Wednesday, November 28, 2007

Eating Solids

About a month ago I started trying to feed Stephen solids and it has been a chore. He is picky, but in a good way. Yes I know, doesn't seem possible. With Caleb I made the natural progression, starting with bananas and rice cereal then slowing moving up to table food. I never did the baby food in a jar because it was too expensive and I think it tastes nasty. Instead I have the baby food grinder pictured here and would just put whatever we were eating in it. Pork, chicken, spaghetti etc. Caleb would eat a lot at a time, but was happy with the blander foods to begin with and slowly moving up to real people food. He was about 10 months before I stopped grinding everything.
Stephen on the other hand acted like I was trying to kill him when we tried the baby cereal and would sit there and gag himself until he had spit everything out. He does not like applesauce and doesn't want his bananas mushy. At 7 months he already wants flavor and texture to his food. He loves vegetables and will eat any of them, but sweet potatoes and peas are his favorite. Last night I took someone's advice and handed him a pork chop that wasn't sharp and he happily sat there and gnawed the little bits of meat off it.
The most trouble I'm having is trying to keep some foods out of his diet until he is 1. My Dad is allergic to wheat, milk and peanut butter to name a few and I really don't want my kids to have those for awhile so there is a better chance they won't get the allergy. Stephen though will crawl around and eat Caleb's crumbs before I can get to them so I'm kind of stuck.
I just think this goes to show how different every kid is, even if it is in small ways.

4 comments:

Rachel said...

Wow, Stephen is very texture oriented. I haven't even started Luke yet and will probably wait until he is at least 6 or 7mth. I also avoid dairy until they are almost 2. It will be interesting to see whether he likes solids or not and I will be sure to post pics.

Kelley said...

I have that grinder as well. Once Greta starts solids (I'm thinking 6 or 7 months) I plan to do what you did with Caleb. My mom did the same with Julie and me and I agree, store bought baby food is yucky!

j.j. said...

I have the same grinder as well. I made most of Lydia's baby food in the blender and did the ice cube tray thing. That worked well for us. I will say that I like the convenience of the occasional jar of store bought stuff. (I tried to stick with Earth's Best.)
Do you make your own cereal? I tried doing that and Lydia HATED it. I don't blame her...it tasted gross!

Beth said...

lol No, I haven't tried to make my own cereal. Just buy the earth's best or gerber baby cereal. Caleb loved it, Stephen not so much. As of last night Stephen likes spaghetti. :)