Mommy Monday: Preparing for Solids

At our four month appointment, our pediatrician told us that when Henry started to become interested in our food, grab at it, and mouth for it, he would be ready to introduce solids. She said it would likely be around the five to six month mark. Well low and behold, peanut is now five months old and is all about what mommy and daddy are eating.

Of course, we had no baby spoons, bowls, plates, etc. Nor did we have any baby food supplies. So this weekend, Kirk and I went out and about to pick up the necessary supplies to introduce some REAL food to our little goober!

But first, brunch! We hit up a place called Toulouse on Saturday morning for brunch. Benedicts, bloodies, and beignets served as fuel for this exciting adventure:

A French brunch for fuel as we prepared baby for solid foods. No, we didn't feed Henry any of this!

After that, we headed over to Pottery Barn Kids to pick out ceramics and to cash in a bunch of gift certificates we received from Henry's birth. We decided on three bowls, three plates and two boxes of spoons. I thought about some of the sippy cups, but I think we're a ways out from that and y'all know me - I don't want that crap hanging around my house unused! So we'll wait until Lil' H is a bit older for those.

Our pedi recommended oat cereal as opposed to white rice cereal, as that has essentially no nutrition and the oats at least provide fiber and iron. She also said to start with orange veggies, like sweet potatoes, squash and carrots (these go over the best with a baby-palette) and eventually introduce green veggies. She said we should hold off on fruits so that Henry doesn't develop a taste for the sweetness and refuses to eat anything else. 

Dishes: Pottery Barn Kids; baby food: Whole Foods

I thought she had excellent advice for us! I hope to cultivate an adventurous eater and I certainly don't want to promote a sweet tooth early on. I also don't want to feed him "filler" food - aka nutritionally devoid rice cereal.

You have to make many decisions and compromises as a parent. Excellent nutrition and eating habits is something I will fight tooth and nail for because it effects all other areas of your life; from cancer to heart disease to obesity/weight issues and beyond.

We were going to try solids this weekend, and thus I *would* have some hilarious and adorable pics of Lil' H to include here, but I was warned by several of my friends with slightly older babies that introducing solids causes some nasty constipation. We're taking Henry on his first flight later this week, so we're holding off on actually feeding him this good stuff until we come back. Because nobody wants a screaming or fussy, constipated baby on a flight. Nobody.

 Be prepared for some great pics to follow shortly!