Monday, September 5, 2011

Grace and Food

The very day we got back from our France vacation, August 24th, we started Grace on food.

I really wanted to wait until Grace was 6 months old, since I have had allergies before (chocolate and peanut butter- praise the Lord I am no longer allergic) but during vacation, two things happened:

1.) Grace showed that she was ready for food. She could sit up for long periods of time and her head no longer bobbled. She had recognized that meal times meant that things went in our mouths and began grabbing for our plates or utensils.

2.) I read that though it is best to hold off on introducing food- foods to a baby until 6 months, that it was recommended to start the baby getting used to the spoon and swallow skills prior to that.

I also knew that with de swaddling and shifting her schedule around to get ready for the school year, it would be a great time to "schedule in" her real food eating, since the schedule would be new anyways.

So, away we went.

Rice Cereal, infant spoon, and some warm milk.

The meal of my dreams.

Not!

Though it did surprisingly look like Grits and made me crave those!
Here is Grace, unsure about what is taking place.

And here is her best "deer in the headlights," look. Priceless.

Be prepared! (anyone here the hyenas from the Lion King when you hear that phrase? I do.)

She wasn't too happy about something coming into her mouth when it wasn't on her own volition.

Tastes....interesting, huh Grace?

Not too bad after all!

Grace ate the entire bowl full!

We feed her every night between her late afternoon feed and her bedtime feed. Last week, we upped the amount, to 2 tablespoons of rice cereal mixed with 2 tablespoons cold water and 2 tablespoons hot water.

She eats the whole thing in less than 15 minutes, relatively mess free.

That is, if she doesn't try to shove her fists in her mouth while eating.

Silly baby.

I guess I'll have to teach her some table matters sooner, rather than later!

I'll wait until after our doctor gives us the okay to proceed onto other foods, but it has been so amazing to see how fast she took to eating off of a spoon. By day two she was leaning forward, opening her mouth, and then closing it around the spoon!

I can't wait to see how she takes to other foods, but for now, I'll cherish these days with a simple and quick meal.

7 comments:

Tami said...

Haha! I literally laughed out loud at the "deer in the headlights" picture. Too cute! I'm so glad she's doing well with her first taste of solids. It's something I've been researching a lot lately because I know it will be time for Emerson before we know it!

Lyndsey said...

Liam will shove his fists in his mouth and then rub them all over his face, or rub his bib all over his face...so things get pretty messy around here!

Feeding is fun :)

Alison said...

So sweet! I love the pics I have of our kids eating baby food for the first time! Their faces are hilarious!!! :)

Lauren said...

Love those photos...she is too cute!

Jessica said...

She definitely looked a little unsure about it at first! Haha...but I'm glad it's going well now :-)

The Barker's said...

Love it!!! Those pictures are priceless!!!! We are going to start iris this weekend!!!!! I did give her a taste of plum this past weekend and she went nuts!!! =). Our girls are growing up!

Callie said...

Ha, her facial expressions crack me up!