I did some additional research and found this great new method for starting babies on food. It's call the "baby led" approach. You provide the baby with soft, easily mash-able pieces of food and allow them to feed themselves. The idea is that if they are able to get the food to their mouths then they are clearly ready for food and that they won't put anything in their mouths that they aren't ready to eat yet. It sounded like the perfect plan for Zara since she just loves to grab everything and put it in her mouth. Turns out, she doesn't love putting food in her mouth and just enjoyed playing with it. You're supposed to be patient and it could take several months for the baby to completely grasp the concept. I decided it just wasn't working for me and was just too messy and especially hard to feed her on the go. I'll still give her a few pieces of food now and then to hold and explore a bit on her own, but nothing like the above picture. That was a one time deal....we are learning what works for us :)
I like how you are exploring research and doing what works best for you! I think thats exactly how it should be :) and, you are so funny about "the above picture making you shutter" its sad but i guess i have become accustomed to scenarios like "the above picture" which is probably why my girls clothes get worn out so dang fast :) haha
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