Solid Foods.

Good day mom's and mom's-to-be!

Today's blog is all about how we started feeding Finn solid foods! (: *Some people use the word solid food to explain anything that isn't formula, just know when I say solid foods I mean actual foods like fruits, vegetables and meats. I'm not talking about purees and rice cereals.

It all started when he was about 5-months old, we noticed that everytime we would give Finley some food he would chew it. By this age he was able to sit straight up in his high chair and hold his head up properly all on his own. We started off by buying him the baby puffs and rice crackers (mum-mums)

At first we would cut all the baby puffs into two pieces just to make sure he was able to eat it and would not choke. At 6- months old I looked into Baby LED weaning, now a lot of people told me that I was too late, that you can't do purees and baby LED weaning, that you can only do one of the other, but why? Why is there a rule on how you feed your child? I didn't find that fair so I started doing some research and picked and chose what I liked from different ways to feed your baby. This led to us using a bit of every method.

We started doing it the way that you give your child finger length and width foods and you let them try to take the bites that they think is appropriate. Which pulled at my heart strings, because every time I would do this Finley would put this giant amount of food in his mouth and just start to gag. So yea, that stopped pretty quick lol. So we changed and tried the way that you give them pieces of food that are the size of the tip of your pinky finger (but not round obviously, anything that was round had to be cut in half) *Just a quick thought for those mom's or mom's-to-be that don't know; you should never give your baby anything that is perfectly round as it's a choking hazard. Always cut it in half or even in quarters. While working as a daycare supervisor I learn to cut all foods up to completely avoid the round shape. Even when it comes to banana and cucumber slices, you should always half or quarter them.

Okay, back on track. So we were giving Finley small pieces of food and showing him the motion of chewing and that went pretty well! He was eating all kinds of soft foods like eggs, pears, bananas pancakes, carrots, avocado, and really anything I could boil and make a bit softer for him. By 7-months old Finley was eating everything we were eating in small pieces, his absolute favorite was chicken and fries lol What child doesn't like chicken and fries? And now hes a little over 11-months and has the exact same meals as we do!

When it comes to feeding your child, do some research and find what works best for you! As I keep repeating in most of my blogs, WHAT WORKS FOR SOME ONE ELSE'S BABY MAY NOT WORK FOR YOURS! They are all unique, maybe some babies can baby LED wean no problem, but I just couldn't bare seeing him always gagging, haha so I guess that's a bit of my fault, but honestly, who can really sit there and watch their baby gag as they learn to eat? I just really didn't have the heart. But test it out, try small pieces, try easy things for babies to eat. Just know that once you start giving them real food and snacks, IT NEVER ENDS! I'm now at the point where I have to hide to have a snack, if Finn sees it me eating anything he instantly wants a piece. So enjoy it while you can!

From one mom to another.

Just-A-Mom